Everyone's Investing IN AI. But Are We Solving The Right Problem?

Research published by YouGov on 14 September as part of its Consumer Duty Index found something I thought was fascinating. Just 11% of UK consumers believe greater use of AI will make financial services companies more likely to act in their customers' best interests. 

 

More than half, 53%, think it will make them less likely to. And perhaps even more tellingly, 68% believe the main reason financial services companies are investing in AI is to reduce operating costs. 

 

Only 10% think they're doing it to improve financial outcomes for customers. That's quite a gap between what businesses may believe they're creating and what customers think they're getting. 

 

And another piece of research published this week made that gap even more interesting. The Payments Association's new AI Inclusion Readiness Report 2026 draws on research from 110 senior decision-makers across financial services, retail and wholesale. 

 

93% of the firms surveyed said AI had improved outcomes for vulnerable customers. 

 

But 35% don't separately monitor outcomes for vulnerable customers. 

 

Which immediately made me wonder: If we're not measuring the outcome, how do we know we've improved it? 

 

And there's another side to this. Separate consumer research from The Payments Association found that 17% of vulnerable consumers surveyed had been unable to complete a banking or payment task because a digital or AI-enabled tool didn't work for them. 

 

For non-vulnerable consumers, that figure was 5%. 

 

This isn't an argument against AI. Far from it. AI can remove repetitive work, spot patterns humans would struggle to see, make services faster, improve fraud detection, help businesses understand huge amounts of customer data and potentially create much more personalised experiences. 

 

But there's an important step before any of that. What problem are we actually trying to solve? 

 

The FCA published something last week that I thought illustrated this brilliantly. 

 

During its review of consumer vulnerability, it found that one payments provider had customers who were struggling to set up and manage their accounts because they had limited IT literacy. 

 

There are probably all sorts of technology solutions you could throw at that. 

 

The business did something much simpler, it introduced callback support to help those customers get set up. According to the FCA, customers were then able to manage their accounts successfully, without the business needing expensive new systems or elaborate new processes. 

 

Problem identified, support changed, customer able to use the service. Seems really simple. 

 

And I think there's a lesson in that for growing businesses, not just financial services firms. When a company is scaling quickly, it's incredibly tempting to look for another system, another platform or, increasingly, an AI solution, but sometimes the problem isn't the technology. 

 

It's the process, or the communication, or two teams that aren't joined up, or nobody owning a particular part of the customer journey, or a customer simply needing to speak to a human being. 

 

In fact, YouGov found that 51% of consumers said their confidence in financial services companies using AI would increase if they knew they could speak to a human when needed. Among people aged 55 and over, that rose to 59%. 

 

The FCA's recent findings point in a remarkably straightforward direction too. 

 

Understand your customers' needs, look at your complaints, look at your customer feedback, look at what's actually happening in the customer journey. And when something isn't working, change it. 

 

That sounds obvious, I know, but it's very easy to lose sight of when you're growing. Because growth creates complexity, more customers, more people, more systems, more handovers, more processes (I know, I say this a lot, but that's because it's true). 

 

And suddenly something that worked perfectly well when you had 20 people doesn't work quite so well when you have 50, 100 or 200. That's why I think one of the most useful questions a growing business can ask before investing in another piece of technology is: 

 

 

Then look at why. 

 

AI might absolutely be the answer. 

 

But the answer might also be changing a process, removing a handover, giving someone clearer ownership, improving a communication or, occasionally, just picking up the phone. 

 

The businesses that get the greatest value from AI won't necessarily be the ones that use the most of it. 

 

I suspect they'll be the ones that are clearest about the problem they're asking it to solve. 

 

 

Not the other way around. 

 

And if your business is growing and you're starting to notice that some of the things that worked brilliantly when you were smaller aren't working quite so well anymore, I've created a guide specifically for founders navigating that stage. 

 

It looks at some of the common challenges that appear as a business grows, from customer experience and internal processes to people, communication and decision-making, with practical things you can start looking at now. 

 

Download my free Founder's Guide here: https://tips.connectedcx.org.uk/ceo-guide 

 

Have a great day! 

 

Clare 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are we starting with the technology, rather than the problem we're actually trying to solve? 

 

Research published by YouGov on 14 September as part of its Consumer Duty Index found something I thought was fascinating. 

