Alijah Poindexter 00:06
Good day, and welcome to The Buzz, a bank automation news podcast. I’m Associate Editor Elijah Poindexter. Recently I spoke with Paul Taylor, Chief Executive Officer with core cloud provider thought machine. I spoke to Mr. Taylor about best practices for core cloud adoption, along with some potential risks for over automation for banks who have successfully already, you know, enabled a cloud migration strategy who or who are, you know, successful in their digital just strategy period? What are they doing? Right? So what are some of the best practices there that you’ve seen that you think could could apply to banks who haven’t really started that journey?Paul Taylor 00:43
Yeah, the first thing I’d say would be, be properly part of the climb is it’s, it’s a full new type of infrastructure, and it has its strengths and weaknesses. But if you don’t play to the cloud strengths, then kind of what’s the point you might Eve I sourced, you’re effectively just outsourced the hardware amendments of the system to somebody else, but you haven’t really changed much else. But to fully embrace cloud native means that you, you put all the applications in containers and you run them in pods, you have elastic scalability, you have the ability to do upgrades, like any downtime, you have, you know, fall over between data centers, you have all this amazing stuff. And that really gives you a huge advantage, and all the things that one would need to do manually, and data center can be done automatically in the cloud. So that’s first thing, so really kind of embrace it, and commit to it, rather than just getting your own software to run on. And then the second thing I would do is, I would say, you know, use this opportunity to automate your bank. You know, as we all know, banks are just suffer from a horrendous lack of automation. And processes, they’re an easy said, when you came in, you know, in the COVID era, you know, it’s pressing more than ever, because, you know, we cannot suffer the same disruption to physical branches, call centers, to people who need to be in the office, you know, but we can’t do this. And hopefully, we’re coming past the end of COVID. But a lesson I think we’ll learn is just similar to the financial crisis, that regulators and governments will ask businesses, especially businesses, that are considered to be key parts of infrastructure, that you must have a strategy that is completely robust to any level of future pandemic or any level of disruption, I think there is a huge part of that is, is is automation all the way through. So I would do that. And of course, you know, the current field new in banking, but it isn’t particularly new for many other industries. So, you know, we can look at, you know, the streaming giants, you know, or we can look at any other kind of web companies or E commerce companies, and see what they’ve done and see what skills for them, see how customer engagement is there. So one has to make a leap a bit from the viewer, but you don’t have to see that you don’t have to go into the idea that this is radically new, it is pretty new and buggy, but it’s not so new, the rest

Alijah Poindexter 03:14
of you know, kind of the flip side of that, what are some pain points? If there are any that you can identify when it comes to migrating over? What’s something that a lot of banks, even if they have done it successfully? What are some points that they may have struggled with, that other banks can take lessons from?

Paul Taylor 03:30
Yeah, I definitely think that I think there’s something is telling others, there’s, there’s no color, there’s no decent halfway house between the old infrastructure and the new. So sometimes, you know, a lot of stuff has to be moved. I certainly know a lot of banks have suffered with the kind of tighten ply naval skill set. And you know, there’s a lot of stuff to be a lot of stuff to be done. So it’s a very good, as you know, it’s a very good hiring market, but it’s very good hiring market if you’re, if you’re a cognitive person. So I would say the biggest thing, once you’re applied person, you have it in your head, and you know how to do it. And it doesn’t seem particularly difficult. The fact that seems to be far easier than the kind of manually building a data center or building a system. But getting getting all that into the bank. I also think there’s a cultural aspect to it, the new things are new things, bring with them more questions. So the questions are, you know, how much isn’t better? How safe is it? You know, what’s the integrity of our data? What was the regulatory framework? And, yeah, we’re mature enough that we’ve got pretty good answers to that. But not everybody in the bank knows those answers. So those are good questions to ask. But we don’t have to pretend that this is the first time we’re this the first time we’re, we’re facing.

