Financial Services Forum’s FS Martech 2021
The challenge of making sense of customer data and delivering a better experience was the key theme at the Financial Services Forum’s FS Martech 2021 event. This report summarises the top insights from the digital event, which brought together leaders and implementers from across financial services marketing to discuss the latest trends in the sector.
The keynote interview took place with our marketer of the year, Raj Kumar, Brand and Reputation Director at Aviva. As usual, Raj covered a range of topics in an honest and engaging way, drawing on a range of colourful analogies and reference points. The ultimate goal, he said, should be to achieve true “democratisation of data” across the organisation, so that all aspects of the business can benefit from it.
Next up were Emmeline Kite, Head of Planning and Strategy, and Lee Allan, Global CTO at Indicia, who addressed the “bewildering” number of Martech solutions out there and offered a practical guide for how to navigate the market. Introhive’s session, run by Nick Factor, Industry Director, Banks and Financial Services, Introhive, focused on the challenges of handling vast amounts of data and how automating the analytics process can free up teams from dealing with “grunt work”.
We were then joined by Deborah Womack, Director, at Deloitte Digital and Richard Love, Head of Customer Experience (Alliances), who talked about the “experience economy” and how marketing data can enable this, as well as the always crucial question of “where to start?”
Elizabeth Gabster, Global Lead Consultant for Strategy and Value at Optimizely, presented our next session, demonstrating the importance of experimentation in determining what types of content appeal most to customers and some practical strategies for using it.
Finally, our panel session looked at martech through an organisational lens. It was hosted by Izzie Rivers, Founder and CEO at Realm and featured Colin Bennett, Head of Digital Distribution, Global, GAM Investments, Morgan Reavey, Head of Performance Marketing, TSB, Alan Thorpe, Sales & Marketing Director, Indicia, with Deborah from Deloitte returning. The panel had a lively discussion about how martech dovetails with organisational change and how the role of marketing is becoming ever-more central in connecting different functions together.