Name: Bringing high-touch experiences to digital banking with AI
Uploaded: 2024-09-20T13:31:14.098Z
Duration: 507.34
Description: Craig McLaughlin and Baron Conway, CEO and CSO of Finalytics.ai, explore the dual aspects of personalization: meeting individual user needs and aligning with organizational objectives. They explain how AI facilitates tailored, high-touch digital experiences, aiding smaller financial institutions to compete with larger counterparts.

FF.SP.12 - Craig McLaughlin Baron Conway_1.mp4

Finalytics.ai

FinovateFall 2024

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FF.SP.12 - Craig McLaughlin Baron Conway_1.vtt

English

{{00:00:04}}
Hello, I'm David Penn,
Research Analyst with Finovate.

{{00:00:06}}
We're here at Finovate Fall 2024 in
New York, and joining me are Craig

{{00:00:10}}
McLaughlin and Baron Conway, CEO
and CSO respectively of Finalytics.

{{00:00:15}}
Gentlemen, thank you for joining me today.

{{00:00:16}}
Thank you very much for having us.

{{00:00:17}}
Yeah, thanks for having us.

{{00:00:18}}
Excellent, excellent.

{{00:00:18}}
Well, let's jump right in.

{{00:00:19}}
Could you tell folks who might not
be familiar with Finalytics AI just

{{00:00:22}}
what the company is and what it does?

{{00:00:24}}
Absolutely, so Finalytics is a
personalization solution designed

{{00:00:27}}
specifically for banks and credit unions.

{{00:00:29}}
And so what we do is we give financial
services institutions the ability to

{{00:00:33}}
yield experiences that are hyper targeted
around the individual user, both in the

{{00:00:37}}
authenticated experience inside of online
banking, as well as in the unauthenticated

{{00:00:41}}
experience, so the public based website.

{{00:00:44}}
From your perspective, what is it
that personalization fundamentally

{{00:00:47}}
means at the end of the day?

{{00:00:48}}
When we say that services are
personalized, what does that really mean?

{{00:00:52}}
That's a great question, and Barron
and I spent a lot of time talking

{{00:00:54}}
about how that comes together.

{{00:00:55}}
Barron, do you want to touch on that?

{{00:00:56}}
Yeah, so ultimately personalization
is really about understanding the

{{00:01:00}}
intent and behavior and needs of
an individual, of a user, right?

{{00:01:06}}
And then for that institution or
that organization being able to be

{{00:01:09}}
relevant to those needs and deliver
really targeted specific content and

{{00:01:14}}
experiences that deliver on those needs.

{{00:01:16}}
At the same time, the other side
of personalization is also mapping

{{00:01:20}}
the needs of the organization.

{{00:01:21}}
to that particular user.

{{00:01:23}}
So it's understanding that user's
sort of behavior, who they are, their

{{00:01:27}}
age range, and saying, okay, based
on those characteristics, let me

{{00:01:31}}
make sure that the message I'm trying
to communicate resonates with them.

{{00:01:35}}
So there's really two sides to that.

{{00:01:36}}
There's the individual and then
there's the organization and how

{{00:01:38}}
you bring them both together.

{{00:01:40}}
Interesting.

{{00:01:40}}
I want to talk a little bit more
from the organizational perspective.

{{00:01:43}}
Personalization, obviously, the
customer, you can see what they

{{00:01:45}}
would have to gain from it.

{{00:01:46}}
What's in it for the
financial institution?

{{00:01:48}}
So historically, when you look
at the distribution of financial

{{00:01:52}}
institutions in the United
States, there's 10, 000 of them.

{{00:01:56}}
And the largest, 80, are over 25 billion
in assets, and there's not a lot of them.

{{00:02:01}}
The vast majority of FIs in this country
are actually much, much smaller FIs,

{{00:02:05}}
and when you interview those FIs and
you ask them what makes you special,

{{00:02:10}}
they all say the same thing, which
is this highly personalized, high

{{00:02:13}}
touch experience that they bring to
constituents in their communities.

{{00:02:17}}
But the challenge is digital
transformation has really disrupted

{{00:02:20}}
that, and the ability to deliver that
high touch service, something that you

{{00:02:24}}
were able to do on the phone or in a
branch, has really been taken away.

