Conversational Interfaces to address Financial Distress caused by COVID-19

新冠肺炎给许多人的财务带来了前所未有的压力，同时也给金融机构带来了新的压力。负债人数可能大幅增加，使许多人陷入财务困境，并给金融机构带来沉重负担。由此产生的社会、健康和经济成本可能是严重的。这项工作计划为陷入财务困境的人提供了一个对话界面，使他们能够通过无摩擦、异步和自动化技术，以一种用户友好的方式与他们的金融机构接触。好处包括为陷入财务困境的人提供一个他们可以在自己的时间使用的支持性和同情的过程。对于金融机构来说，他们受益于大大降低的服务成本。商业实力的对话界面简单易用，因为用户可以用日常语言谈论他们的需求和行动。使用文本和语音的能力，以及对白话、俚语和糟糕的语法和拼写的支持，使对话界面不受歧视，无论性别、年龄或种族，无论是静止的还是移动的。社会各阶层都是受益者。这一成功项目的扩展重点是建立商业模式和迅速进入市场的战略和计划。新的解决方案现在可以进行演示，并将在用户中进行测试，向潜在的商业合作伙伴展示，并将就商业模式征求意见，包括定价。鉴于市场的复杂性，将找到能够为英国数百万负债累累的人带来解决方案的商业合作伙伴。在延期阶段，将至少获得一个初始商业合作伙伴。此外，还将在包括美国在内的国际市场调查市场动态，因为有迹象表明，对负债者的处理方式与英国的做法有共鸣。

COVID-19 has placed unprecedented strain on many peoples' finances, whilst at the same time creating new pressures on financial institutions. The number of people in debt is likely to increase significantly leaving many in financial distress and placing significant burdens on financial institutions. The resultant social, health, and economic costs threaten to be severe.This work programme provides a conversational interface for people in financial distress to enable them to engage with their financial institutions in a user-friendly way via frictionless, asynchronous, and automated technology.The benefits include providing people in financial distress with a supportive and sympathetic process that they can use in their own time. For the financial institutions, they benefit from greatly reduced costs of service.Commercial-strength Conversational Interfaces are simple to use because users can talk about their requirements and actions in everyday language. The ability to use text and voice, and supporting vernacular, slang, and poor grammar and spelling, makes the conversational interface non-discriminatory and accessible regardless of gender, age, or ethnicity, whether stationary or on the move. All segments of society are targeted as beneficiaries.The extension to this successful project is focused on building the commercial model and the go-to-market strategies and plan for rapid market entry. The new solution can now be demonstrated and will be tested with users, showcased to potential commercial partners, and input will be sought on the commercial model, including pricing. Given the complexity of the market, commercial partners will be identified that can bring the solution to the millions of people in debt in the UK. At least one initial commercial partner will be secured during the extension phase. In addition, market dynamics will be investigated in international markets, including in the US, as there are indications that the handling of people in debt has resonance with approaches in the UK.