Katherine Regnier Speaks During the Women of Influence Breakfast Presentation
Event: Women of Influence Breakfast PresentationLocation: Prairieland Park, Hall A503 Ruth St W, Saskatoon, SK S7J 0S6Date: November 5, 2019 Coconut Software’s Founder & CEO, Katherine Regnier is set to speak during the Women of Influence Breakfast Presentation, hosted by the Edwards School of Business. Katherine will be joined by the CEO of Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Darlene Brander, and President and CEO of Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation, Brynn Boback-Lane. The Women of Influence Breakfast was first organized in 2002 by Edwards School of Business in partnership with University of Saskatchewan, Extension Division. Initially a small scale presentation with 80-100 attendees, this event has grown to attract audiences of over 400 who come together to celebrate three accomplished women as they speak about their leadership roles and how they achieved success in their respective fields. A portion of the proceeds from this event go towards the Women of Influence Scholarship Award that was established to support the dreams of students wishing to pursue an education in the business field. Learn more here. The Women of Influence Breakfast Presentation Panel Darlene Brander CEO of Wanuskewin Heritage Park Darlene Brander oversees all operations at Wanuskewin Heritage Park, an internationally acclaimed northern plains Indigenous interpretive site that is home to more than 6,400 years of history. A Band Member of the Red Earth Cree First Nation, Darlene holds a Bachelor of Education Degree from the University of Saskatchewan as well as a Chartered Professional in Human Resources designation. An active community member, Ms. Brander sits on the following boards, Chair of the Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners and the Canadian Association of Police Governance. She is a past Director for the Saskatoon Aboriginal Professional Association and the Nutrien Wonderhub. Katherine Regnier Founder and CEO of Coconut Software In 2011, Katherine Regnier quit her job at 3-months pregnant to solely focus on Coconut. In late 2016, after 5 years of bootstrapping the company to over a million dollars in sales, everything changed. Katherine has successfully raised $4.9M and has grown her team to over a staff of 50. Katherine is a founding board member of Co.Labs, Saskatchewan’s first technology incubator and hosted the very first Prairie Investment Forum (PIF), which was a celebration of technology and investment in the Prairies. Brynn Boback-Lane President and CEO of Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation Brynn Boback-Lane leads a provincial team in advocating and fundraising for the new provincial children’s hospital project with focused expertise in governance, marketing, public relations, and philanthropy. Brynn attended the University of Saskatchewan and received her Chartered Director (C. Dir.) designation from McMaster University. Brynn currently sits as a member of the Canadian Association of Pediatric Hospitals of Canada, Canadian Advisory Committee for Children’s Miracle Network, Canadian Children’s Hospital Foundation Executives, and is a member of the Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) Board of Directors. Discover A Modern Way to Engage Get in Touch
Looking Back at Finnovate – Top 3 Takeaways
It’s been a week since the team and I returned from the Finnovate Fall Conference in New York and I have not stopped thinking about all the exciting sessions I had the chance to attend, and how much they align with the goals we have here at Coconut. At the show, we were fortunate enough to meet with so many professionals from the financial services and fintech industries that are passionate and excited about the changes coming to the financial world. The show was broken out into two sections. First, we were treated to two days worth of demos from both emerging and established fintech organizations. It was great to see so many organizations coming up with creative solutions to help financial institutions solves their largest problems. Whether it was security, financial literacy or digital banking tools, the presenting companies shared compelling solutions that left us and the rest of the conference attendees with a lot to think about. The second section consisted of two days of panel discussions and keynote presentations. This is where the industry leaders really got to shine, taking us through detailed talks on new security concerns, fostering innovation, managing digital transformation, customer experience as a key differentiator and the emergence of AI technology. There was a lot to learn over the two days but I was happy to see a number of key themes emerge. 