AI and customer service.
I help a regulated firm decide where AI belongs in customer service. I do not sell an AI product.
Where it belongs
I do not offer AI as a standalone package. Embedding AI is part of how I already work, joining it up across the customer journey and the operating model. A repeatable step can run in the flow once the decision is already made. Where the customer outcome is still a judgement, a person decides.
For a US investment manager, I delivered a Salesforce-centred go-to-market assessment and recommended where to systematise, including where AI fits after the basics. The client could see where AI could help save time in people's day, and generate more leads by automating work the sales team were already doing.
What the Consumer Duty still asks
The FCA's approach to AI is principles-based and focused on outcomes. The FCA does not plan to introduce extra regulations for AI. It relies on existing frameworks, including the Consumer Duty and the Senior Managers and Certification Regime.
At its 2025 Annual Public Meeting, the FCA said that monitoring expectations under the Consumer Duty still apply to a firm that uses AI. It said firms should not use AI in ways that embed or amplify bias. Where AI leads to worse outcomes for a group of customers, the firm needs an explanation that stands up under the Duty.
I have written about what this looks like in a pensions conversation, in dad jokes, AI and pensions. I have written about the opportunity in finance and health in AI in regulated industries.
What I help with
- Where AI fits after the basics. The sales motion and the customer journey mapped first, then the steps that can run in the flow.
- The judgement that stays with a person. Vulnerability, and any outcome the firm still has to explain.
- The Consumer Duty evidence around that choice, including monitoring of outcomes for groups of customers.
- A bounded first read. The customer experience diagnostic is 2-4 weeks when you want the map before a larger programme.
Why me
I use AI in the work. I do not sell an AI product. The assessment for the US investment manager was about where AI fits after the basics, inside a go-to-market motion the team were already running.
Proof
For a US investment manager, sales motions and data were not clearly mapped to adviser and institutional journeys, so it was hard to see where to systematise. I delivered a Salesforce-centred go-to-market assessment, mapping those motions to the journeys, and recommending where to systematise, including where AI fits after the basics.
The client had a clear view of where AI could help: save time in people's day, and generate more leads by automating and systematising work the sales team were already doing.
How we can work together
As a consultant on a defined project, as a contractor on day rates, or as an interim if the gap is a person rather than a project. Fully remote on CET hours, on site when it matters, flexible on contracting route, and I'll be straight about rates on the first call.
Related thinking
- Consumer Duty consultant
- Dad jokes, AI and pensions
- AI in regulated industries
- Proposition and go-to-market
Get in touch
If you are deciding where AI belongs in a customer journey, tell me the product and the step you are looking at. I will say on the first call if I am the wrong person.
Common questions
Where does AI belong in customer service at a regulated firm?
A repeatable step can run in the flow once the decision is already made. Where the customer outcome is still a judgement, a person decides. I join that work up across the customer journey and the operating model. I do not offer AI as a standalone package.
What does the Consumer Duty ask of a firm that uses AI in customer support?
The FCA's approach to AI is principles-based and focused on outcomes. It does not plan a separate rulebook for AI, and it relies on existing frameworks, including the Consumer Duty. Monitoring expectations under the Duty still apply to a firm that uses AI. The FCA has said firms should not use AI in ways that embed or amplify bias, and that worse outcomes for a group of customers need an explanation that stands up under the Duty.
Do you sell an AI product?
No. I do not sell an AI product. Embedding AI is part of how I already work with a regulated firm, on the customer journey and the operating model.