Alijah Poindexter 04:53
Do you worry or do you see any points where overwrought over automation might come into play? So maybe wealth management you know like Robo visors are financial literacy. Do you see any, you know, any area where over automation may come into play in may harm the viability of a bank’s strategy?

Paul Taylor 05:09
I mean, so I think that’s an excellent question. First of all, I mean, nobody really wants to, nobody wants today’s when everybody had added the ledger by hand, my uncle worked with the bank, and he added the ledger by hand, you know, and and nobody really mourns, mourn that loss, loss of loss, the human touch, or to do all the checks or to move all the balances covered all the interest. So all that kind of mechanical stuff, all actually be done. But that also includes, you know, things like, you know, onboarding, includes things like storing documents and presenting things and doing forms and, you know, taking mortgage applications, so on, but there is absolutely an intelligence layer in the bank. And I think there’s very good arguments that people are, you know, people make good decisions when it comes to say, you know, final credit checks, or people make good decisions at assessing risk. And, you know, I’m not a not a proponent for turning all those over to robo advisors. I mean, I’m not an expert in the, in the investment banking space, but there’s, there’s already people that worry that the number of passive funds has already, you know, got to such a level whereby, you know, who are the passive funds following are the following each other are the following, you know, the genuine market makers, so that the goal is to get all the, all the gunk work done in a completely automated fashion. The thing was genuinely no opinion, that there’s no need for human intervention, our judgment, the things that got just the mechanics of the bank, moving money, storing money, calculating interest, calculating fees, getting everything nice and safe inside, making sure it never falls over all that can be automated. And I certainly know that there’s banks who have very much hope to have more customer facing staff engaged in you know, high level activities, given the fact that the automation will free up some budget.

Alijah Poindexter 07:13
You’ve been listening to the bus, a bank automation news podcast. Thank you for your time and be sure to visit us and make automation news.com For more automation news, you can also follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. Please do not hesitate to rate this podcast on your podcast platform of choice. Thank you

Alijah Poindexter 00:06
Good day, and welcome to The Buzz, a bank automation news podcast. I’m Associate Editor Elijah Poindexter. Recently I spoke with Paul Taylor, Chief Executive Officer with core cloud provider thought machine. I spoke to Mr. Taylor about best practices for core cloud adoption, along with some potential risks for over automation for banks who have successfully already, you know, enabled a cloud migration strategy who or who are, you know, successful in their digital just strategy period? What are they doing? Right? So what are some of the best practices there that you’ve seen that you think could could apply to banks who haven’t really started that journey?Paul Taylor 00:43
Yeah, the first thing I’d say would be, be properly part of the climb is it’s, it’s a full new type of infrastructure, and it has its strengths and weaknesses. But if you don’t play to the cloud strengths, then kind of what’s the point you might Eve I sourced, you’re effectively just outsourced the hardware amendments of the system to somebody else, but you haven’t really changed much else. But to fully embrace cloud native means that you, you put all the applications in containers and you run them in pods, you have elastic scalability, you have the ability to do upgrades, like any downtime, you have, you know, fall over between data centers, you have all this amazing stuff. And that really gives you a huge advantage, and all the things that one would need to do manually, and data center can be done automatically in the cloud. So that’s first thing, so really kind of embrace it, and commit to it, rather than just getting your own software to run on. And then the second thing I would do is, I would say, you know, use this opportunity to automate your bank. You know, as we all know, banks are just suffer from a horrendous lack of automation. And processes, they’re an easy said, when you came in, you know, in the COVID era, you know, it’s pressing more than ever, because, you know, we cannot suffer the same disruption to physical branches, call centers, to people who need to be in the office, you know, but we can’t do this. And hopefully, we’re coming past the end of COVID. But a lesson I think we’ll learn is just similar to the financial crisis, that regulators and governments will ask businesses, especially businesses, that are considered to be key parts of infrastructure, that you must have a strategy that is completely robust to any level of future pandemic or any level of disruption, I think there is a huge part of that is, is is automation all the way through. So I would do that. And of course, you know, the current field new in banking, but it isn’t particularly new for many other industries. So, you know, we can look at, you know, the streaming giants, you know, or we can look at any other kind of web companies or E commerce companies, and see what they’ve done and see what skills for them, see how customer engagement is there. So one has to make a leap a bit from the viewer, but you don’t have to see that you don’t have to go into the idea that this is radically new, it is pretty new and buggy, but it’s not so new, the rest

