Pete, please guide us through your background and your role as VP of Fintech Solutions at Member Driven Technologies?
I have over 25 years of experience in financial services, spanning front-office and back-office operations, payments, IT processing, consulting, mergers, conversions and integrations. Prior to MDT, I spent over 15 years at Jack Henry with my last position being the director of Symitar implementations.

Even in my previous role, I admired MDT’s deep commitment to clients, employees and its dynamic culture, which are major reasons I ended up here. My passion is helping credit unions leverage the most effective technology and solutions to meet their unique needs and ultimately enhance member service, helping solidify our credit unions’ position as the financial partner of choice in their communities. As VP of Fintech Solutions, I support our clients with fintech integrations and strategy, helping them navigate today’s complex landscape to remain competitive and successful.

For banks and credit unions, what are the key considerations when evaluating potential fintech partners?
When evaluating potential fintech partners, there are several factors that institutions should consider to ensure alignment with their innovation goals and strategic priorities. First, prioritize fintech investments based on cost-effectiveness and their impact on the institution’s overarching strategy. Does the solution solve a pressing problem or business need? Some common top priorities include digital banking solutions, payment systems, efficiency improvements, and security/fraud prevention technologies along with technology that can drive deposits.

It’s also critical to make sure the potential partner has a strong values and culture match. If the fintech doesn’t align with the institution’s long-term vision, the implementation is likely to be disruptive instead of transformative. Finally, thoroughly evaluate the fintech’s track record (which should include reaching out to others who have leveraged the technology), their approach to data security and compliance, and its ability to integrate seamlessly with existing systems.

Prioritizing fintech partners based on overarching strategy, culture and values alignment – as well as extensive due diligence – will be best positioned for success.

What are the common pitfalls that financial institutions should avoid during the fintech selection process?
A major one is innovation for innovation’s sake. Community-focused institutions in particular have limited time and resources, so it’s critical for their attention to be dedicated to deploying technology that squarely supports the organization’s high-level strategy. If innovation is not a key part of your credit union’s strategy, then avoid the ‘shiny new thing’ and focus on investing in technology that augments your institution’s competitive differentiators.

Another common pitfall is only assessing the fintech’s sales and business development team. While these contacts might be great, what will matter most is connection and collaboration with who the institution will be working with on a daily basis, such as the fintech’s operational and support teams. Make sure there is good chemistry between key players.

How important is it for a fintech solution to align with the existing processes and culture of a financial institution?
It’s extremely important; even the most advanced technology can be harmful rather than helpful if it doesn’t align with the institution’s overarching mission or long-term vision. As part of this ‘vibe check’, institutions should evaluate the fintech’s commitment to the customer or member experience, their risk appetite and their view of technology’s role in the broader ecosystem. It’s important to understand how well the fintech solution integrates with existing processes, complements the company culture and advances organizational goals.

Please keep in mind that this isn’t the greenlight to make new fintech solutions to fit into existing processes that have been in place for 20 years. You will likely not gain the efficiencies you’re looking for if you take this approach. Be willing to consider different approaches to existing processes and make the changes that make sense from an ROI perspective.

Can you share some best practices for conducting thorough due diligence on potential fintech partners?
There are several key areas that should be thoroughly vetted to ensure a successful and secure partnership. This includes factors such as the solution’s technical architecture, integration points with existing systems, security posture and the company’s financial position. While this process is arduous, it’s extremely necessary; there is great financial and reputational risk involved in partnering with a company that doesn’t employ proper controls or fails to meet security standards. Here, it can be extremely beneficial to rely on trusted strategic partners for insight and guidance.

By conducting thorough due diligence and thinking long-term, institutions can identify solutions that not only help differentiate but also foster growth and lasting loyalty.

How can smaller institutions, with limited technology resources, navigate the vast array of fintech options available to them?
Navigating the fintech ecosystem can be especially difficult for smaller institutions without the extensive technology resources or in-house expertise available. This is where the right partner can make all the difference, one that is able to provide comprehensive support to guide institutions through the complex fintech ecosystem. Partners that help institutions bridge the fintech gap and understand and speak the fintech language are often a gamechanger for smaller institutions.