1. Personalization as Differentiation I noticed this theme come up frequently throughout the different sessions, particularly in those hosted by Forrester Research, as well as during panels on innovation and customer experience. The prevailing takeaway was that personalization can be a key competitive differentiator for financial institutions, and something that customers really value. In the personalization session hosted by Forrester Research’s Alyson Clarke, Principal Analyst, Digital Business Strategy, noted that in order to stay ahead of the competition, banks need to stop thinking like a retailer. Bank customers do not buy financial services as frequently as they make purchases with other retailers — there are generally 3-5 years between purchases. That makes it difficult, but far from impossible, to build and maintain brand loyalty. Clarke then focused on data. With the information that banks and credit unions collect when working with their customers, they can use that information to create much more personal, 1:1 experience that will keep the financial institution top of mind. Using real life points of contact like birthdays, anniversaries, children going to college, etc. as a means of reaching out is a great way to connect and be top of mind when they’re ready for a new financial product. Through this sort of personalization, financial institutions could see far more success in maintaining the sort of long term brand loyalty that’s required when dealing with the low frequency of customer purchases typical to financial products. 2. The Growing Importance of Customer Experience Dovetailing with personalization, a number of the sessions also discussed the importance of banks and credit unions focusing on enhancing customer experience. In an excellent keynote presentation, Jeremy Balkin, Head of Innovation at HSBC presented a case study highlighting the success they’ve seen since implementing a service robot named Pepper. The main goal of the ‘Pepper the Robot’ program was to increase branch traffic and generate more appointments with the advisors and staff that work in branch. In the 14 months since deployment, HSBC saw a 41% increase in new account openings. HSBC attributes this success to Pepper turning a regular trip to the bank into an experience for new and existing customers. With so much attention around the innovative products and solutions that are making a visit to the branch unnecessary, banks need to invest in creating experiences that will bring customers through the door. This sentiment was echoed later in the day during a panel discussion on the importance of creating an impactful digital experience. The panel noted that traditionally, banks used segmentation to determine how to reach out and market to their customers. However, times have changed. Major life events like graduating from college used to be a reliable signal that a customer was now likely to be preparing to buy a house, and buying a house would signal their readiness to start a family. But today, this is often not the case. Banks now have to look to more individual data to find out when the best time is to reach a person. And with the right data, they can deliver not only the right marketing material, but deliver it in the way most likely to appeal to that particular customer. To this end, technology can be incredibly useful to banks and credit unions. By expanding their marketing methods through push notifications, apps and SMS notifications, banks are able to leverage data for precision targeting, and then get their message in front of customers eyes in a way that’s unobtrusive, yet highly effective. 3. Partnering with Fintech With the whole theme of the conference centered around bringing banks and credit unions together with today’s leading fintech providers, the final theme was an obvious one — technology partnerships. Still, it was great to see so many panelists from both sides discuss the importance of these partnerships as a way to retain banking customers and improve the overall experience banks are providing. During Jeremy Balkin’s keynote and during a panel discussion that immediately followed, he spoke at length about the importance of financial institutions embracing emerging fintech companies. He noted how there is so much knowledge that banks have when it comes to serving customers but they can often get stuck when encountering challenges with technology and competitive alternatives. That’s where Fintech companies come in. Through strategic partnerships, they can help banks solves those problems far more quickly than they could on their own, allowing banks to focus on what is most important: providing the best services for their customers. Looking to get started on delivering a premium experience to your clients? Schedule a consultation with Coconut Software to learn more
Coconut and Finn AI: Engagements Get Smarter
Artificial intelligence is rapidly spreading across industries that rely heavily on data — which these days includes almost all of them — and the financial services sector is no exception. With banks and credit unions seeking out new ways to leverage this technology, Coconut is proud to now be able to provide the ability to use AI to improve customer interactions through our new partnership with the world’s leading AI-powered conversational banking technology provider, Finn AI. This partnership will provide bank customers with the ability to engage and schedule a meeting with their financial service provider using a multi-turn conversational model that is API-integrated with the Coconut Software platform. For example, a customer could chat with a virtual advisor to gain personalized mortgage advice, receive pre-approval, and