Finovate Fall, a conference series focused exclusively on showcasing the best and most innovative new financial and banking technologies, runs from Sep 24-27. We sit down with Paul Lorimer, Vizolution’s Regional Sales Director of Canada, at the end of Day 1 to see how it’s all been going.
How has your experience been at Finovate Fall 2018 so far?
There are Finovate events all around the world, including in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. One of the great things about Finovate Fall is its demo-based format, which provides lots of opportunities to meet with the talented teams behind the companies’ innovative solutions.
Attendees are also able to keep up-to-date with the latest digital developments in the financial services at the various keynote sessions and panel discussions.
There are over 80 companies demoing over the first two days, all of which are aiming to solve particular Fin-Tech problems.
NestReady demoed this morning and showcased its machine-learning predictive analytics model, which aims to give visibility into the home-buying customer life cycle for mortgage lenders so that they can perform analytics and then take appropriate action.
There are some really interesting things currently being done in the mortgage applications and loans sector. We, for example, recently helped Royal Bank of Scotland deploy the UK’s first ever paperless mortgage process.
This sets a new standard for the banking industry and demonstrates how taking steps to meet evolving consumer requirements, while prioritising environmental considerations, can also generate significant commercial benefits.
I think technology has a responsibility to not only improve business operations, but also bring about significant environmental impacts, and, of course, make the experience easier and more enjoyable for the user.
There are two days of demos. Are you planning on attending any tomorrow?
Sure, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s demo by Banzai. The team there will be showcasing their financial literacy solution that uses a choose-your-own-adventure simulation.
The solution apparently allows people to make decisions and experience the consequences in a fun, safe adventure. It sounds quite unique and innovative.
Customer journeys provide valuable opportunities for financial institutions to differentiate themselves and stand out in the industry. I think it’s therefore imperative for financial institutions to be able to provide streamlined, intuitive customer experiences, while also being able to offer a variety of digital and analogue channels for customers to choose from.
Another demo booth that I’m really interested in visiting is Credivia, which is an online lending marketplace that optimises loan financing for hospitality lenders and borrowers.
At Vizolution, we’re focused on how technology can be used to make financial services easier and more accessible for the consumer, as, of course, customer is king, and banking processes and services should always be designed with them, and not the bank in mind.
What else, besides the demos, is taking place at the rest of the event?
There are a number of keynote and panel sessions taking place over the next two days. On Sep 26, there’s a general session, Short & Sharp Duelling Debate: The Future of Digital Financial Services? Digital vs Physical Payment Methods, which I’ll definitely be attending.
While many in the sector seem to automatically pit digital against physical, we, at Vizolution, believe there’s a great opportunity to use technology to harness opportunities by combining the best of both worlds.
Our omni-channel digital suite allows customers and agents to interact remotely, over the phone or online, to share, display, exchange, complete, verify and sign documents as if they were face to face.
This offers the convenience of digital with the reassurance and trust associated with human interactions.
There’s lots going on here, and I’m hoping to see as much as I can.