 

Just 11% of UK consumers believe greater use of AI will make financial services companies more likely to act in their customers' best interests. 

 

More than half, 53%, think it will make them less likely to. 

 

And perhaps even more tellingly, 68% believe the main reason financial services companies are investing in AI is to reduce operating costs. 

 

Only 10% think they're doing it to improve financial outcomes for customers. 

 

That's quite a gap between what businesses may believe they're creating and what customers think they're getting. 

 

And another piece of research published this week made that gap even more interesting. 

 

The Payments Association's new AI Inclusion Readiness Report 2026 draws on research from 110 senior decision-makers across financial services, retail and wholesale. 

 

93% of the firms surveyed said AI had improved outcomes for vulnerable customers. 

 

But 35% don't separately monitor outcomes for vulnerable customers. 

 

Which immediately made me wonder: 

 

If we're not measuring the outcome, how do we know we've improved it? 

 

And there's another side to this. 

 

Separate consumer research from The Payments Association found that 17% of vulnerable consumers surveyed had been unable to complete a banking or payment task because a digital or AI-enabled tool didn't work for them. 

 

For non-vulnerable consumers, that figure was 5%. 

 

This isn't an argument against AI. Far from it. 

 

AI can remove repetitive work, spot patterns humans would struggle to see, make services faster, improve fraud detection, help businesses understand huge amounts of customer data and potentially create much more personalised experiences. 

 

But there's an important step before any of that. 

 

What problem are we actually trying to solve? 

 

The FCA published something last week that I thought illustrated this brilliantly. 

 

During its review of consumer vulnerability, it found that one payments provider had customers who were struggling to set up and manage their accounts because they had limited IT literacy. 

 

There are probably all sorts of technology solutions you could throw at that. 

 

The business did something much simpler. 

 

It introduced callback support to help those customers get set up. 

 

According to the FCA, customers were then able to manage their accounts successfully, without the business needing expensive new systems or elaborate new processes. 

 

Problem identified. 

 

Support changed. 

 

Customer able to use the service. 

 

And I think there's a lesson in that for growing businesses, not just financial services firms. 

 

When a company is scaling quickly, it's incredibly tempting to look for another system, another platform or, increasingly, an AI solution. 

 

But sometimes the problem isn't the technology. 

 

It's the process. 

 

Or the communication. 

 

Or two teams that aren't joined up. 

 

Or nobody owning a particular part of the customer journey. 

 

Or a customer simply needing to speak to a human being. 

 

In fact, YouGov found that 51% of consumers said their confidence in financial services companies using AI would increase if they knew they could speak to a human when needed. Among people aged 55 and over, that rose to 59%. 

 

The FCA's recent findings point in a remarkably straightforward direction too. 

 

Understand your customers' needs. 

 

Look at your complaints. 

 

Look at your customer feedback. 

 

Look at what's actually happening in the customer journey. 

 

And when something isn't working, change it. 

 

That sounds obvious. 

 

But it's very easy to lose sight of when you're growing. 

 

Because growth creates complexity. 

 

More customers. More people. More systems. More handovers. More processes. 

 

And suddenly something that worked perfectly well when you had 20 people doesn't work quite so well when you have 50, 100 or 200. 

 

That's why I think one of the most useful questions a growing business can ask before investing in another piece of technology is: 

 

Where are our customers struggling today? 

 

Then look at why. 

 

AI might absolutely be the answer. 

 

But the answer might also be changing a process, removing a handover, giving someone clearer ownership, improving a communication or, occasionally, just picking up the phone. 

 

The businesses that get the greatest value from AI won't necessarily be the ones that use the most of it. 

 

I suspect they'll be the ones that are clearest about the problem they're asking it to solve. 

 

Start with the customer. Find the friction. Then choose the solution. 

 

Not the other way around. 

 

Sources 

YouGov, Will AI help financial services companies act in consumers' best interests? The public aren't convinced, 14 September 2026. 

 

Financial Conduct Authority, Better outcomes begin when payment firms understand customers' needs, 17 September 2026. 

 

Financial Conduct Authority, Payments firms: delivering good outcomes for consumers in vulnerable circumstances, 17 September 2026. 

 

The Payments Association, AI Inclusion Readiness Report 2026, research released 23 September 2026.