In the vibrant heart of Sydney, the AWS Summit 2024 emerged as a strategic meeting of thought leaders and innovators, crafting a future of technological advancement and partnership that promised to redefine the landscape of global industries.
With the central theme of the summit revolving around GenAI and transformative technologies, HCLTech’s Trends & Insights had the chance to talk with Ashu (Ashutosh Uniyal), the Vice President of Financial Services at HCLTech. Our conversation explored the use of GenAI in banking, revealing a story where technology and customer experience come together in an interesting journey of progress.
Uniyal oversees a portfolio that is as expansive as it is dynamic, focusing on financial services in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Under his stewardship, HCLTech has become a pivotal force in the banking sector, partnering with giants and nurturing technological advancements. "We work with large banks over here and AWS has been supporting us on that journey," Uniyal revealed, highlighting the symbiotic relationship between HCLTech, the banking sector and AWS.
Uniyal was also a part of the keynote session titled "Accelerate SDLC in Banking with Generative AI on AWS," where he shared the stage with Jamie Simon, Head of Financial Services, ANZ, AWS, Rico Zhang, Capability Area Lead – Platform Engineering and SRE, ANZ Bank and Prabhakar Appana, Senior Vice President and Head of AWS Ecosystem, HCLTech.
The session delved into how ANZ bank and HCLTech collaborated to leverage AWS GenAI services, enhancing Quality Engineering processes. The partnership aimed to tackle testing bottlenecks and boost development efficiencies by constructing an enterprise-level chat-based solution. This achievement was realized through meticulous fine-tuning of LLM models on AWS.
Charting the course through challenges and trends
The financial sector, particularly in the ANZ region, navigates through a sea of challenges and opportunities. Digital transformation and AI adoption cast a long shadow, with security and regulatory compliance at the forefront. "The biggest challenge is to how they can keep their environment secure, how they can make the use of the technology to get the risk and compliance going with the regulators," Uniyal pointed out.
The tide towards cloud technologies, with AWS leading the charge, highlights a significant shift towards modernization and a digital-first strategy. For Uniyal and HCLTech, innovation is not just about leveraging new technologies but about reshaping the customer's journey and experience.
"We believe in co-innovation with our customers," he shared, emphasizing the ethos of collaborative innovation that encompasses partner ecosystems and innovation funds. Delving into specific projects, Uniyal provided a clearer view of the groundbreaking work being undertaken. "With one of the large banks in Australia, our journey into their lending modernization was a landmark initiative," he recounted, showcasing the profound impact of these collaborations on the banking sector's landscape.
His account of the partnership with ANZ Bank further showcased the pathway toward innovation: "We are currently working with them on Gen AI initiatives which we just talked about. So, we are helping our customers to not only save costs by optimizing and automating whatever we can but at the same time, we are exploring avenues whereby we can help them generate revenue as well."
A McKinsey study indicate that generative AI has the potential to exceed the additional value derived by financial services from alternative AI and analytics technologies, reaching an estimated sum of $340 billion. Financial institutions are crafting scenarios in sales and marketing, customer operations and software development, which are forecasted to yield productivity gains of up to tenfold, contingent upon the specific business application.
Reflections from the AWS Summit
"The AWS Summit has been an eye-opener," Uniyal confessed, sharing his reflections on attending the event for the first time. The diversity of ideas and the depth of innovation showcased here are remarkable. It's clear that our partnership with AWS is not just about accessing technology; it's about embedding ourselves in an ecosystem that is at the forefront of digital transformation."
"It's very thought-provoking when I saw the kind of case studies presented in the summit”, he added, observing the power of shared knowledge and collaborative innovation in crafting solutions that are not only technologically advanced but also practically applicable and regulatory compliant.
In essence, the journey of digital transformation in banking, as mentioned by Ashutosh Uniyal and the AWS Summit, is not just about adopting new technologies. It's about forging a new path for financial services, one that is resilient, responsive and revolutionary.
"The future is digital, no doubt, but it's also deeply interconnected," he mused. "Our role, as I see it, is to act as the bridge that not only connects these technologies with our clients' needs but also ensures that this transition is seamless, secure and ultimately, successful."
