Ink on the Interview
Q: Every session had a use case of how they’re using Eltropy’s products and services, so effectively. Can you share the philosophy behind putting your clients on the front burner?
A: I think the deep philosophy is very simple, that at conferences, what happens, people are drinking from a fire hose. It so happens that one way people remember, the things people really remember are stories. Stories stick in people’s minds. So if you notice, every session had some sort of a story. It had a situation, it had a problem to be solved, which was solved by one of our clients, and then there was an impact. These stories are the ones that stick in people’s minds. And this is what I tell my team, that listen, more than anything, we’ve got to get better at storytelling and draw those stories.
Q: The theme of your session was the impact of conversations. Do you want to expand on and how Eltropy ties into that conversation with that impact?
A: Yes, I would say at a very high level, the bigger sort of theme of the keynote was innovation with purpose. It’s really important to connect to the purpose for which credit unions and community banks exist today. We call them community financial institutions. And their purpose is to serve the communities. So, what innovations do we need to bring together so they can better serve their communities? I don’t know if you remember in my keynote, but if you remember that statement I made, right? That in San Francisco, this hotel, the whole AI revolution in the world is happening in a 10-mile radius. That’s right. I don’t know if you remember Professor Karthik, who was there on day one and he talked about, listen, AI is one of those fundamental technologies like electricity, like the internet, that’s going to impact everything. So now I would say this is fascinating that there’s a lot of innovation happening. AI is at the forefront. But what it is also doing it’s forcing community financial institutions to look deep inside and try to understand how do they stay relevant in this new world, How do you stay relevant where there’s technology coming out of nowhere? Where cost of doing business is exploding? People’s behavior is changing. Like my son and my daughter, they want to do everything on their cell phone. So in the middle of all of this, the stand that I took, and I call it the stake I put on the stage, was really, it’s all about conversations, right? It’s the conversations that these community financial institutions have with people in the community through which they actually then get to understand who these people are, understand their needs, build those relationships, and then they get to work in underwriting financial risks. So conversations was really sort of the underpinning of all of that. This is my opinion. And then, if you agree with that, that quantizations are critical for this movement to continue, then how do you solve that? So that’s where it really has started.
Q: The conversations, from my perspective, are what create the bond. And this technology you’re creating really enables that conversation in any channel. It’s seamless—it goes from channel to channel to channel. Omni-channel, if you will—throwback buzzword from a few years ago. But to me, that’s what starts or launches the conversation. Especially the texting stuff. I’ve had numerous conversations with credit unions here about how powerful texting is, especially in the collections environment, just as an example. Pretty cool stuff—and I think this is what really creates that bond. What do you think?
A: The question to be asked is, if technology is really going to change the game in a very big way and AI is going to get involved, what does that do to conversations? This is where, if you remember, I put together a framework that there are simple conversations, complex conversations, and everything else in between. The simple stuff is, hey, what’s my account balance, et cetera, et cetera. The complex part is, how do I get a mortgage? How do I invest my money? How do I do estate planning? How do I plan for financial wellness, etc.? Those are the complex conversations. And if you remember what sort of conversation in the room was that, listen, the simple stuff, let’s automate it. That’s where AI plays a big role. Let’s automate that. Let’s make it self-serve. And really, where we need human touch with empathy is on the complex side.
Q: Going back to one of the prime examples—collections—where we really need to have that empathy. The other thing I got from it was being proactive. That’s what this technology allows us to do: get ahead of the game or keep folks from getting deeper into a challenge. Again, just using collections as one example of the many areas where these conversations can take place.
A: I think the proactiveness, this way technology can play a big role. Can technology detect certain triggers, certain patterns? And then can technology initiate that proactivity? Like sending, for example, just going back to collections, sending a text message way in advance of a person being delinquent, just as an example. Let’s say an AI bot understanding that something is changing in people’s lives based on their spending patterns on their credit card, based on the money coming into the bank account, going away from the bank account, etc, etc. So can technology play that role of detecting such patterns and initiating proactively some contact, which then leads to conversations down the line.
Q: Community financial institutions are lifelines. You use numerous examples of how they are lifelines and reaching out and using your guys’ technology to be that conduit, if you will. One of the more powerful ones was First City Credit Union. They talked about what they went through in the recent fires in L.A., Pacific Palisades and Altadena, and their credit union was right in Altadena, I believe? Miraculously, they survived. Can you share with me the lifeline philosophy?
A: I would say that was the most heartwarming or touching presentation that I saw yesterday when Royce was on the stage and the story that he told. And I’ll tell you what really touched me was they had several branches and a decision had to be made in the middle of the fire zone whether to keep the branch open or not. And the branch manager makes a decision that, listen, we are going to keep our branch open. They’re running out of fuel. They had backup diesel generators. Power has been cut. They’re running out of fuel. They’re running out of water. But they still figured out a way to stay open. A lot of the members for First City Credit Union are the first responders, are the sheriff’s department, are the fire person department. They organized a hot meal. It doesn’t blow your mind. And the sheriffs are coming in and saying, listen, we haven’t had a hot meal in two and a half days. That is to me the mind-blowing moment, the goodness of the human heart, what it makes happen. And again, where our technology played a role is every single day, the credit union will send a text campaign to all their employees just checking in, are you ok Something that is simple, but so thoughtful, right? The employee will get a text in the morning, and they reply back with one, if they’re safe, two, if they’ve been evacuated, and three, if they need help. 80% of the employees will instantly check in. So now they keep tabs. And more than anything, the loyalty that built with the employees.
