CIO Review

Fremont, CA: As software development becomes more reliant on AI, companies have started to focus more on the process of coding, changing, and attributing. Code attribution systems for AI are becoming common for helping engineering professionals know the source of code, differentiate human contributions from that done by AI, and remain visible in the development environment.

Have you ever tried to open an account online and thought, “What is this? Why is this taking so long?” That is exactly how I felt going through our online account opening experience. Then, I received a call from a Branch team member. They were asking me what I had already filled out online. I was confused, but responded. Afterwards, she instructed me to go to the Branch to fund my account. I could not believe it. I opened my account online. Why did I need to go to the Branch to fund it?

Customer outreach is moving faster than many compliance programs were designed to govern. A campaign assembled in hours can pass through several applications before a call, text, email or prerecorded message reaches a customer, while autonomous agents compress that cycle further. The exposure is no longer limited to whether a record appeared on a suppression list. Consent status, channel permissions, time-of-day rules and state or federal restrictions can change the answer at the moment of contact.

For technology and digital leaders, legacy systems are challenging. They are difficult to integrate with, have limited features and often do not meet user expectations. This leads to the question of, “Is it time to upgrade?” Depending on the system, these upgrades can be labor- and time-intensive, but none more so than a core banking system upgrade. The core banking system is the foundation of a financial institution.

For decades, the basic mechanics of insurance claims have remained remarkably consistent. Something goes wrong. The customer reports it. They fill out forms, find receipts and supporting documents, submit their documentation and wait. AI gives us an opportunity to reimagine this entire sequence. Much of the conversation about AI today focuses on efficiency. How many processes can we automate? How much more can an employee accomplish? How much faster can a company operate?

Disconnected data work rarely begins at the pipeline itself. The delay often appears earlier, when a proposed data product moves from a business idea into requirements, architecture decisions, access controls and a development environment. Each handoff can introduce another tool or approval path, while product context becomes harder to preserve.

A poorly trained person hesitates. They fail slowly, realize they don't know and escalate. A poorly grounded model answers fluently and wrong and nothing in the answer signals the failure. Fluency is not competence and fluency is what hides the failure until it reaches the customer. This matters because nearly every enterprise AI initiative lands in the same place, the front line, where the company talks to its customers. That is where the pilot impresses and where the gain shows up fastest.

I’ve spent decades in the corporate world, working at two Fortune 50 companies and with many largescale organizations and teams. In the early 2000s, I became obsessed with leadership, business growth, and building world-class teams. As I studied the work of many great leaders, authors, and speakers, I began to recognize something: many organizations have people who are excellent at managing teams, driving tasks, and executing plans, but they have not mastered the art of leadership.

Making Scale Feel Personal I believe the key is simple: treat customers the way you would want someone to treat a close friend or family member. Scale should never mean losing the human element of customer experience. That starts with truly listening. Customers can tell when someone is simply following a process versus genuinely trying to understand what they need. Ask questions, pay attention to the details they share and personalize the conversation where you can.

Strategy Begins with Spend Strategic sourcing is a methodology that helps you to have a holistic view of your spend, to give it structure and putting together all the pieces of the puzzle.