{{00:02:28}}
And so we're bringing that back.

{{00:02:29}}
So we really look at the opportunity
to use personalization as the

{{00:02:32}}
opportunity to get back that
secret sauce, that high touch

{{00:02:35}}
experience, but deliver it digitally.

{{00:02:38}}
And so what we're able to do is
dynamically pick up on each individual's

{{00:02:42}}
behavior in the digital channel.

{{00:02:44}}
So what are they looking at?

{{00:02:45}}
What are they interested in?

{{00:02:46}}
And with that, we return
an experience that's hyper

{{00:02:49}}
targeted around that individual.

{{00:02:51}}
And so we're basically giving community
FIs the ability to deliver the same

{{00:02:54}}
experiences that mega brands are
able to do in the digital channel.

{{00:02:58}}
Makes a lot of sense.

{{00:02:59}}
So to build upon that, so if you
think about it, right, then quite

{{00:03:01}}
simply what that also means is,
from an institution's perspective.

{{00:03:06}}
It enables them in the digital
channel to build closer relationships,

{{00:03:10}}
build more loyalty, and crucially,
drive increased product sales.

{{00:03:14}}
Because if you give someone what they're
looking for, they're more likely to engage

{{00:03:18}}
and purchase and come back for more.

{{00:03:19}}
And really, that's the ultimate
sort of success in terms of what

{{00:03:24}}
personalization can deliver.

{{00:03:26}}
Such a fundamental question.

{{00:03:27}}
I mean, just the idea that When you
give people what they're looking

{{00:03:31}}
for, they're more inclined to
continue to do business with you.

{{00:03:34}}
It's a, it's, when you get that
right, it really does work.

{{00:03:37}}
And and what's odd is that digital has
been such an opportunity to deliver that

{{00:03:41}}
for so many years, but really financial
services has lagged other industries.

{{00:03:44}}
When you look at what's happened with
Netflix, and with Spotify, and with

{{00:03:49}}
Amazon with its shopping experience,
using data on what customers are

{{00:03:53}}
interested in, and then returning.

{{00:03:55}}
Content to them that they're
actually looking for.

{{00:03:58}}
It builds deep relationships that
are high touch and sticky, right?

{{00:04:01}}
And one of the technologies that's
been talked about in terms of really

{{00:04:03}}
hyper driving the opportunity for
personalization is AI Of course, could

{{00:04:07}}
you talk a little bit about the role of
AI and helping personalization take place?

{{00:04:11}}
Yeah.

{{00:04:11}}
So AI will upend all industries.

{{00:04:14}}
I mean, so every, we talk about it
constantly at this conference, but

{{00:04:17}}
every technology is going to have
some element of AI in it today.

{{00:04:20}}
And so how we're using AI is we're using
it to be able to drive experiences that

{{00:04:25}}
are laser targeted around that individual.

{{00:04:27}}
So we're doing calculations that really
prior weren't really capable to be

{{00:04:32}}
done at the scale we're able to do it
because we're able to take data as input,

{{00:04:37}}
crunch that data, and then serve up.

{{00:04:39}}
Personalized experiences
based on an individual.

{{00:04:42}}
It's a high performing algorithm
for outputting these kinds

{{00:04:45}}
of high touch experiences.

{{00:04:46}}
Yeah, and so ultimately, the two big
things, right, to Craig's point, it

{{00:04:50}}
is going to transform every industry.

{{00:04:52}}
It's going to fundamentally change
how people bank and engage with their

{{00:04:56}}
financial services, and ultimately,
right, for us, it's the two big things

{{00:05:00}}
are, it will take, it takes complexity,
And it allows us to deliver the results

{{00:05:05}}
of that complexity at speed that
otherwise would not be possible to do.

{{00:05:09}}
And it allows us to get the type
of insight about a person and

{{00:05:13}}
their behavior and their needs.

{{00:05:15}}
That otherwise you really
wouldn't get unless you actually

{{00:05:17}}
sat down and spoke to them.

{{00:05:19}}
I'm curious about the idea
of how AI is going to evolve.

{{00:05:22}}
Again, we're obviously in the very
early stages of it, but we can start

{{00:05:24}}
to think of the things that we'd like
to be able to do with the technology.

