3Qs with Chief Experience Officer Brian McLaughlin

Odds are that if you’re a finance leader at a financial institution or company you don’t think a lot about user experience. But it might be time to think again. Digital has totally changed the customer journey in banking, and partners that help enable that journey need to meet the new demands required. UX deserves more attention and credit, especially as data continues to become the energy source for the financial industry. To explore the issue, we sat down for a Q&A with Bottomline’s chief experience officer Brian McLaughlin.

Bottomline: Brian, with the complexity, volume and variety of data captured by the digital experience, how would you counsel a C-level executive about maximizing the value of that data through UX?

McLaughlin: Deriving value out of data can be like finding the right needle in the stack of needles. At first glance, all the needles may look alike. But upon closer inspection, needles come in a variety of shapes and sizes specific to the work that needs to be done. It’s a similar situation with data. It’s very difficult to quickly gain insights and value. Executives need to ask themselves the right questions: What is the right data for the job to be done? How can someone who is not a data scientist or trained analyst extract value from the power of data? In other words, how do I find the right needle in the stack of needles? 2022 will bring a strong focus on creating experiences that help non-experts quickly gain value out of large volumes of complex data. These data experiences will not just be more brightly colored pie charts and line graphs in boxes lined up on a screen. We will see the art and science of data user experience cast new light on the insights that are currently hidden in the piles of data at our fingertips.

Bottomline: And the logical follow-up would be about integration. Once a company has found a way to value its data, how do they integrate it into the business?

McLaughlin: We will see the intelligence surfaced from data experiences become seamlessly integrated into entire applications. Intelligence will no longer be kept under a mysterious “Analytics” menu tab, sitting in a complicated pivot-filled spreadsheet on someone’s computer, or in those random colorful pie charts. The intelligence pulled from data and the value of data experiences will be seamlessly integrated throughout the entire solution to ensure that those insights are where you need them and when you need them.

Bottomline: Financial services companies have become better at using data, often using it to create more personalized products and marketing campaigns. What’s the next step in that area?

McLaughlin: Advanced Personalization. Advanced personalization is moving beyond the barrier of “if you liked this, you might like that.” Instead, it's providing solutions that reflect knowledge of a customer, which then enable the customer to accomplish his/her goals faster and with better results. Advanced personalization is having a system learn how an individual completes a complex task today and then supports that workflow going forward, automates that workflow going forward, or alters that workflow to create a better outcome for that individual. Everyone has unique ways of interpreting information and solving problems and advanced personalization will support and enhance those qualities.

Bottomline on 2022

To read more about the 2022 trends that matter to financial institutions and companies, visit Bottomline on 2022 and hear from 12 Bottomline team members across fraud and financial crime, banking, and B2B payments.