Salesforce has confirmed that Einstein Analytics for Financial Services is now generally available, in a move designed to help those in the industry make better use of data powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

The new solution, which is highly customisable, works as an add-on to Financial Services Cloud and costs $150 per user, per month, according to the cloud firm.

It is particularly suited to wealth advisors, retail bankers and managers in the sector as it allows them to quickly and easily access customised, data-driven insights about clients to deliver an enhanced and much more personalised customer experience.

This speed, ease-of-use and enhanced levels of intelligence – it will extract data from Financial Services Cloud and other data sources – and sophistication thanks to the use of AI will enable those in the industry to try and keep pace with new market entrants, such as fintech, and a fast-evolving wider sector landscape.

“AI is the modern-day gold rush of the financial services industry, and those that get in early will reap the rewards of this next wave of innovation,” said Rohit Mahna, senior vice president and general manager of Salesforce Financial Services.

Ketan Karkhanis, senior vice president and general manager of Salesforce Einstein Analytics, added: “We’re bringing intelligence to every customer interaction and building products that speak the language of the financial services industry. They’re getting a tailored approach to analytics with the agility of our powerful platform.”

Einstein Analytics for Financial Services has a number of core components including:

• AI-powered actionable insights, which offer financial services professionals predictive guidance on a number of elements including ways in which to boost customer retention;
• Industry dashboards as standard, which templates that a fit-for-purpose and assist with data gathering on clients’ financial goals and activities to better identify key opportunities;
• A way to better analyse data from external sources, thereby providing a hollistic view of customer needs and requirements;
• Industry regulation compliance by default, as all data is hosted in a trusted, secure and compliant cloud-based platform with robust auditing, privacy, reporting and security tools built-in.

A number of financial institutions, including credit union Elements Financial and Royal Bank of Canada are already making use of the analytical extension. The former is embedding Einstein Analytics in its account home pagers to provide more timely insight on members and money flow, while Royal Bank of Canada is using it to better serve its 16 million-plus clients.

“Our work with Salesforce has allowed our credit union to build a data culture where stronger and more accurate knowledge leads to serving our membership with customisation,” added Lisa Schlehuber, CEO of Elements Financial.

“We are proud of the high-tech and high-touch level of service that makes Elements unique and leads to lifelong relationships with members.”