In the fintech industry, we often hear of growing innovations and iterative developments on existing technologies that seek to reimagine our world. Many are successful, many are groundbreaking but it is true, in a market of increasing transformation, that there are also products invented without a need for them.
While reporting from CES in his FinextraTV interview, Don Relyea, chief innovation officer, US Bank discussed the process of meaningful creation and adoption of new technologies and products.
"We see a lot of technology that’s been combined into a product, but [...] it’s a product looking for a customer need and then we’ll also see some where they’ve actually been really thoughtful about what their customers need and what the customer use cases are and those are the gems."
Relyea does not negate the importance of technological change but rather calls for more of a testing framework that places customer experience above technological trends as a priority: "For us, it's not about leveraging [...] all the new technologies, it’s about enabling a customer experience and then how do the developments in AI, in natural language processing, in cloud technology, in - eventually - quantum, how is that going to, once again, change that customer experience?"
When battling the speed of evolution in the digital age, many tend to lean into popular innovations and feel a necessity to quickly adopt them without proper thought into their suitability. One such relevant topic over the last few years has been AI: "We are seeing quite a few where people are taking AI models and just attaching it to stuff and those customer use cases are not as compelling, but we’ve seen some where they’ve taken really clear use cases around payments and third-party distribution [...] those types of things I think are going to be really impactful."
Again, Relyea explains how AI itself is not necessarily an innovation without use but that, perhaps in an overwhelming rush of industry information, companies have created new services and products that neither serve their customer better nor fit their brand. When asked for his advice, Relyea stated that companies should look at "putting a robust framework in place to test and learn and really understand what your customers want because the last thing your customer wants is for you to impose an experience on them that’s painful. As the bar for their expectations raises [...] getting a way to test and learn and get some of these new technologies in front of your customers and understand what it is they want out of it, as opposed to what it is you want out of it is the way to go."
Just as his colleague Todder Moning extolled the benefits of leaving the office to attend cross-industry events and witness new changes, Relyea emphasises the need to look at developments carefully and only adopt them if they are a keen fit for your customer need.