Alijah Poindexter 03:14
of you know, kind of the flip side of that, what are some pain points? If there are any that you can identify when it comes to migrating over? What’s something that a lot of banks, even if they have done it successfully? What are some points that they may have struggled with, that other banks can take lessons from?

Paul Taylor 03:30
Yeah, I definitely think that I think there’s something is telling others, there’s, there’s no color, there’s no decent halfway house between the old infrastructure and the new. So sometimes, you know, a lot of stuff has to be moved. I certainly know a lot of banks have suffered with the kind of tighten ply naval skill set. And you know, there’s a lot of stuff to be a lot of stuff to be done. So it’s a very good, as you know, it’s a very good hiring market, but it’s very good hiring market if you’re, if you’re a cognitive person. So I would say the biggest thing, once you’re applied person, you have it in your head, and you know how to do it. And it doesn’t seem particularly difficult. The fact that seems to be far easier than the kind of manually building a data center or building a system. But getting getting all that into the bank. I also think there’s a cultural aspect to it, the new things are new things, bring with them more questions. So the questions are, you know, how much isn’t better? How safe is it? You know, what’s the integrity of our data? What was the regulatory framework? And, yeah, we’re mature enough that we’ve got pretty good answers to that. But not everybody in the bank knows those answers. So those are good questions to ask. But we don’t have to pretend that this is the first time we’re this the first time we’re, we’re facing.

Alijah Poindexter 04:53
Do you worry or do you see any points where overwrought over automation might come into play? So maybe wealth management you know like Robo visors are financial literacy. Do you see any, you know, any area where over automation may come into play in may harm the viability of a bank’s strategy?

Paul Taylor 05:09
I mean, so I think that’s an excellent question. First of all, I mean, nobody really wants to, nobody wants today’s when everybody had added the ledger by hand, my uncle worked with the bank, and he added the ledger by hand, you know, and and nobody really mourns, mourn that loss, loss of loss, the human touch, or to do all the checks or to move all the balances covered all the interest. So all that kind of mechanical stuff, all actually be done. But that also includes, you know, things like, you know, onboarding, includes things like storing documents and presenting things and doing forms and, you know, taking mortgage applications, so on, but there is absolutely an intelligence layer in the bank. And I think there’s very good arguments that people are, you know, people make good decisions when it comes to say, you know, final credit checks, or people make good decisions at assessing risk. And, you know, I’m not a not a proponent for turning all those over to robo advisors. I mean, I’m not an expert in the, in the investment banking space, but there’s, there’s already people that worry that the number of passive funds has already, you know, got to such a level whereby, you know, who are the passive funds following are the following each other are the following, you know, the genuine market makers, so that the goal is to get all the, all the gunk work done in a completely automated fashion. The thing was genuinely no opinion, that there’s no need for human intervention, our judgment, the things that got just the mechanics of the bank, moving money, storing money, calculating interest, calculating fees, getting everything nice and safe inside, making sure it never falls over all that can be automated. And I certainly know that there’s banks who have very much hope to have more customer facing staff engaged in you know, high level activities, given the fact that the automation will free up some budget.

Alijah Poindexter 07:13
You’ve been listening to the bus, a bank automation news podcast. Thank you for your time and be sure to visit us and make automation news.com For more automation news, you can also follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. Please do not hesitate to rate this podcast on your podcast platform of choice. Thank you