The banking industry, known for its robust traditional foundations, is at a critical juncture, driven by the digital revolution. Financial technology (FinTech) companies like Intellect Design are at the forefront of this shift, developing innovative solutions that allow banks to modernize and optimize their operations. Founded nearly three decades ago as part of Polaris Software, Intellect Design’s mission is to leverage technology to help banks and financial institutions create seamless experiences for their customers.
Stephen Vanstone, Senior Vice President at Intellect Design, explains that the company’s focus is on financial services, including banking, wealth management, and insurance, with a deep commitment to helping clients build software-driven futures. Vanstone emphasizes that Intellect Design’s mission centers on using “the power of the designed mind” to fulfill customer needs in a fast-evolving market.
Tackling Modern Banking Problems in 2024
When asked about the most pressing problems in banking software today, Vanstone highlighted two major issues that banks are grappling with: customer experience and legacy systems.
Improving Customer Experience
With the rise of digital banking and heightened expectations from consumers, banks face increasing pressure to enhance their customer experience. Vanstone emphasizes that modern customers compare their banking experience not just to other banks but to their entire digital ecosystem. Whether it’s the ease of purchasing on Amazon or interacting with their favorite apps, consumers expect simplicity and speed in all their digital transactions, including banking.
Banks are, therefore, forced to constantly innovate and improve their digital platforms. Customer expectations are also shaped by broader industry standards, such as ratings that evaluate and compare banks’ performance on metrics like customer service.
The Burden of Legacy Systems
Perhaps the most significant challenge facing large, established banks is their reliance on legacy systems, many of which are decades old. These systems, while reliable, are costly to maintain, difficult to upgrade, and incapable of keeping pace with the demands of modern, agile FinTech environments.
Vanstone notes that some banks, especially long-established ones, are still running on core systems developed as far back as the 1960s. These antiquated systems hinder their ability to remain competitive, preventing them from addressing new market threats with the speed and flexibility that newer financial institutions enjoy.
Creating Seamless User Experiences
To address these challenges, Intellect Design has been focusing on developing solutions that enhance the user experience while modernizing backend systems. According to Vanstone, the company’s deep expertise across banking sectors enables it to offer tailored solutions for retail, corporate, and wealth management clients. Intellect Design’s global reach allows it to bring innovative ideas from diverse markets to clients in North America and other regions.
Design Thinking as a Framework for Innovation
At the heart of Intellect Design’s success is its emphasis on design thinking. As Vanstone points out, the company’s approach to problem-solving is rooted in first principles and driven by a commitment to addressing both the stated and unstated needs of its clients.
By focusing on “thousand-gram” issues — those that are significantly more impactful than smaller, less critical problems — Intellect Design ensures that its efforts are concentrated where they matter most. This prioritization framework, paired with a diverse range of perspectives, allows the company to create solutions that are not only innovative but also practical for banks and their customers.
Vanstone also highlights the importance of fostering what the company founder calls a “child-like curiosity” in the design process, encouraging teams to think outside the box and avoid being constrained by conventional wisdom. This mindset enables the company to continuously push the boundaries of what is possible in banking software.
The Architecture Behind the Solutions
One of Intellect Design’s standout innovations is its emach.ai architecture, which integrates cutting-edge technology like microservices, APIs, and cloud-native designs to offer clients flexibility and scalability. The architecture is designed to help banks modernize their systems without having to overhaul their entire infrastructure.
The platform allows banks to build and compose their own solutions from a modular set of capabilities, enabling them to address specific customer needs and improve operational efficiency. The architecture incorporates advanced AI-driven functionalities, including event-triggered actions and headless solutions that allow for seamless integration with existing systems. The company has also begun incorporating generative AI capabilities into its solutions, further enhancing the decision-making and problem-solving capabilities of banks using the platform.
GenAI and Purple Fabric
Looking ahead, Vanstone is particularly excited about Intellect Design’s latest innovation: Purple Fabric. This enterprise-grade platform is designed to help banks and financial institutions deploy generative AI-based expert agents quickly and efficiently. By offering full traceability and compliance capabilities, Purple Fabric ensures that banks can implement AI solutions with confidence, mitigating the risks of “AI hallucinations” and ensuring that decisions are fully auditable.
Intellect Design is working with clients to deploy networks of AI agents that can handle complex tasks, such as complaints management, with unprecedented speed and accuracy. In one example, a large European wealth manager was able to reduce the time needed to resolve customer complaints by over 95%, thanks to the implementation of expert AI agents.
As the banking industry continues to evolve, Vanstone sees AI playing an increasingly central role. He believes that AI will transform banking in ways similar to how automation changed the textile industry. Far from causing massive job losses, he expects AI to open up new opportunities and create new roles, just as past technological advancements have done.
What’s Next for Banking Technology?
When asked about the future of banking software over the next 5 to 15 years, Vanstone predicts two major trends: easier deployment of solutions and more seamless integration between new and existing systems. He foresees a continued shift towards cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) models, which will allow banks to deploy and scale solutions more quickly.
At the same time, the industry will need to focus on improving integration capabilities, as many banks remain reliant on legacy systems. Platforms that facilitate integration between old and new systems will play a key role in helping banks modernize without having to completely overhaul their core infrastructure.
Ultimately, the future of banking is one of continuous evolution, driven by innovation in AI, cloud computing, and customer experience. Intellect Design, with its deep domain expertise and commitment to innovation, is well-positioned to lead this transformation and help banks navigate the challenges and opportunities of the digital age.
