Ep. 174. Interview. Derek Corcoran - Chief Experience Officer, Avoka

Many financial services companies are trying to build from the ground up, creating new banking systems or products that are more in line with creating an efficient and customer centric front end. Avoka on the other hand, are creating acquisition products that work in tandem with core banking systems.

Chief Experience Officer Derek Corcoran talks us through how Avoka are creating a platform for better customer experience. Indeed, opening current accounts and signing up for a credit card can be tedious, and it's definitely not mobile friendly. Instead of going through 30 layers of customer on boarding that most users fail to do all in one go, Derek discusses how their business model centres around the 'one and done' instantaneous form submission that makes sign-ups all so simple. Not only is their process faster and more convenient, there's also an added element of security- photo ID recognition means users take photos of their driving licences or passports making the sign-up faster and safer. They handle this transaction layer, until it's ready to be delivered to core banking layer.

The culture at Avoka is 'we are going to be successful by making our clients successful', and indeed Derek talks about a meticulous iteration process of creating product after product that aims to satisfy their clients as much as possible, and in turn satisfy the customers they are trying to bring on board. Data analytics are central to these iterations, creating analytics engines which show Avoka where in the application flow the customer is lost. This is imperative to the evolution of their products but also the specificity to each client- they can use this data to show banks exactly what they're missing, and exactly how they can improve upon that.

We also discuss Derek's unique role and job title at the company and what being a 'Chief Experience Officer' actually means. He splits his role into 3 parts,The first is of which is thought leadership around this space, Looking at experiences that banks are putting in to the market, to understand who is doing well. The second component is product development, by analysing customer needs and what other platforms/products are succeeding, Derek also helps in terms of innovation. Finally, the third component is client strategy and relations, they have 3 of the 10 top global banks using their platforms so it's key these relationships are managed accordingly to maintain integrity and credibility to Avoka.

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Special Guest: Derek Corcoran.