Disruption in Motion: Chief Data & Analytics Officer Financial Conference 2018

Darryn Noble details his experiences at this year's Chief Data Analytics Officers event!

The customer experience, now more than ever, is the bar we use to predict the health and growth potential of a business. Most major financial institutions are taking this to heart by adapting their services to deliver the “delightful” customer experience we’ve come to expect as consumers (think Amazon, Netflix, and Uber.) I was reminded of the sea change that is moving our industry towards intelligent customer management while at the Chief Data Analytics Officers (CDAO) event in Boston last month. I contributed to a panel discussion about the emergence of machine learning in financial services, where I was joined by industry peers with first-hand experience transforming their business with data-driven insights. The efforts of fellow panelists and thought leaders, like José Murillo of Banorte, were on full display. Our lively exchange made clear that the disruptive forces of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning are here to stay.

AI and Machine Learning have long been terms owned by academics and sci-fi. But the very real benefits they produce are changing the conversation with the very real applications they enable for everyday business operations. Advances such as chatbots enable a human-like conversational experience to provide expert-level insights for your customers, bankers, and advisors.  Robotic process automation increases productivity to free up your sales team to offer the personalized experience customers have come to expect. These operational advances will improve efficiency and effectiveness by providing a memorable service personalized for a “market of one”, all powered by the insights gleaned from your very own customers.

If your firm is looking to unlock the insights in your data, you need to invest in the potential of these technologies, whether that’s through the structure of your data, or putting the systems in place to ensure organization-wide success.  We’ve been in customer management for over twenty-five years and know first-hand that these technologies can bolster your efforts by:

1. Automating customer support through Natural Language Processing and Natural Language Generation. Offer tailored answers and insights to your clients in a quick and responsive way, allowing your sales teams to focus on value-added relationship building activities.
2. Augmenting customer-facing resources with personalized recommendations. Your front-office teams are inundated with information. Clear the noise by giving them an informed perspective of upsell and cross-sell opportunities through your very own data-driven insights.
3. Eliminating repetitive tasks through automation. Have your advisors focus on what they do best – asset accumulation and relationship building.

These advantages can be achieved today, with clear objectives and measurable business value.  I’ve been fortunate enough to partner with industry leaders to help bring these modern, transformative capabilities to market, seeing firsthand the evolution of today’s personalized customer experience. How much further can we can raise the bar to provide the perfectly customized customer experience?

I was excited to see the energy and passion shared by my fellow panelists as we considered the disruptor that AI represents for our industry. But there is lots of work left to do! CDAO 2018 opened my eyes to the challenge of unlocking the potential inside our enterprise data assets. Change is coming, and it’s exciting to be on the leading edge of maximizing service with data-driven solutions.

Want to talk strategy or the future of financial services? Reach out to me on Twitter, or send me a line at darryn.noble@nexj.com. I’d be more than happy to hear from you.

Author: Adam Edmonds

Vice President, Products

With almost 2 decades of experience developing customer management solutions in financial services and insurance, Adam Edmonds is responsible for establishing overall product vision and designing easy to use solutions that solve real market problems.

Adam is excited to share the lessons he has learned and his insights on where the industry is heading with readers of his blog. He encourages readers to join the discussion or reach out to him with their own insights, best practices, and solutions to industry challenges.