AI-enablement was something no one thought can be possible in the 80s and early-90s. In the same period, no one would have believed that payments can be made via phone. Over the years, the digital payment industry has undergone many transformations. As digital transformation services and solutions continue to arrive, the digital payment industry is developing further. One of the biggest innovations in the digital payment industry is the rise of e-wallets. People can keep their money safe and initiate online transactions with e-wallets. In the past few years, e-wallets are exceeding their functionalities, thanks to AI (Artificial Intelligence). Read on to understand how AI is transforming the e-wallet industry.

What exactly is an e-wallet?

An E-wallet (Electronic Wallet) allows users to make cashless payments. Consider it as an electronic card that is linked to the bank account of the user. Like a debit card, one can link an e-wallet with their bank account and use the money. With the help of an e-wallet, digital transactions can be easily made via a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or any other media device. E-wallets are usually applications that need to be installed on the media device. For example, android users will have to install an e-wallet application from the Google Play Store. After downloading the mobile application, one must set up their profile on an e-wallet app.

One should not confuse an e-wallet with a digital locker. A digital locker is used to store important documents/PDFs online. On the other hand, an e-wallet helps make digital payments with ease. An e-wallet can also store card information, payment history, contacts, and more. There is a software component that works in the backdrop of an e-wallet. Customers use the app interface to give commands, and the software component completes the task. There is also a database component working on the backdrop of an e-wallet. The database component stores the user’s name, payment history, and other details.

There is no restriction that an e-wallet can only be used by customers. E-wallets are also available for merchants and businesses. You must have seen people paying at local shops by scanning a QR code. After scanning the QR code, the customer transfers the amount to the e-wallet used by the merchant. The merchant can then forward the received payment or transfer it to their bank account. Sometimes, e-wallet providers might levy some charges for transferring the amount to the bank account. Paytm, Apple Pay, Mobikwik, and Microsoft Wallet are some prime examples of e-wallets, used by customers and merchants.

The concept of super wallets

With the evolution of AI and related technologies, e-wallets are turning into super wallets or next-gen apps. These e-wallets are more than just a means to transfer money online. IT automation with AI tools is a reality in 2022 for the e-wallet industry. AI-led e-wallets can converse with users via chat or voice. Voice-enabled e-wallets can complete banking tasks with a voice command. With intelligent speech recognition and AI-led automation, these e-wallets can transfer money, show shopping trend, show account balance, raise a ticket, and generate insights. All this can be done without the user touching the smartphone. Next-gen e-wallets can also generate insights to understand where the money is going. Some examples of smart insights generated by AI-led e-wallets are as follows:

• Number of times shopped at a particular store in the last week
• Shopping trend for the past week
• Number of times money transferred to someone in the last week
• Current credit score
• Credit score trends for the past week

With these insights, e-wallet users get to know more about their transactions. Gone are the days when things were limited to automation in the e-wallet industry. At present, the e-wallet industry is moving toward hyper-automation. When banking customers do not have to visit the bank for every little thing, they will automatically prefer e-wallet services. The e-wallet industry is set to reach the next level with AI, ML, and related automation technologies.

Enhanced customer experience and personalization

Like any other app, e-wallet users will also have queries/concerns. The respective provider must dedicate an entire customer service department to answering customer queries. Some e-wallet firms even deploy round-the-clock employees to offer nonstop support to users. Over the years, the number of e-wallet users has increased. E-wallets have become a new norm for banking customers. E-wallet firms cannot keep employing customer support professionals due to the increase in the number of users. To solve this challenge, the e-wallet industry is now banking on AI-enabled digital transformation services and solutions and Predictive AIOps.

With the help of AI assistants, chatbots, and jump bots, e-wallet firms are extending customer support. An e-wallet company can embed an AI-enabled chatbot on its mobile application or website. For a query, users can interact with the chatbot without calling a human representative. Similarly, a voice assistant can answer user queries when all representatives are busy. Jump bots can be used in customer support offices to direct the call to free agents. Jump bots can also converse with callers and schedule a future call when the representative is free.

Do you know the concept of personalized customer support?

Personalized customer support happens when extra time is dedicated to each user. It includes personalized responses, tailor-made services, and round-the-clock availability. Without AI, it can be hard for an e-wallet firm to maintain 24*7 service availability. A financial institution cannot dedicate representatives for each customer to boost personalization. With the aid of best AIOps tools, e-wallet providers lend a personalized experience to each user. Chatbots and voice assistants will address a user by their name. They will offer customized responses that are more appropriate for the user than a common response from a representative.

E-wallets are now turning into personal advisors due to AI-enablement and ML. Based on shopping behaviour, user activity, and user responses, AI-enabled e-wallets can offer financial advice to the user. They can tell the user in which shares to invest, how to boost savings, how to pay off loans, and more. All this cannot be possible without fusing e-wallets with AI tools. Provide next-gen e-wallets to users with AI and ML!