book a meeting to complete the process, all while following a simple, natural conversation. In the hunt to reduce costs while servicing increasingly tech-savvy customers, AI-based chatbot solutions provide an excellent opportunity to bring new opportunities for engagement. Most often, these chatbots are developed with two-way communication in mind, supplementing channels such as phone, email or text for customers looking for quick service and transactional support. However, while most basic tasks such as balance inquiry, bank account details or loan queries can be handled by a bot efficiently, issues can arise when a bot encounters a request that requires a face-to-face meeting. “At Coconut, our goal is to provide banks and credit unions with methods to engage and manage customers on a personal level, no matter their channel of preference,” said Katherine Regnier, CEO of Coconut Software. “With this partnership, financial institutions are able to deliver additional convenience and tailored advice that seamlessly bridges the physical-digital divide, providing huge benefits to customer acquisition and retention.” Despite growing demand for personalized digital experiences, of all financial customers who head to their institution’s website or app for service, 35% of them will wind up visiting a branch to complete their journey. Whether they do so because the service they requested requires human support, or they simply prefer conducting their banking in person, providing them with a method to move from advice and service to appointment scheduling through a natural online conversation, banks can eliminate friction that often occurs for those thirty five percent. Another issue for today’s digital customers is that few of them are conducting their banking activity during business hours. And while most banks do offer a 24/7 contact center number, the fact is that the majority of customers are not making phone calls much anymore. These days, chat is king, and a round-the-clock instant chat feature is expected by the increasingly digital ‘always-on’ consumer. This means that banks with chatbots built into their websites have a competitive advantage, and are likelier to attract and retain customers. And a chatbot that saves customers from having to switch to a phone call to book an appointment when needed is an incredible bonus. “A fall off point for banks — that do not have a fully digital journey — is getting the consumer to interact with a banker, either in person or on the phone, after they have demonstrated an interest in a product online,” said Jake Tyler, CEO of Finn AI. “By integrating with Coconut Software, we’re bridging that gap and making it easier for banks to interact with and convert online prospects.” Studies have already shown that people find phone calls tedious and slow as compared to instant chat. Customers are looking for speed and personalization when interacting with their financial institution. At the same time, they don’t want the impersonal experience of email or online forms. Intelligent customer support chatbots offer a mix of both live conversation and speed. By providing a way for banks and credit unions to establish personal interactions online — and importantly, to maintain them even when it’s necessary to move the conversation offline — organizations are able to improve customer interactions, and ultimately exceed customer expectations. View the press release here. Discover A Modern Way to Engage Get in Touch About Finn AI Founded in 2014, Finn AI is the world’s leading AI-powered conversational banking technology provider, working with top financial institutions including: ATB Financial, Bank of Montreal (BMO), Banpro Grupo Promerica, Fidor Bank, and TymeBank, as well as partnerships with Auth0, Fidor Solutions, MX, Temenos, and Visa Canada. Banks use the award-winning Finn AI platform to transform and deepen customer engagement –providing a truly personalized digital-first experience– while delivering the operational efficiencies and cost savings of conversational AI. For more information visit finn.ai. About Coconut Software Coconut Software is a leading provider of customer engagement solutions, empowering modern banks and credit unions including: Vancity, United Federal Credit Union, Servus Credit Union, and Royal Bank of Canada. By delivering seamless experiences for both financial institutions and their customers, Coconut Software helps to bridge the gap between digital and physical channels and improve operational efficiencies. Through technology that supports enhanced customer experiences across all touchpoints, Coconut’s solutions consistently increase satisfaction scores, decrease churn, and strengthen acquisition. Product Info Lobby Management Data Sheet
Finn AI Partners with Coconut Software to Help Banks Increase Interactions with New Customers
Finn AI, partnered with Coconut Software, to enable banks with the ability to schedule a meeting using a multi-turn conversational model.
Building a Dream with Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital
A dream 20 years in the making, the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital opened its doors to the people of Saskatchewan, with the help of Coconut Software.