Banco Sabadell has launched its new subsidiary Sabadell Digital, which concentrates technological and digital talent, with the aim of promoting the transformation of the group by providing comprehensive, technological and innovative solutions to its clients and potential clients.
The Sabadell Digital team has solid knowledge in areas such as mobile application development, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and data analytics, as highlighted by the CEO and Director of Operations and Technology of Banco Sabadell, Marc Armengol, at the discussion of Futuro Banco Sabadell Dialogues with La Vanguardia.
The meeting, held on Wednesday June 14 at the facilities of ‘La Vanguardia’, was attended by the founder of the company specialized in strategic advice for the financial sector Bluecap, which is currently part of the Globant technology company, and in turn president of Barcelona Global, Maite Barrera; the professor and director of the Department of Operations, Innovation and Data Science at the Esade business school, Marc Torrens, and the CEO and founder of the company specialized in digital transformation Liquid Lab Ventures, Aleix Valls, who positively assessed the Bank’s digital commitment Sabadell.
Following the arrival of the “different waves” of the fourth industrial revolution, “we now find ourselves at an inflection point in the adoption of technologies from the perspective of customers that will allow us to fight the next battle to differentiate ourselves from competitors in the ecosystem finance”, predicts the CEO and Director of Operations and Technology of Banco Sabadell.
The financial institution’s strategy uses technology to offer the best possible service based on “data management so that the digital service and experience can continue with that of the physical world,” reveals Marc Armengol.
Artificial intelligence, according to the manager of Banco Sabadell, is going to mean “a significant change in the way of interacting with financial institutions” in a context in which, more and more, “we are going to generate experiences designed for each client in a similar to the experience we have with people”
At Banco Sabadell they also work to reduce the digital gap for “vulnerable” customers, explains Armengol, giving as an example the tests that are being carried out within the framework of the application of intelligence for the development of improvements in the comprehension of texts for people with disabilities. cognitive difficulties.
The popularization of generative artificial intelligence, specifically the ChatGPT tool, created by the technology firm OpenAI, has been the “disruptive element” that has generated “a sensation of exponential change”, in the opinion of Maite Barrera. The founder of Bluecap and president of Barcelona Global points out, however, that ChatGPT is only “the tip of the iceberg in terms of the opportunities and threats” that artificial intelligence entails, given its “enormous capacity and great potential”.
Among the challenges involved in the use of artificial intelligence, the director of Esade’s Operations, Innovation and Data Science department, Marc Torrens, highlights that “it allows the creation of credible content that cannot be distinguished from true content.” Although this academic recalls that, “at the moment, machines do not have real intelligence capacity, since they do not have any semantic understanding or connection to the real world” so they must be provided with “a layer of ethics”.
However, Torrens stresses that “we cannot even imagine the transformative capacity” that artificial intelligence has, especially in combination with the rest of the technologies with which it “converges” such as the Internet of Things and virtual and augmented reality, among others. others.
“The digitization of processes has made it possible to increasingly improve services incrementally, but now we are facing a disruption,” recalls the director of Esade’s Department of Operations, Innovation and Data Science.
The adoption of the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, unlike the previous ones, occurs first in the user, which forces companies to adapt. “The digital revolution has occurred in reverse”, notes Aleix Valls. In addition, its progress at the moment is exponential. “ChatGPT has achieved the fastest implementation in history, surpassing Facebook in time and volume”, highlights
Given the “extraordinary potential of artificial intelligence”, the technological transformation formula recommended to organizations by the CEO and founder of Liquid Lab Ventures, Aleix Valls, is based on three pillars: “strategy, culture and talent”. Change, he insists, occurs when “the company’s strategy has a clear path.”
Banco Sabadell, whose “main source of customer relationship continues to be trust” faces the challenge of “building it also in the digital territory”, while continuing to be “available in the physical world, with more than a thousand branches”, explains the director General and Director of Operations and Technology of the entity, Marc Armengol.
“People trust their bank because it is a regulated sector,” agrees the founder of Bluecap and president of Barcelona Global, Maite Barrera. Regarding the recruitment of talent, Barrera believes that, although Barcelona is an important pole of attraction for technology professionals, there is “a significant gap in terms of the availability of digital talent necessary to drive the rapid business transformation that is required”. Given this, she Barrera considers it “crucial to have the support of universities to train the leaders of the future and address this challenge.”
“The quality of universities is amply demonstrated, both in technical and business training,” says the professor and director of the Department of Operations, Innovation and Data Science at Esdae, Marc Torrens, who despite this acknowledges that there is still a “disconnect” between the technological world and that of business skills, and that it is also necessary to focus more on the development of soft skills.
Paradoxically, the most sought after profiles are “senior talents” with a strategic vision, adds the CEO and founder of Liquid Lab Ventures, who are highly sought after, characterized by their “professional promiscuity” and, beyond salary and working conditions, they tend to bet on companies that have “a clear digital project”, as is the case of Banco Sabadell, adds Aleix Valls.
Banco Sabadell wants to adapt to these new demands from its customers, focusing on the development and improvement of digital solutions, in order to continue competing in an increasingly digital market.
The entity has a “global digital commitment” and competitive projects, among which its CEO and Director of Operations and Technology highlight “the best onboarding process in European banking”.
“There is a paradigm shift and this stage will make it possible to respond with maximum agility to the challenges that we will have to face. Technology opens up new opportunities for customers and services. Its use will always be responsible”, concludes Marc Armengol.
