Dr. Kevin Yam: “If you really look in five years, we will see a revolution”

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The influence and areas of use of AI continue to grow and artificial intelligence is playing a particularly important role in the financial sector. Dr. Kevin Yam, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer of the coeo Group, explains how coeo and other companies are integrating AI models into their business strategies, how ethical goals can be maintained in the process – and how the topic of AI will develop in the coming years.

Editorial team: How can companies in your industry effectively integrate AI models into their core business strategies and is AI already being used for work processes at coeo?

Dr. Kevin Yam: AI has a relatively long history in the debt collection industry. The first applications of AI, data science, and machine learning appeared in customer segmentation, optimizing customer interactions, and predictive analytics—such as predicting customer payment behavior during the debt collection or recovery process. These are all areas that have already been implemented at coeo.

When it comes to generative AI, we are currently seeing, and will continue to see, much deeper and more disruptive applications. This includes integrating voicebots and chatbots with high conversational capabilities based on generative AI.

Editorial team: With the implementation of artificial intelligence, companies face not only ethical but also practical challenges, especially with regard to sensitive areas such as risk management. How does the coeo Group deal with this challenge and what best practices could you recommend to ensure that the use of AI reconciles both ethical and business objectives?

Dr. Kevin Yam: Regardless of artificial intelligence, the foundation is a set of core values that the company adheres to and revisits regularly. From a technical perspective, it is essential to test the accuracy of AI models, especially generative AI, which inherently features a higher degree of creativity and randomness than more static AI applications of the past.

The key is to integrate risk management and extensive testing. This involves AI risk management systems that are implemented as a kind of compliance pipeline during the development of such AI applications. This ensures that everything, from the development process to the data used to train the model, is documented and undergoes a review process during and after development.

Editorial team: Where do you see AI in relation to the financial world, particularly in your own company, over the next five years?

Dr. Kevin Yam: I think that the developments in generative AI are still difficult to predict. We are already seeing significant advancements, such as large language models offered as platform solutions by hyperscalers like Google, Microsoft, or OpenAI. However, there are also many freely available open-source models that allow various organizations and companies to develop customized solutions. It is possible that we will see some consolidation in this area, and certain technologies, models, and platforms may emerge as best practices for different applications.

I believe that a lot will happen in the near future, and we will witness tremendous technological advancements in 2024 and 2025, leading to even more targeted and appropriate applications. In the field of debt collection, conversational AI will become increasingly prominent—AI capable of engaging in customer conversations and dialogues through a voicebot or chatbot with a high level of detail and relatively complex conversational skills. I think this will be highly relevant for us, as well as for other areas of the financial sector.

If we really look ahead five years, we will see a revolution, and many things that we currently take for granted will be further transformed.

Editorial Team: Why should the audience be excited about your presentation at the Customer Focus Summit?

Dr. Kevin Yam: We spent a lot of time considering how to structure this presentation because it's a very complex topic. The focus will be on providing insights into the future of debt collection and how generative AI can redefine the industry.

Coverphoto: © Kevin Yam / coeo Group

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