Sean Murray Featured on 
The Conference Board's
C-Suite Perspectives Podcast

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Ivan Pollard on The Conference Board’s C-Suite Perspectives podcast, where we explored the advantages of embracing agile methodologies and design thinking, generative AI’s transformative potential, and best practices for customer-centric product development across financial services.

I’d like to share some key takeaways from our discussion:

Adapting to Change
The financial services landscape is in constant flux, demanding a dynamic and responsive approach to product development. The conventional, slow, sequential process referred to as the "waterfall" method – simply can't keep pace with today's rapidly evolving customer expectations and technological advancements. Companies looking to stay ahead of customer expectations must embrace a faster, more iterative, agile approach. This approach breaks down large projects into smaller, manageable pieces, enabling financial institutions to deliver value to customers more quickly and efficiently.

However, agility should not come at the cost of quality. Retaining key elements of traditional methodologies, like rigorous testing, ensures reliability while improving responsiveness. A transition to enterprise-wide agile processes allows financial institutions to balance speed with stability and accelerates the delivery of valuable products without compromising security or compliance.

Financial institutions who integrate design thinking into product development can empathize with their customers by understanding their needs, allowing for faster prototype development and solutions testing. This creates a truly customer-centric approach, where businesses can adapt quickly to market changes, validate assumptions early, and deliver products that customers want. Ultimately, this empowers financial institutions to not only react to change, but to anticipate and help to shape the future of their respective industry.

The AI Revolution
AI, and particularly generative AI, presents tremendous opportunities within financial services, given its potential to enhance customer service and personalized experiences. 

But organizations should commit to implementing AI in a way that is ethical and secure, as well as beneficial for both its customers and the business. This means building the right infrastructure, identifying appropriate use cases (both internal and external), carefully managing data access, and navigating the regulatory landscape to ensure security.

The Customer is King
In today's very competitive landscape, a seamless, positive customer journey is no longer a differentiator – it's the expectation. Customers have more choices than ever before and switching between competitors has become easier than ever. To earn and retain loyalty, companies must prioritize exceptional service at every touchpoint.

A customer-centric approach involves mapping the entire customer journey—from account opening and onboarding to ongoing account management and even closure. Rather than viewing individual products or services in silos, financial institutions must ensure a cohesive and frictionless experience across every interaction.

Consistently acting upon customer feedback is also a crucial step in delivering an exceptional experience. By leveraging surveys, online reviews, social media insights, and direct customer interactions, organizations can gain valuable insights into customer sentiment and unmet needs. Embedding these insights into team goals and performance evaluations ensures alignment across the organization, keeping the focus on customer satisfaction.

True customer loyalty is built through proactive engagement. Anticipating customer needs, providing proactive support, and offering personalized solutions are key differentiators in today's competitive market. Financial institutions should focus on delivering real value—simplifying customers’ financial lives and empowering them to achieve their goals.

Ultimately, AI combined with strong product development bridges the gap between customer needs and available solutions, ensuring a positive and rewarding experience that fosters long-term loyalty.

This information is for educational purposes only, not intended to be financial or legal advice. Always consult a qualified financial advisor before taking any action based on this information. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position, or opinion of Barclays Bank Delaware.

Blog Author
Sean Murray
Chief Product Officer
Barclays US Consumer Bank

Sean Murray is Chief Product Officer for Barclays US Consumer Bank where he is responsible for driving innovation to design new products, enhance digital customer experiences, and modernize the platform that powers the bank’s award-winning card and payment programs in the U.S.

Sean has more than two decades of experience across banking, credit cards, financial technology and e-commerce. Prior to joining Barclays in 2020, Sean was the Citi Fintech Chief Product Officer at Citi. Before this, he spent 15 years at JP Morgan Chase within their consumer division, including Card Services, Retail Banking, and Mobile, E-Commerce and Payments groups.

Sean is a mentor for Unreasonable Impact and serves on the boards of The Challenge Program and The Greater Philadelphia YMCA. He holds an MBA from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Science in finance and banking from Fordham University.