When it comes to integrating AI, what steps should financial institutions take to distinguish between hype and substance?
There is a lot of literature out there about AI needing a very structured waterfall approach to implementing this technology. If we’re talking about narrow AI, this approach makes sense because this technology has been around for decades and you’re likely already using this technology without knowing it. If we’re talking about the new Generative AI (GenAI), I don’t think a structured approach here is the right path, particularly for small institutions.

People have a very difficult time switching to new technologies and if you’re going to get the efficiency lift that GenAI promises, you have to change behaviors. It’s just nature, we all love a good habit (maybe it’s just me). But we have found that the best approach here is to pilot GenAI technologies. This approach gives your team a chance to test the new technology in a controlled environment and allows you to figure out the pros and cons without making a major investment in a platform that will likely be very different a year from now. Engaging strategic, and consultive partners is key here if you don’t have the technical expertise on staff.

What role does education and literacy around AI play in helping financial institutions make informed decisions about adopting this technology?
Education and literacy are huge. In general, people tend to fear the unknown, so it makes sense that institutions that fail to properly educate themselves about AI will avoid it. Ensuring key stakeholders understand AI’s potential – and risks – is a critical first step before a strategy can be formed. You can’t avoid AI’s impact. Your employees are likely using this technology now. Lean on industry groups, reputable publications and trusted partners to help share the most relevant AI information and content.

Can you provide examples of small-scale AI use cases that financial institutions can experiment with before fully committing to larger implementations?
As the hype and buzz around AI continues (and frankly, it’s exhausting), financial institutions are exploring several small-scale use cases before committing to larger implementations. For instance, they can start by integrating AI into simpler customer or member chats, where the AI can handle routine inquiries and free up human agents for more complex interactions. Keep in mind, quality here is extremely important as the chatbot is talking directly to your members. Another promising area is AI’s role in supporting the loan approval process by automating preliminary assessments and streamlining documentation review.

AI also proves beneficial in enhancing operational efficiencies by optimizing workflows, improving work quality, and proactively informing decision-making. And, it can support with crafting more personalized offerings, tailored to individual customer or member needs. Even if immediate action isn’t taken, it’s crucial for banks and credit unions to consider how AI could align with and support their service and brand strategy. Engaging with trusted partners and peers is a great starting point to stay informed about the latest advancements and potential applications.

Looking forward, what trends do you see in the fintech landscape that banks and credit unions should be aware of?
Origination and servicing in digital channels continue to be top of mind. Ensuring member engagement after they open their accounts is also areas of interest for our credit unions. We expect loan rates to start to decrease and as a result, lending volumes will go up (no surprise there). Make sure you have the right technology tools for loan origination in place before volume goes up. Also, you cannot be passive with respect to fraud and security. Using technologies to help mitigate these risks is a must for every financial institution.

We see a lot of interest in technologies to provide services for non-interest income. Business Banking and the associated fee income is big right now. Also, is there a way to use Faster Payments (FedNow/RTP) to generate non-interest income? Perhaps.

BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) continues to get a lot of press and frankly, the adoption numbers are really amazing. But with multiple due dates and rising delinquencies, it does make me wonder if this new service is really helping or hurting consumers.

Anything from the CEO Forum we could highlight?

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Nico, we’re delighted to have you at FintecBuzz. Could you start by sharing your professional journey and how it led you to co-found Clair?
I began my professional career after college at J.P. Morgan, where I worked on projects involving hourly rideshare drivers. This helped me gain a deeper understanding of the fintech space and the obstacles that workers face to reach financial stability. Despite already earning their pay, they don’t have immediate access to it, if they need to cover for unexpected expenses. After working an hourly job in college, I experienced firsthand how incredibly frustrating it could be to wait weeks for my paycheck, and sometimes even longer as a result of processing errors. As a student managing my personal budget, in a new country, I could only imagine the level of frustration for individuals providing for their families financially.

