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2020 has changed our relationship with money, and people now trust robots more than themselves to manage their finances, according to a new study by Oracle and personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi. The study of more than 9,000 consumers and business leaders across 14 countries including India found that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased financial anxiety, sadness, and fear among people around the world; changed who and what we trust to manage our finances; and is reshaping the role and focus areas of corporate finance teams and personal financial advisors.
COVID-19 has created financial anxiety, sadness, and fear
The global pandemic has damaged people’s relationship with money at home and at work.
● Among business leaders, financial anxiety and stress increased by 186 percent and sadness grew by 116 percent; consumer financial anxiety and stress doubled and sadness increased by 70 percent.
o In India,106 percent of business leaders saw an increase in financial anxiety and stress, and their sadness grew by 47 percent.
● 90 percent of business leaders are worried about the impact of COVID-19 on their organization, with the most common concerns being a slow economic recovery or recession (51 percent), budget cuts (38 percent), and bankruptcy (27 percent).
o For Indian business leaders, 95 percent are worried about the impact of COVID-19, with slow economic recovery or recession (59 percent), budget cuts (49 percent), and bankruptcy (29 percent) as their main concerns.
● 87 percent of consumers are experiencing financial fears, including job loss (39 percent), losing savings (38 percent), and never getting out of debt (26 percent).
o Amongst Indian consumers, 90 percent are experiencing financial fears, including job loss (34 percent), losing savings (47 percent), and never getting out of debt (21 percent).
● These concerns are keeping people up at night: 41 percent of global consumers reported losing sleep due to their personal finances.
o In India, that number rose to 59 percent of consumers.
People want help and now trust robots more than themselves to manage finances
The financial uncertainty created by COVID-19 has changed who and what we trust to manage our finances. To help navigate financial complexity, consumers and business leaders increasingly trust technology over people to help.
● 67 percent of consumers and business leaders trust a robot more than a human to manage finances.
o 83 percent of Indian consumers and business leaders share this belief.
● 73 percent of business leaders trust a robot more than themselves to manage finances; 77 percent trust robots over their own finance teams.
o A higher share, 88 percent, of Indian business leaders trust a robot more than themselves to manage finances; 85 percent trust robots over their own finance teams.
● 89 percent of business leaders believe that robots can improve their work by detecting fraud (34 percent), creating invoices (25 percent), and conducting cost/benefit analysis (23 percent).
o Almost every Indian business leader (96%) believes that robots can improve their work by detecting fraud (37 percent), creating invoices (32 percent), and conducting cost/benefit analysis (30 percent).
● 53 percent of consumers trust a robot more than themselves to manage finances; 63 percent trust robots over personal financial advisors.
o The percentage for Indian consumers is 72 percent and 82 percent respectively.
● 66 percent of consumers believe robots can help with managing finances by assisting to detect fraud (33 percent), helping to reduce spending (22 percent), and making stock market investments (15 percent).
o That number amongst Indian consumers is a bit higher, with 85 percent of Indian consumers believing robots can help with managing finances by assisting to detect fraud (45 percent), helping to reduce spending (34 percent), and making stock market investments (24 percent).
The role of finance teams and financial advisors will never be the same
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To adapt to the growing influence and role of technology, corporate finance professionals and personal finance advisors must embrace change and develop new skills.
● 56 percent of business leaders believe robots will replace corporate finance professionals in the next five years.
o 67 percent of Indian business leaders believe the same.
● 85 percent of business leaders want help from robots for finance tasks, including finance approvals (43 percent), budgeting and forecasting (39 percent), reporting (38 percent), and compliance and risk management (38 percent).
o A whopping 93 percent of Indian business leaders want assistance from robots for finance tasks, including finance approvals (58 percent), budgeting and forecasting (49 percent), reporting (38 percent), and compliance and risk management (50 percent).
● Business leaders want corporate finance professionals to focus on communicating with customers (40 percent), negotiating discounts (37 percent), and approving transactions (31 percent).
o In India, business leaders want finance professionals to focus on communicating with customers (27 percent), negotiating discounts (25 percent), and approving transactions (23 percent).
