By Ankit Singh, COO, Techugo
Over the past decade, digital engagement has fundamentally changed. Initially, there were mobile apps that provided convenience and ease of access. Now, there are AI-powered apps that predict user needs and provide more relevant engagement.
Beyond Convenience: The Limits of Early Mobile Experience
Early mobile banking in the financial services industry was focused mostly on convenience, such as checking accounts, sending money, or paying bills. Although these services were revolutionary at the time, they provided little more than just basic utility. Also, security was minimal, with hard to manage interfaces and near-zero personalisation. As customer demand evolved and digital ecosystems further developed, it was evident that mobile banking could not stay within transactional convenience. The need switched to smarter, safer, and more immersive experiences driven by innovative technologies such as AI.
The Shift Towards Smarter Digital Touchpoints
The next phase of engagement saw the implementation of chatbots, push notifications, and recommendation systems. These systems and the interactions they enabled could be personalised to the user and thus more engaging. Previously, interactions were a monolithic model that slowly became personalised, marking a wider transition from utility-driven apps to engagement-driven platforms.
The Rise of AI Agents: From Interaction to Companionship
Now, AI agents occupy center stage in customer experience. In contrast with traditional chatbots, AI agents analyse in-depth the needs of the user, giving tailored advice and taking purposeful steps to create a journey that is meaningful to them.
Consider a few use cases:
Career Guidance—AI agents on educational websites act as personal advisors to students, giving tailored support and direction instead of offering generic lists.
Health and Fitness—In wellness programs, the AI agents set targets, track progress, and motivate users, much like personal trainers.
Customer Support—As customer queries have increased, businesses have turned to AI-powered support, so responses are provided immediately, as customers don’t have to wait, and support agents are less burdened.
Entertainment and Fan Engagement—AI agents on celebrity-fan sites enable fans to interact with their favourite celebrities on a deeper level by providing distinctive, personalised interactions.
Why Such Change Is Essential
The shift from mobile applications to AI agents affects the following three aspects of user engagement:
Satisfaction—Users now demand immediate, personalised, context-aware, and heartfelt interactions. AI agents deliver all these consistently.
Efficiency—Automated interactions reduce dependence on human intervention, enabling companies to focus on more complex requirements.
Retention—By reaching beyond transactions into relationships, AI-driven platforms retain users for the long term.
The Path Ahead
The next generation of financial technology development is in agentic AI, different from the traditional notion of automation. Compared to rule-based systems that only execute set actions, agentic AI can learn, change, and decide contextually. This will revolutionise the operational life cycle of financial institutions by automating processes, removing manual dependency, and making issue resolution proactive. Through the merging of autonomy and intelligence in operations, agentic AI will transform efficiency and create a more interactive, future-proofed financial landscape.