This served as my inspiration for creating Clair, a solution to provide a flexible way for employees to get a portion of their pay before payday. Solving the gap between work and pay, and with 78% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck the ability to access their next paycheck ahead of the designated date can make all the difference.

How has payroll technology traditionally operated, and why do these methods no longer meet the needs of today’s employees?
While payroll providers have traditionally issued paychecks on a biweekly cycle, the world is moving toward faster technology and instant money transfers, yet payday remains stuck in an outdated system. Our perspective at Clair is that people should be allowed to get paid as soon as they clock out, especially since they’ve already done the work to earn that money.

Additionally, payroll technology has historically been clunky, which means it’s difficult and time-consuming for employees to use. More employers are recognizing these pain points, as 58% mentioned technology integration as one of the top areas of improvement for their payroll providers, and another 29% said tech modernization is a major concern. In order to meet the needs of the modern workforce, Clair decided to partner with a national bank to provide compliant earned wage access (EWA) to America’s workforce. Our team has worked tirelessly over the past few years to offer a banking infrastructure and compliance framework that makes accessing on-demand pay seamless. We’ve brought this – and our proprietary technology – to industry-leading HR platform partners like Gusto and TriNet, so the companies using their tools can easily offer on-demand pay to their workers.

We just announced in July that Clair grants employees at many of Gusto’s 300K supported businesses access to sign up for On-Demand Pay right in the Gusto Wallet app. This makes Gusto the first partner to announce Clair’s new embedded On-Demand Pay product, which leverages proprietary technology to provide an embedded, compliant EWA solution that integrates directly into workforce management and payroll applications.

We also recently partnered with payroll infrastructure company Check, which selected Clair as its first EWA partner. HR platforms using Check to build and launch their payroll businesses can seamlessly opt into offering Clair’s fully compliant, On-Demand Pay solution, without any impact to payroll and changes to HR.

It’s been a busy year for our team, but we’re happy to be at the forefront of a larger shift toward embedded finance in the HR and payroll industry.

Can you explain how embedded finance is converging with payroll technology and what benefits this convergence brings to both employers and employees?
We’re seeing more embedded finance tools integrated into HCM platforms for seamless use and adoption. APIs, for example, allow for financial experiences to be embedded into existing HR apps to create a “one-stop shop,” providing a more user-friendly design similar to that of consumer apps. About 41% of employees are already overwhelmed by the number of tools and technologies they’re required to use, so streamlining their HR tech stack is key.

By providing employees with one platform where they can access multiple benefits, including financial wellness tools, HR can have a better view of what’s important to employees in the workplace. This can help executives make data-driven choices, reduce the time and resources required to train employees on new benefit tools and help overall employee satisfaction and productivity.

With a top-requested benefit like earned wage access, for example, building an embedded experience is key. It’s typically complicated for HR tech to build, so finding a compliant partner that has the right tech infrastructure in place is critical. Clair’s On-Demand Pay product removes all manual work required to roll out the benefit, and that includes any manual changes to employee counts or payroll.

Why is it important to give employees flexibility when they get paid, and how does this flexibility impact employee satisfaction and retention?
For employers who are still dealing with labor shortages in essential fields like healthcare and manufacturing, offering flexible benefits like on-demand pay can be a game changer in employee satisfaction, which leads to retention. With benefits like on-demand pay, employers can help their workers get better financial footing and stand out in the labor market. Companies that go one step further to ensure embedded finance benefits are available within their existing HR apps can also gain a significant advantage, such as lessening burnout among their HR teams and prioritizing workers’ well-being and user experience, to ultimately differentiate themselves as a top employer.

With 68% of employees using financial wellness services provided by their employers in 2023, up from 51% in 2012, what does this trend indicate about the evolving needs of the workforce?
This indicates a few things about today’s workforce. They’re dealing with stressors – like unexpected expenses, student loan payments, or inflation increasing the cost of living – and they appreciate the help and support of their employers. They also want both long-term and short-term financial wellness benefits. Offering 401(k)s for long-term savings is important but many workers need help now and can benefit from access to their pay outside of the bi-weekly pay cycle, budgeting tools, financial education and more. Simply put: Employees want more flexibility and control over their finances and financial wellness benefits help deliver that.