{{00:05:27}}
I know AI and agents, for example,
is one of the things that's a

{{00:05:29}}
particularly popular use case.

{{00:05:31}}
Can you talk a little bit about
that particular use case and how it

{{00:05:33}}
enhances the customer experience?

{{00:05:35}}
Yeah, so we think that
agents are the future.

{{00:05:38}}
And so what we're building towards
is an agentic future where Consumers

{{00:05:43}}
are able to use agents to go
and do their shopping for them.

{{00:05:46}}
So instead of potentially going to a
digital experience on your own as a human.

{{00:05:50}}
You'd be able to have agents go and
do some of that searching for you.

{{00:05:53}}
And what we're trying to build are
experiences that are hyper targeted

{{00:05:56}}
around that, really from two sides.

{{00:05:57}}
One is to support the consumer in
finding the right product, but number

{{00:06:00}}
two is to help the organization, in this
case, banks, be able to make sure that

{{00:06:05}}
they're part of that decision set when an
agent is out looking to evaluate what's

{{00:06:10}}
the right tool for that individual.

{{00:06:12}}
They're very interesting.

{{00:06:12}}
And ultimately, It's going to be a
paradigm shift for the industry, for

{{00:06:15}}
all industries, because if you think
about like so much in digital is about

{{00:06:19}}
this human to machine interface where
I've got to have this really great

{{00:06:25}}
design that's really easy to use,
that presents information in a way

{{00:06:29}}
that I know where to go, what journey,
all of that's going to disappear.

{{00:06:32}}
Right?

{{00:06:32}}
All it is me saying, I want
this, and the agent now will go

{{00:06:36}}
off and do that for you, right?

{{00:06:38}}
And that is going to be trying, I'm super
simplifying it, but ultimately that is

{{00:06:41}}
what is going to change so much around how
a brand and a person interact with each

{{00:06:47}}
other, and it's going to be crucial that
brands really think about that and think

{{00:06:50}}
about the role they want to play in that.

{{00:06:52}}
Yeah, that is very interesting.

{{00:06:54}}
I was thinking by way of following up,
or by finishing rather you've got a lot

{{00:06:57}}
of financial institutions here that have
been hearing a lot of these conversations,

{{00:06:59}}
both on stage, they'll be hearing
this one on film as it plays later on.

{{00:07:03}}
For a financial institution that says that
they're ready to embark on this journey,

{{00:07:05}}
they know it's the journey they need to
embark upon, what are the first steps?

{{00:07:08}}
How do you even get started?

{{00:07:10}}
Well, like anything, it's
identifying the problem.

{{00:07:13}}
It's being clear that you as an
organization want to move towards a

{{00:07:18}}
dynamic future where you're able to offer
that same high touch experience that you

{{00:07:21}}
offered in a branch, but do it digitally.

{{00:07:23}}
And then it's identifying, well,
what does that mean for us?

{{00:07:26}}
So specifically, what are the
strategies that we want to implement?

{{00:07:30}}
What are the endpoint goals?

{{00:07:32}}
How are we going to know we achieved them?

{{00:07:33}}
And then from there, you can
then begin to look at how those

{{00:07:36}}
technologies can help support you.

{{00:07:37}}
So don't get stuck so much
on on a technology, whether

{{00:07:40}}
or not you want AI or not AI.

{{00:07:42}}
Look more at what is the business
outcome that I'm trying to achieve?

{{00:07:46}}
And then from there, identify
what are the best strategies

{{00:07:48}}
to be able to achieve that?

{{00:07:49}}
How are we going to measure
if we achieve that correctly?

{{00:07:51}}
And then begin to move down that, that
road of finding the right solution to

{{00:07:55}}
be able to solve for that overnight.

{{00:07:56}}
and speak to us, because
we'll help you get started.

{{00:07:58}}
Yeah, absolutely.

{{00:07:59}}
Sounds like very, very good advice.

{{00:08:00}}
Well, thank you very much for spending
a little bit of time with us, both

{{00:08:02}}
AI and personalization, huge topics
here at the conference, huge topics

{{00:08:05}}
in banking and financial services,
something we're going to be hearing a

{{00:08:07}}
lot more from and from Finalytics about.