Q: Can you share your overall take of this year’s conference and any highlights you want to share?
A: Yeah, so the conference keeps getting bigger and I’m very happy about that and I’ll give an example. So third year, first year we had about a hundred people in Salt Lake City. Last year we had about 200 odd people in Santa Clara. This time we had 330 and what was again very heartwarming for me, this time we had 20 fellow FinTechs here, exhibiting with us, sponsoring some of the events, some of the big names of the industry were here. Alkami, Swivel, Origence was here. So amazing news that way. And my plan is that, at least my wish, is this continues to get bigger and bigger and bigger and really becomes this place where a lot of ideas are exchanged. To me, the power of all of this is in the exchange of ideas. We have some ideas, our partners have lots of ideas, but the people on the ground making things happen, the leaders from credit unions and community banks, they have ideas. Can we with that idea, exchange? Talking about highlights, I remember yesterday when I did a product keynote, and I asked people, listen, we are working on six different themes, solution themes right now. For example, modernizing the contact center, etc. If you remember, I asked people in the audience, what else would you like us to work on? And there was a theme called fraud. Another thing that came about is better staff utilization. Can technology and AI play a role in understanding where staff is spending their time? What is the traffic patterns in branches versus phone calls, etc. Can we take all this data, really understand where members or consumers really want to meet and have those complex conversations? Can we actually do better staffing? I think technology can play a big role. AI algorithms, etc. Can we learn over time? So those are, I would say, two things. Another area which has come about, it was discussed again, is M&A. A lot of that going on right now. A lot of that going on. And I think somebody made a point that the reason it was, I think, Mark from Filene Research Institute made a point that the reason for M&A accelerating tremendously is people think that the way to solve a bunch of these cost-related problems or lack of membership growth, etc, the way to solve that is scale. That’s what everybody’s gunning for. Nobody knows whether skill is the right answer or the wrong answer, but at least there’s a movement in that direction. So I wrote that down in my notebook as well. And I think when M&A is happening, again, communication plays a big role, right? People are nervous. Listen, these two institutions are merging. What’s going to happen to my bank account? Can I continue using the same checkbook, Can I use the same debit card, Does my account number stay the same? So I think there, again, that communication and conversations play a very big role in M&A.
Q: One of my favorite sessions was Stump the Experts. You turned the conference into a two-way conversation. The audience was incredibly engaged because they were firing questions back and forth with your all-star panel of experts on stage. It was really a lot of fun, but incredibly informational as well.
A: Every question that gets asked, in my notebook, that’s a thing we can build. So this is what I love about this conversation, how it’s shaping up, is these conversations that are happening, right? Two-way conversations, ideas being exchanged, problems to be solved, solutions that other people are doing, and that’s the joy.
Q: What’s on the docket for 2025? What’s on the burner for the rest of this year and beyond? Maybe you want to tease next year’s Emerge as well.
A: Later this year, we are going to do a leadership summit. I would love for you to be there, as always. Let me know the date. It’s happening on 25th, 26th, 27th of August. It’s going to be in Jackson Hole. A very bougie town. I’ll tell you the story. Two years ago, I took my kids to Yellowstone National Park. Somehow we ended up in Teton National Park, and I had no idea Jackson Hole existed. And I go there, and I’m like, oh my goodness, middle of nowhere? What kind of a town this is? It was fascinating. So this time I told my team, we have to go there. So, Leadership Summit is more intimate. Our whole idea is just like there’s a World Economic Forum that happens in Switzerland in Davos. Our vision is to create a similar exchange of leadership, thought-leadership in a very sort of unique setting. So that’s what we’re trying to do. So we’re going to have about 75 leaders of the community financial institution movement. This time, we’re also allowing everybody to bring a plus one, because it’s going to be such a beautiful place. So might as well bring a significant other, whoever you would like, or a friend, just so you can enjoy. But also, let’s discuss the challenges facing the industry, the opportunities in front of the industry. So that’s a big, big, big, big thing for us coming up.
Q: Anything else here to add before I let you go?
A: All I’ll say is that everybody who came, I’m very thankful to you. I know travel is not easy. San Francisco is sort of like one corner of America. But what was amazing was how many first-timers to San Francisco? Almost half the people. So first time in the city and a lot of them are staying back to have some fun with family. I’ll of course get to sightseeing, etc. So we’re beginning now. Once we exhale, we’re going to plan next year’s Emerge. And the big dilemma facing me right now, I’d love some thought on this. Should we go to another exotic location like San Francisco? Keep it in San Francisco, keep it in California, go someplace else. I like going to a different city because people get to experience something new. But of course, logistically, it’s not easy.