Why is it crucial for payroll tech providers to partner with financial wellness benefit providers who understand regulatory complexities and ensure long-term compliance?
Service disruptions can be a headache and if a financial wellness benefits partner isn’t compliant, it can turn into a nightmare for employers and their employees. That’s why it’s critical to identify a partner who not only understands regulatory complexities but is also compliant, which gives employers peace of mind while extending support and buy-in from executives. When it comes to EWA in particular, it’s no longer just an advantage but rather a need as the CFPB recently proposed that EWA products should be recognized as loans, and states are also constantly enacting their own laws. This can lead to interrupted service with EWA providers that are not compliant, when laws change.

Additionally, Millennials and Gen Z-ers make up the majority of today’s professionals and have grown up with consumer-friendly apps with embedded finance experiences, like Venmo and Uber. As a result, they now expect the same app and software experiences that prioritize convenience and are designed with sleek and simple interfaces. By embedding financial offerings into HR management apps, users can easily find what they need without the extra step of extensively searching workflow documents or contacting customer support. With the help of innovative HR tech and fintech teams leveraging APIs and building proprietary technology, this experience can be brought to life. By minimizing employee confusion and lessening time-consuming questions for HR teams, workplaces can also see a rise in employee engagement rates.

Based on your experience, what advice would you give to employers looking to update their Workforce Management and Human Capital Management systems to better meet the needs of their employees?
Make it as easy as possible to keep everything integrated! Employees do not have the time or energy to navigate a new app or tool in their workflow management processes. They’re already occupied with their daily job responsibilities, so the additional task of spending time updating payroll information or logging into yet another insurance portal creates productivity obstacles. By making tools simpler and more seamless, workers are more likely to utilize them on a day-to-day basis and it makes it easier to onboard future employees.

In closing, what final thoughts or key messages would you like to share about the future of payroll technology and the importance of integrating financial wellness services for a modern workforce?
Embedded finance is key to reshaping the way employers approach employee benefits and workplace management. It’s been exciting to see the demand for financial wellness benefits increasing recently among employers and professionals. We’re excited about expanding access to On-Demand Pay and to see the noticeable impacts on employees’ lives.

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Mireille, please tell our readers a bit about your journey and what led you to your current role as CMO of Regnology.

Over the past two decades, my career as a marketing professional has been deeply rooted in supporting enterprise financial software companies. Early in my career, I had a brief stint with a niche vendor specializing in connectivity for listed derivatives. I then spent nearly 12 years at Murex, where I grew into a marketing leader within a global organization. This period was a remarkable chapter in my career, during which I honed my skills in all areas of marketing and communications. I also gained valuable insights into the challenges of financial and capital markets, thanks to the expertise of the subject matter experts I worked with. This experience enabled me to develop agile methods for building a scalable marketing organization capable of keeping up with Murex’s rapid growth, as the company tripled in size, revenue, and geographical footprint, becoming one of the most recognized global leading providers of front-to-back-to-risk trading platforms. I reconnected with electronic trading and connectivity during my tenure at Ullink, applying the foundational skills I had developed early in my career to support the company’s growth ambitions and its subsequent merger with Itiviti. After a detour with an AI start-up specializing in NLG reporting solutions, I rejoined Itiviti in 2020 to work with Rob Mackay, who had been appointed CEO in 2019. Following the acquisition by Broadridge, I supported the company’s transformation into Broadridge Trading and Connectivity Solutions and spearheaded the branding strategy. My move to Regnology was largely motivated by the opportunity to work again with Rob, Linda Middleditch (Chief Product Officer) and other colleagues who had played a key role in Itiviti’s success story.

Given your extensive experience in the software industry, what are some of the most significant changes you’ve observed in marketing over the past two decades?