● 42 percent of global consumers believe robots will replace personal financial advisors in the next five years.
o 57 percent of Indian consumers believe the same.
● 76 percent of consumers want robots to help them manage their finances by freeing up time (33 percent), reducing unnecessary spending (31 percent), and increasing on-time payments (31 percent).
o 45 percent of Indian consumers want robots to help manage their finances by freeing up their time, 37 percent want reducing unnecessary spending and 40 percent feel that robots can help them in regulating their payments.
● Consumers want personal financial advisors to provide guidance on major purchasing decisions such as buying a house (45 percent), buying a car (41 percent), and planning a vacation (38 percent).
o Indian consumers lag a bit with 32 percent wanting guidance in buying a house, 29 percent in buying a car and 28 percent in planning a vacation.
Our relationship with money has changed; it’s time to embrace AI to manage finance
The events of 2020 have changed the way consumers think about money and have increased the need for organizations to rethink how they use AI and other new technologies to manage financial processes.
● 60 percent of global consumers say the pandemic has changed the way they buy goods and services.
o 88 percent of Indian consumers say the pandemic has changed the way they buy goods and services.
● 87 percent of business leaders say organizations that don’t rethink financial processes will face risks, including falling behind competitors (44 percent), more stressed workers (36 percent), inaccurate reporting (36 percent), and reduced employee productivity (35 percent).
o Majority of Indian business leaders (94 percent) agree that organizations that don’t rethink financial processes will face risks, including falling behind competitors (46 percent), more stressed workers (45 percent), inaccurate reporting (42 percent), and reduced employee productivity (44 percent).
● 72 percent of consumers say the events of 2020 have changed how they feel about handling cash, with people feeling anxious (26 percent), fearful (23 percent), and dirty (19 percent). More than a quarter (29 percent) of consumers now say that cash-only is a deal-breaker for doing business.
o Almost every Indian consumer (93 percent) shares the feeling that the events of 2020 have changed how they feel about handling cash, with people feeling anxious (33 percent), fearful (39 percent), and dirty (15 percent). More than half (52 percent) of Indian consumers now say that cash-only is a deal-breaker for doing business.
● Businesses have been quick to respond. 69 percent of global business leaders have invested in digital payment capabilities. 64 percent of global business leaders have created new forms of customer engagement or changed their business models in response to COVID-19.
o Comparatively, 93 percent of Indian business leaders have invested in digital payment capabilities and 81 percent of Indian business leaders have created new forms of customer engagement or changed their business models.
“Managing finances is tough at the best of times, and the financial uncertainty of the global pandemic has exacerbated financial challenges at home and at work,” said Farnoosh Torabi, personal finance expert and host of the So Money podcast. “Robots are well-positioned to assist – they are great with numbers and don’t have the same emotional connection with money. This doesn’t mean finance professionals are going away or being replaced entirely, but the research suggests they should focus on developing additional soft skills as their role evolves.”
“Financial processes in our personal and professional worlds have become increasingly digital for many years and the events of 2020 have accelerated that trend,” said Juergen Lindner, senior vice president, global marketing, Oracle. “Digital is the new normal and technologies such as artificial intelligence and chatbots play a vital role in managing finance. Our research indicates that consumers trust these technologies to accelerate their financial well-being over personal financial advisors and business leaders see this trend reshaping the role of corporate finance professionals. Organizations that don’t embrace these changes risk falling behind their peers and competitors; hurting employee productivity, morale and well-being; and struggling to attract the next generation of AI-empowered finance talent.”
“Asian countries and companies will emerge stronger than ever with technology playing a major role in defining the next normal. In the post-COVID decade, the success will depend on organizations’ ability to embed AI and emerging innovations across their business,” said Guruprasad Gaonkar, Global SaaS Go-to-Market Leader, Cloud Business Group, Oracle. “The research further shows that being technology enabled is a passé, being technology led is in vogue. In the new normal, AI & Intelligent Automation is all set to become the center of business strategy more so in finance and supply chain rather than a singular piece of technology.”
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