Banking has now become a fundamental function of society and involves many significant challenges that impact the entire ecosystem of stakeholders who share a vested interest in the security of funds, data, and the economy as a whole. To truly understand the extent to which a bank is making an impression on these various stakeholders, it can begin by assembling a narrative that not only inherits the organization’s ethos but also incorporates a variety of different perspectives. It is important to have leaders in place.
What this means for BMO is that they need someone who can assess the different needs of the people who interact with the organization in different ways, including customers, communities, and staff. It takes great communication and empathy to fully understand the requirements of an influential company like BMO.
Here, Sandip Sahota steps into the box as BMO’s senior vice president and enterprise chief data and analytics officer. He brings a passion for people to a position that advances the use of data in banking.
Sahota is focused on continuing to advance the bank’s industry-leading digital experience, including increasing employee efficiency, increasing organizational transparency, and expanding the use of digital solutions to meet needs. leading the business’s data capabilities to deliver benefits. Customers. As you begin to understand Sahota’s vision and the mission his BMO has adopted, you will see a consensus. Sahota points to a common driver: impact.
“We look at impact, how every decision we make and our overall strategy impacts within our community. We also look at how we impact economically within society. Do we make an impact? And that has been the focus of the organization for some time and continues to be the way we measure our success,” Sahota explains.
For BMO, this is achieved through a company-wide strategy to enable digital banking for customers, not only keeping up with the times but also providing better functionality for users. In his three years with the company, Sahota has seen this evolution occur by embracing a digital-first mindset and treating technology as the core of the organization.
“I have seen a focus on digital-first, thinking about digital not just as a channel but as a true capability. And being a digital bank is all about the customer journey. If you think it’s all about the employee experience,” says Sahota. “So how do you put together a seamless customer journey across every part of your business, even within your bank?”
“This capability is based on data and the ability to stitch together the customer journey through the right content sets and experiences driven by analytics. So that’s a big focus.”
But BMO does more than just talk the talk. The work being done behind the scenes to achieve this includes three Global Retail Banking Innovation Awards from Digital Banker: Outstanding IT Transformation by a Retail Bank, Best Digital Banking Initiative, and Outstanding Machine Learning Initiative , has been recognized with numerous industry awards. In doing so, we see that our investments are paying off, our focus is paying off, and our customers value the first-class experience in our space. This is great. ” Sahota added.
The importance of the role of chief data and analytics officer
To fully understand why CDAO’s role is so important in achieving BMO’s goals, Sahota explains the journey companies must embark on to get the most out of their data. Masu. In it, he highlights three major stages of the implementation process, from information gathering to extracting value for commercial applications.
“Early generations are all about building data assets that organizations can derive value from. Traditionally, this effort has been driven by people in horizontal roles, such as chief risk officers, who are responsible for sharing information across the organization. It starts with needing consistency, so you need people at the table to help you create the assets and the capabilities that will ultimately meet your needs,” says Sahota.
“Once you start doing that, the concept moves to second generation, or enterprise data. You need specific domains of data that are consistent across the organization so that everyone speaks the same language. , how do we replicate that? For many organizations that may be relevant to our customers, it may revolve around what the structure of the organization is, and it depends on their financial situation. There is a possibility.”
This then brings us to the pinnacle of data and analytics applications: the ultimate goal of delivering commercially viable solutions that help create value from clean, actionable data sources.
“The third generation that we are in now is focused on extracting value from all of these assets. You may have, you may have a business account, you may have some financial relationship with BMO, but you are part of a company that wants to: There may be, please make it public,” Sahota explains.
“How do you create that profile seamlessly so that they can help you in different ways across the organization? I think the reason we have someone in the CDAO seat is to get to the third generation. You need data assets, you need enterprise data, and you need the ability to extract value from it in a seamless way to drive customer progress and enable loyalty, growth, and efficiency.”
Citing an analogy used among BMO leaders, Sahota shares an approach that ensures essential functions are always met and that staff are free to respond to customer needs. This is an important ethos to adopt to reach the “third generation” stage.
“One of the core principles we’ve used to drive that decision is ‘solid core, flex edge.’ We’re building these robust capabilities to drive the customer experience, giving our business the flexibility to get in front of customers when needed with the right tools and capabilities. ,” says Sahota.
Evolution of AI and ML in the banking sector
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), in particular, have been present in banking for quite some time. As technologies evolve, industries use them to stay current amid rapid change.
The key here, as Sahota mentioned, is to diligently understand not only the risk factors (for example, customer data in high-risk industries), but also the applications associated with such technologies. This is where governance comes to the forefront to ensure that the expansion of AI-based solutions for banks delivers long-term value.
Sahota also emphasized the importance of staying on the same level with technology to take advantage of new features in the best way.
“Today, everyone is focused on generative AI (Gen AI), and rightly so. “Given the pace and nature of the industry, there are plenty of opportunities to apply some of these capabilities,” Sahota said.
On governance, he explains: As a regulated organization, and as an organization that manages information from 13 million customers, we consider the appropriate approach and think it makes sense to actually implement some of this functionality. I am considering the case. ”
One of the key areas where AI can add value to businesses is in automated decision-making. BMO considers the above points regarding good governance and also recognizes the opportunity to improve efficiency by offloading the burden to AI, while closely monitoring AI capabilities.
From a customer-centric perspective, lead generation is key to enabling BMO to repeatedly deliver great products. “We can look at a variety of information and suggest a focused set of customers they can work with,” Sahota said. “And focus customers on bringing them into the bank, thinking about deepening the relationship, and thinking about how best to bring value.”
Manage a larger footprint by integrating your solution into the cloud
To get the most out of your data across your organization, you first need to simplify how you access it from multiple facilities across the United States. Not to mention that the organization will be introducing data to his 13 states in the United States to commemorate the acquisition of Bank of the West.
The cloud enables this data sharing and forms a critical part of BMO’s data infrastructure. Sahota remains focused on further delivering this technology as the backbone of its ecosystem.
How will the company achieve its goals? Well, partnerships with banks will play a key role. Sahota points out that great work is being done with experts in key areas of digital transformation. BMO has already established AWS and Microsoft Azure as key partners for many digital capabilities and is developing knowledge within its teams to better leverage new and evolving systems.
These solutions will also be developed thanks to the Vector Institute, a BMO sponsor organization and a key organization for delivering more advanced data science. Dataiku is also a key partner in this space.
Returning to automation, Sahota also praised UiPath as the partner of choice for Robotic Process Automation (RPA), with which the company has worked tirelessly to optimize its products within the BMO ecosystem. .
Overall, the work of Sahota and BMO’s extensive data and analytics teams never stops, and Bank of the West’s seamless transition in an established ecosystem provides the bank with a solid digital foundation on which to continue to grow. proves that it has.
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