My passion for marketing stems from its role as a core business function, bridging the gap between supporting a strategic vision, crafting a value proposition, engaging target audiences, and delivering business impact. In the early days, marketing was often considered primarily for its creative aspects, sometimes relegated to a support function disconnected from the core business, particularly in the B2B realm. The go-to tactic for lead generation would be in-person events or tradeshows with a heavy reliance of print collateral and goodies. Today, this perception persists in some cases, reducing marketing’s role to tactical execution of short-term sales activities. However, the rise of digital, evolving buyer behaviors, and the growth of the martech landscape have highlighted the strong correlation between effective marketing and business success, proving its capacity to accelerate growth and scalability.
Key changes include:
● Marketing activities are now quantifiable, offering data-driven insights into the effectiveness of channels and content in engaging audiences and showing their impact on revenue.
● Digital channels have become essential elements of a company’s growth strategy. Websites and social media must be both attractive and seamlessly integrated with CRM systems and marketing automation.
● Content has taken center stage, and as we move towards a cookie-less world, the quality of content and its alignment with the target audience’s pain points will become even more critical.
This comes with an imperative to adopt a holistic approach building on a keen understanding of the market and its dynamics, investing in digital marketing and consistently executing multi-channel campaigns by leveraging automation and the capability to deliver personalized messages.

Regnology focuses on regulatory reporting. How do you approach marketing in such a niche and specialized industry? / You’ve led marketing efforts at companies like Murex and Itiviti. How does marketing in the fintech industry differ from other sectors you’ve worked in?

Regulatory reporting is inherently complex, demanding organizations to adhere to detailed and varying standards across jurisdictions while accurately capturing, processing, and reporting large volumes of data. As a marketer, I apply the same principles here as in any other field I’ve worked in. Success in marketing hinges on engaging with subject matter experts and leveraging their insights to inform the marketing strategy. Understanding how our technology helps regulators and the regulated solve the regulatory data conundrum, streamline the reporting and data collection processes and offer augmented infrastructures leveraging cloud and AI is crucial for crafting relevant messages. Equally important is aligning with the sales team to ensure we create deliverables and execute activities that achieve the necessary scale to reach both current and potential customers. Content marketing is a fundamental driver, though the channels for regulatory reporting are probably scarcer compared to the trading space for instance. Although Regnology is a young brand with just three years of existence, we have the significant advantage of leveraging over 25 years of expertise and recognition, supporting thousands of financial institutions in their reporting processes and covering over 70 financial authorities across the world. We also host the RegTech Convention, one of the largest conferences dedicated to financial regulation, now in its 31st year, providing a unique forum for regulators and the regulated to discuss current regulatory and technology topics.

M&A preparation and strategy are critical areas in your expertise. How do you align marketing strategies with broader business objectives during mergers and acquisitions?

From a marketing perspective, mergers and acquisitions present the challenge of integrating new elements into the overall offering while keeping the value proposition consistent and enhancing it where necessary. It’s crucial to manage change effectively while ensuring business continuity. The due diligence process is essential for understanding the new entity’s value proposition and identifying how it contributes to the organization. This enables us to anticipate the impact on ongoing marketing programs, whether they strengthen existing offerings, expand geographical reach, or target new audiences. Integration unfolds in phases over time, involving a continuous learning process where people, cultures, and work habits intersect. Although it doesn’t happen overnight and comes with its challenges, M&A ultimately serve as powerful growth accelerators. For Regnology, considering the specificities of regulatory reporting, M&A have accelerated knowledge transfer, added expertise, and efficiently expanded our footprint.

AI is rapidly changing the marketing landscape. How do you see AI influencing marketing strategies and initiatives today and in the future?

I believe AI will deeply integrate into marketing, influencing a wide range of channels and tactics. In the martech space, AI can already help automate processes and fine-tune campaign tactics in SEO and paid advertising for instance, enhancing their precision and effectiveness. It also helps to optimize content for search engines and improve campaign performance by identifying the most successful strategies. Furthermore, AI supports content creation by uncovering innovative business ideas, jumpstarting content production and developing more personalized and tailored messages.
I see AI as a valuable tool for taking over routine, repetitive tasks, allowing marketers to concentrate on strategic efforts. It also has the potential to provide exceptional data intelligence by recognizing patterns, offering fresh insights and provide advanced analytics.
However, as AI usage becomes widespread, there is a risk of uniform content and tactics being disseminated across organizations. I think that in a world where the use of AI is widespread, developing a unique and distinctive voice will be more than even a key differentiator to deliver successful marketing tactics.