{{00:08:09}}
Thank you very much.

{{00:08:10}}
Thank you.

{{00:08:10}}
Thank you very much.

{{00:08:11}}
Appreciate it.

{{00:08:11}}
Take care.

{{00:08:11}}
And thank you.

Hello, I'm David Penn,
Research Analyst with Finovate.

We're here at Finovate Fall 2024 in
New York, and joining me are Craig

McLaughlin and Baron Conway, CEO
and CSO respectively of Finalytics.

Gentlemen, thank you for joining me today.

Could you tell folks who might not
be familiar with Finalytics AI just

Absolutely, so Finalytics is a
personalization solution designed

specifically for banks and credit unions.

And so what we do is we give financial
services institutions the ability to

yield experiences that are hyper targeted
around the individual user, both in the

authenticated experience inside of online
banking, as well as in the unauthenticated

From your perspective, what is it
that personalization fundamentally

When we say that services are
personalized, what does that really mean?

That's a great question, and Barron
and I spent a lot of time talking

Yeah, so ultimately personalization
is really about understanding the

intent and behavior and needs of
an individual, of a user, right?

And then for that institution or
that organization being able to be

relevant to those needs and deliver
really targeted specific content and

At the same time, the other side
of personalization is also mapping

So it's understanding that user's
sort of behavior, who they are, their

age range, and saying, okay, based
on those characteristics, let me

make sure that the message I'm trying
to communicate resonates with them.

There's the individual and then
there's the organization and how

I want to talk a little bit more
from the organizational perspective.

Personalization, obviously, the
customer, you can see what they

What's in it for the
financial institution?

So historically, when you look
at the distribution of financial

institutions in the United
States, there's 10, 000 of them.

And the largest, 80, are over 25 billion
in assets, and there's not a lot of them.

The vast majority of FIs in this country
are actually much, much smaller FIs,

and when you interview those FIs and
you ask them what makes you special,

they all say the same thing, which
is this highly personalized, high

touch experience that they bring to
constituents in their communities.

But the challenge is digital
transformation has really disrupted

that, and the ability to deliver that
high touch service, something that you

were able to do on the phone or in a
branch, has really been taken away.

So we really look at the opportunity
to use personalization as the

opportunity to get back that
secret sauce, that high touch

And so what we're able to do is
dynamically pick up on each individual's

And with that, we return
an experience that's hyper

And so we're basically giving community
FIs the ability to deliver the same

experiences that mega brands are
able to do in the digital channel.

So to build upon that, so if you
think about it, right, then quite

simply what that also means is,
from an institution's perspective.

It enables them in the digital
channel to build closer relationships,

build more loyalty, and crucially,
drive increased product sales.

Because if you give someone what they're
looking for, they're more likely to engage

And really, that's the ultimate
sort of success in terms of what

I mean, just the idea that When you
give people what they're looking

for, they're more inclined to
continue to do business with you.

It's a, it's, when you get that
right, it really does work.

And and what's odd is that digital has
been such an opportunity to deliver that

for so many years, but really financial
services has lagged other industries.

When you look at what's happened with
Netflix, and with Spotify, and with

Amazon with its shopping experience,
using data on what customers are

Content to them that they're
actually looking for.

It builds deep relationships that
are high touch and sticky, right?

And one of the technologies that's
been talked about in terms of really

hyper driving the opportunity for
personalization is AI Of course, could

you talk a little bit about the role of
AI and helping personalization take place?

I mean, so every, we talk about it
constantly at this conference, but

every technology is going to have
some element of AI in it today.

And so how we're using AI is we're using
it to be able to drive experiences that

are laser targeted around that individual.

So we're doing calculations that really
prior weren't really capable to be

done at the scale we're able to do it
because we're able to take data as input,

Personalized experiences
based on an individual.

It's a high performing algorithm
for outputting these kinds

Yeah, and so ultimately, the two big
things, right, to Craig's point, it

FinovateFall

Expert Insight

Craig McLaughlin and Baron Conway, CEO and CSO of Finalytics.ai, explore the dual aspects of personalization: meeting individual user needs and aligning with organizational objectives. They explain how AI facilitates tailored, high-touch digital experiences, aiding smaller financial institutions to compete with larger counterparts. 