Finastra Universe London 2018: overcoming the data frontier
Journalists and speakers alike love using the eye-catching one-liners that could easily make a book title you pick up at an airport.
Data is the new oil. Data is the new currency. If you’re not paying for it, you’re paying with your own data. And many others.
“A generational shift in attitude towards sharing data”
These were mentioned in passing during Finastra Universe, an event in London organised by the eponymous banking tech supplier and held yesterday (11 December). Here, we saw a lot of the firm’s modern attitude towards banking, and the first few steps to making it a reality.
The hashtag used, #CollaborateToInnovate, is quite self-explanatory. Finastra knows that no bank can innovate on their own, as they never have enough resources. They’re better off collaborating with other tech companies whose skills and resources can fill in those gaps.
“It is definitely a generational shift in attitude towards sharing data, but if it benefits you, as a customer, why wouldn’t you share it?” says Eli Rosner, chief product and technology officer at Finastra.
Rosner paints the following scenario: you have a big event coming up, let’s say, your daughter’s graduation. Your bank, without you even bringing it up, has spotted it via the multitude of data sources available.
So, it decides to offer you a discount, out of the blue, in flights, shoes, restaurants and hotels, as long as you purchase these through one of their partners.
Here, you’re saving money and time, while the bank is benefitting by recommending partners. All happy.
Narendra Mistry, senior director in product management at Finastra, said in one of the panels: “Find out the needs of your customers to leverage the full engagement of the customer. Higher engagement leads to higher revenue, and data is the key to all this.”
“Nowadays, my kids, and everybody in their generation, are happy to share all their information on Facebook and all over the internet, so why wouldn’t they share it with the bank? It’s a trusted entity, after all,” adds Rosner.
According to Rosner, magic truly happens when we’re able to combine accurate data and immense computing capabilities. That’s why it has become such a prominent point in Finastra’s strategy.
The firm is showing its commitment to make the best use of data for the service of both the bank and the customer, soon hiring a chief artificial intelligence (AI) officer.
“If you want to be rich these days, become a data scientist,” quips Rosner, although it becomes clear that there’s much truth behind those words.
Lastly, Finastra’s mantra on collaboration doesn’t go unnoticed. Not only were most panels about how collaborations had brought about new capabilities for financial institutions, but Finastra’s flagship product is designed around collaborating.
FusionFabric, the cloud-based platform Finastra offers to those institutions who haven’t fully made the jump to a state-of-the-art banking system, bridges the gap between the dated and the modern.