What are some challenges you face when rebranding or launching new products, and how do you overcome them?

The marketing challenges with Regnology are diverse and complex. The company brand is young and aiming to gain global recognition, the organization is integrating multiple tech stack into its offering through its active M&A, the product vision is driven by technology innovation and constantly evolving, which adds another layer of complexity.
The decision was taken early on to develop Regnology as a branded house rather than a house of brand. By implementing a company-led brand strategy, we aim to amplify the investment made to introduce Regnology and use it as an umbrella brand that extends to our entire solution offering.
Regnology has a singular focus on regulatory reporting. Our goal is to develop Regnology into a household name synonymous with “Regulatory Reporting” and “Tech” expertise, reflecting the foundation of our company name. This caters for the potential disruptive effects of M&A avoiding confusion and cannibalization across our tech stack. Additionally, we want to prevent the need for repeated overhauls of our brand system when integrating new offerings. We are developing a brand system that permeates from the company level to our platform and all solution lines, while still giving room to assess the brand equity of acquired companies and products and integrate them into the brand system.
From a branding perspective, my goal is to achieve high brand equity by consistently enhancing brand recognition across all touchpoints at the company, platform, and solution levels.

Lastly, what advice would you give to aspiring marketers who want to make a significant impact in the fintech industry?

My advice to an aspiring marketer aiming to make a significant impact in the fintech industry is to cultivate a strong sense of curiosity. You need to be equally passionate about mastering marketing strategies and understanding the intricacies of the financial industry. Treat marketing as a core function and forge strong alliances with product and sales teams, as well as HR (for employer branding for instance), customer success, and partnership divisions. Harness the power and insights provided by AI and digital marketing but remember to blend in the art of marketing to create meaningful connections and memorable experiences for your target audience.

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Srikrishnan, it’s great to have you with us. Can you start by sharing a bit about your professional journey and what led you to co-found Rocketlane?

I did my bachelor’s in Computer Science & Engineering and went to one of India’s top B-schools – IIM Bangalore from 2005 to 2007. Post that I’ve been in in product companies – first building product, and later building the business. I’m a techie at heart and started my career in B2C products – across Verizon, Rediff.com, and a start-up called Jigsee. It was 2012 when I started my first start-up with a couple of close friends, and my B2B SaaS journey started with that venture. We were lucky to be acquired by Freshworks in 2015, and learned a lot about building and running a SaaS business in the 4 and a half years we spent there post-acquisition. Inspired by the success and impact I saw at Freshworks, I started Rocketlane in 2020 with the same co-founders – Vignesh and Deepak.

How does Rocketlane plan to utilize the Series B funding to advance its AI integration in the professional services sector?

We’re integrating advanced AI capabilities to revolutionize project delivery, governance, and operations with copilot experiences, automations, forecasting, insights, and recommendations.

What specific inefficiencies in customer onboarding and project management does Rocketlane aim to address with its AI-driven approach?

In our previous roles at Freshworks, we noticed that the customer onboarding phase was under-serviced, crucial for gaining customer confidence but plagued by gaps in collaboration and visibility, making value demonstration challenging. Existing tools failed to provide cohesive visibility or enforce our playbook, leading to siloed work streams and inevitable escalations. Realizing the opportunity, we spoke to other companies facing similar issues and decided to create Rocketlane—a product designed specifically for customer onboarding and client project delivery, ensuring the right visibility and experience throughout the client delivery journey.

What strategic advantages does Rocketlane foresee by integrating AI into operations, project delivery, governance, and insights?

Rocketlane is able to make better governance, increased automation and efficiency available out-of-the-box for its customers through AI vs. having to set up elaborate rules and integrations to accomplish the same. This means more customers will use the intelligent capabilities and leverage the full power of a PSA solution. This ultimately means Rocketlane customers will see more success with the platform and be happy advocates.

In what ways does Rocketlane differentiate itself from traditional PSA software in terms of enhancing client satisfaction and project success rates?

Rocketlane is purpose-built for professional services delivery. It combines project management, resource management, communication and collaboration, reporting and analytics, financial management, and project automation capabilities into one sleek platform. Our customers do not need to switch tabs and flit between spreadsheets to keep track of projects.

How do real-time insights play a role in Rocketlane’s strategy for enhancing team collaboration and decision-making?

Real-time insights on our customers’ usage of Rocketlane help us understand how our product UX and flows impact adoption of various impactful capabilities we build for customers. The data and insights help us come up with new hypotheses, as well as validate existing ones, especially when we are able to slice and dice the data by cohort, industry, use case, etc.

How does Rocketlane ensure data privacy, accuracy, and consistency through AI automation, and what impact does this have on service quality?

Rocketlane takes the security and privacy of its customers seriously. Our services are tested automatically on every SDLC lifecycle. Thousands of tests ensure that the quality of the software we release to our customers meets our stringent guidelines. All customer data is physically or logically separated from each other and encrypted at rest and in transit. These and other controls we’ve implemented ensure we can meet compliance standards like SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA while maintaining a service SLA of 99.9% or higher.

How does Rocketlane balance automation with maintaining a personalized client experience in professional services?

Rocketlane’s automation and intelligent capabilities focus on providing the right alerts and insights in a timely manner, nudging users on actions, or providing an automated starting point for a personalized engagement. Customers use these automations, templates, and more as a nudge or an initial draft that they can work on top of to then personalize the experience – which also could be aided by AI.

Srikrishnan, what personal strategies do you employ to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving tech landscape?

• Spend deliberate time brainstorming with customers, partners, and internal team members to see what interesting and high impact ideas they have, and where they are seeing success with new products and technologies.
• Thought exercises around what kind of new product or technology can disrupt Rocketlane today.
• Part of the product/tech team is always experimenting with new technology and showcasing the experiments in weekly demos for the rest of the company to riff off on.
• Innovation seldom occurs in isolation. Watching out for innovation in other industries can carry very important clues for what can work in your own space. So, following the media to track innovation in adjacent spaces or parallels from other industries.

Finally, do you have any parting thoughts or advice for our readers about the future of AI in professional services and project management?

AI is going to aid services and project delivery professionals in a big way – increase our efficiency, identify risks, and help us codify our ways of working better.Embrace it and enable it by ensuring the data going into these AI enabled PSA and PM systems is maintained accurately at all times. By letting AI do its part – summarization, alerts, insights, document or email generation, etc., we can focus on the “human” aspects of client project delivery, and on developing the right plays to react to the insights, warnings, and inputs from AI.

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Erin, to kick things off, could you share a bit about your journey and what sparked your interest in enhancing financial fitness for consumers?
I began my career working at a bank in 1998 and then shifted to the fintech side in 2002 when I joined Digital Insight (which was acquired by NCR in 2014). Now, I am the executive director of product management for digital banking at NCR Voyix, helping community financial institutions digitally transform and enhance their product roadmap initiatives.

I have always been particularly passionate about financial health and wellness. After all, even small behavior changes can lead to meaningful impact. Over the past couple of years, my team and I have been focused on how we can empower community institutions to better support their customer and communities through unique experiences and easy self-service tools. This initiative is especially important as consumers across the country struggle with persisting inflation and a high cost of living.

I believe in community institutions’ power to help their customers improve their financial fitness and gain confidence in their financial decisions, and I’m proud of my team’s work to create tools to support those efforts.

In today’s economic climate with high inflation and living costs, what do you think are the most pressing challenges for lower and middle-income consumers and how can financial institutions help?
Inflation, loan interest rates, rising cost of living, and most recently the resumption of student loan payments have added significant financial burden to consumers across the country. As this economic uncertainty continues, one challenge is that many banks and credit unions still have a ‘one size fits all’ approach to helping customers and members with their financial fitness. There is a significant opportunity for community institutions to leverage data to create unique experiences for different segments, using technology to personalize experiences at scale and having a “one-to-one” experience.

However, there are challenges associated with where their customers are receiving their financial advice. Younger generations are generally not coming to the branch when they need assistance; instead, they’re looking to unverified influencers on TikTok or other social media sources.
To help overcome these roadblocks, banks and credit unions are taking on a more informed approach powered by real-time data, providing customers with resources, tools, and education within the context of their individual journey. Incorporating resources where customers are allows them to better understand, apply and retain the information, ultimately making it more impactful.

Community financial institutions remain the backbone of local economies and are uniquely positioned to support consumers and businesses during economic turmoil. To effectively do so, they must adopt personalized and contextual insights, backed by data.

Open APIs are becoming a game-changer for financial institutions. How do they foster innovation and broaden the range of tools available to customers?
With the advent of open APIs, it is suddenly possible for banks and credit unions to innovate more quickly than ever before, connecting with partners of choice or creating their own content to offer new and exciting technology. However, this can only happen if the bank or credit union’s architecture enables it. Platforms that are cloud-based and API-first, with a proven track record of reliable, successful integrations, should be prioritized.

Such architecture is also critical to unify channels, which is becoming increasingly critical for institutions. Traditionally, channels such as digital banking, the contact center, the branch, etc., have operated in siloes, creating disconnected customer and member experiences and inefficiencies for the institution. With an open, API-first architecture, it becomes possible to connect touchpoints, creating a consistent, efficient experience that isn’t defined by channels alone.

In a digital-first world, how can banks and credit unions ensure they maintain the human touch in their digital interactions?
Effectively humanizing the digital experience has never been so important. This means leading with empathy throughout the customer experience – in person, online or on their phones. Even something as simple as analyzing the language used in an error message can have a major impact. Banks and credit unions should evaluate everything with a person in mind – are you delivering relevant information in a human way, making them feel comfortable and supported along the journey? Personalization is a key factor here as well. Money and finances are extremely personal and should be treated that way.

Humanizing digital in this way is only possible through the effective use of data, using it to uncover crucial consumer behaviors, channel preferences, transactional patterns, and key events in the consumer journey. The banks and credit unions that prioritize looking for ways to incorporate more empathy and personalization within their platforms will be well positioned to strengthen relationships and drive loyalty with their customers and members.

What are some practical steps financial institutions can take to lead with empathy and personalize the digital experience for their customers?
Personalization really means showing the consumer that you know and care about them; they’re not just another number. Doing so effectively requires creating digital experiences that feel like they’re catered to each individual user. Even if low loan rates or high deposit rates are what got the consumer in the door, it won’t be what keeps them there. The financial institutions that emphasize building and maintaining relationships will be better positioned for loyalty and success.

AI is rapidly evolving in the financial sector. How should banks and credit unions approach AI integration to ensure it adds real value rather than just following trends?
There’s no denying that AI has significant potential, from creating personalized interactions with each consumer at scale and increasing efficiencies. Institutions should evaluate how AI can help institutions improve certain processes. For example, more are leveraging AI for lending decisions instead of just relying on traditional factors.

Banks and credit unions should keep in mind that AI, and especially generative AI, is only as strong as the data and information behind it. AI is not a magic bullet; there is notable work required to train AI to make it effective. The right data and training are needed, as well as ongoing human oversight.

Speaking of data, we’ve already established that the effective analysis and use of data is critical across the institutions. This is also where AI can have significant impact, allowing banks and credit unions to better collect and analyze this data. Such efforts will enable them to better anticipate customer and member behaviors and offer more accurate contextual assistance, such as tailoring their website content to specific needs.

For institutions starting their AI journey, what advice would you give on setting realistic expectations and effectively managing the implementation process?
Banks and credit unions should first ask themselves what they’re trying to accomplish with AI; it shouldn’t be adopted just for innovation’s sake. For example, do they have more of a need to enhance back-office efficiencies or do they need to offer different ways to support users? Be selective and prioritize; you don’t have to do everything all at once. Experimenting and making adjustments along the way will be critical in the process.

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