BMO’s digitalfirst banking matches the rapid pace of technological change IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
DIGITAL REPORT 2024
BMO’S DIGITAL-FIR
MATCHES THE RAPID OF TECHNOLOGICAL
RST BANKING D PACE L CHANGE
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BMO took a digital-first approach to expanding its physical presence, leveraging data and AI
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anking is now a fundamental function of society and one that comes with many significant challenges that impact the entire ecosystem of stakeholders that share a vested interest in the security of funds, data, and overall economies. To truly understand the extent to which banks leave an impression on these various stakeholders, it’s important to have leaders in place that can, firstly, carry the organisation’s ethos, but also piece together a narrative that incorporates various different perspectives. What this means for BMO is that it requires someone who is able to assess the various needs of people with different interactions with the organisation – such as customers, communities and staff. It takes great communication and empathy to fully understand the requirements of an influential company like BMO. This is where Sandip Sahota steps into the frame as the SVP & Enterprise Chief Data and Analytics Officer at BMO, bringing a passion for people into a position that is driving the use of data in banking. With a focus on continuing to progress the bank’s industry-leading digital experiences, Sahota leads the business’ data functions to provide a number of benefits, including greater efficiency for employees, transparency for the organisation, and greater use of digital solutions to meet the needs of customers. As we begin to understand the vision of Sahota and the mission that BMO has
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adopted, we see aligned views. Sahota recites the common driver-impact. “We look at impact – how every decision that we make, our strategy as a whole, has an impact within our communities,” Sahota explains. “Also, how we make an impact economically within our society. And that’s been the focus of the organisation for some time, and it continues to be the way we measure our success.” For BMO, this is facilitated through its company-wide strategy to enable digital banking for customers, not only keeping up with the times but also providing greater functions for its users. Over the three years that Sahota has been with the company, he has seen this evolution take place, by incorporating digital-first thinking and treating technology as the core of the organisation. 6
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“I’ve witnessed a focus on digital first, thinking about digital not just as a channel but as a true capability. And if you think that to be a digital bank, it’s all about customer journeys, it’s all about employee experiences,” says Sahota. “So, how do we bring together a customer journey that is seamless across any part of our business – that’s seamless within the bank? “This capability is grounded on data and the ability to stitch together a customer journey through the right content sets and experiences that analytics helps to drive. So that’s been a big focus.” But BMO doesn’t just talk the talk. The work going on behind the scenes to achieve this was recognised by a number of industry awards, including three Global Retail Banking Innovation Awards from Digital Banker: Outstanding IT transformation by a Retail
SANDIP SAHOTA TITLE: CHIEF DATA AND ANALYTICS OFFICER COMPANY: BMO Sandip Sahota is the Enterprise Chief Data and Analytics Officer (CDAO) for BMO. He leads the Data & Analytics (DnA) team and heads the dual reporting structure for the Groups and Services CDAOs integrating data and analytics initiatives at the enterprise, business and operational level. He is accountable for data governance, data management and analytics capabilities, in addition to leveraging robotics to drive BMO’s digital agenda, efficiency and growth. Sandip ensures the quality of critical business data to unlock the value of BMO’s information assets, inform strategy, meet regulatory commitments and enhance risk management. Sandip has over 25 years of data and analytics experience in the financial services industry in Canada and the US. He joined BMO in September 2020 from Bank of New York Mellon where he was the Head of Data Solutions, leading digital and data transformation across operations. Previously, Sandip was the Head of Enterprise Data at Canada Pension Plan Investments Board and prior to that, he held progressive leadership roles at Morgan Stanley. He sits on the advisory board for AltHub, which provides alternative data and analytics to help investment professionals gain an investment edge, and IntroGlobal, whose focus is on developing global companies by creating new markets in North America and Asia.
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BMO Simplifies and Transforms Analytics With Dataiku BMO is at the forefront of a data analytics revolution. In December 2023, they received the Digital Banker Outstanding Machine Learning Initiative Award for their cutting-edge machine learning solution tailored for their Virtual Connect team. By leveraging Dataiku, the Everyday AI platform that’s functional for both data and domain experts, BMO has simplified data analytics, boosted enterprise-wide data democratisation, and brought innovation to the core of operations in over 15 different lines of business via more than 200 total users.
Accessible Consistency and Agility In a federated environment where analytics offices are dispersed across multiple lines of business, ensuring every team within the organisation can effortlessly turn data into actionable business insights is complex. With Dataiku, BMO found a combination of reliability and workability. The integration of Dataiku caters to a range of needs across the enterprise, whether via a fully managed solution or simply by offering access to vital data and tools.
Solid Core, Flexible Edges An essential part of BMO’s data journey is the “solid core” and “flexible edges” mindset. This philosophy consists of a strong, standardised foundation for data analytics and room for customisation to ensure scalability and flexibility under the pressures of evolving business needs. For unlocking the ideal balance between innovation and dependability, Dataiku is inherently customisable and streamlines processes while retaining the necessary historical data capabilities.
Independence With a Safety Net Balancing the path to data analytics excellence is BMO’s prime focus. The mission is clear: empower data and business teams alike to attain selfsufficiency. BMO takes every team and systematically fosters their data proficiency with tailored guidance and resources. This meticulous approach coupled with Dataiku’s code or no-code options and visual, user-friendly interface guarantees that individuals of varying skill levels can unlock the full power of data in decisions with complete confidence.
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“ We look at impact – how every decision that we make, our strategy as a whole, has an impact within our communities” SANDIP SAHOTA
CHIEF DATA AND ANALYTICS OFFICER, BMO
Bank, Best Digital Banking Initiative, and Outstanding Machine Learning Initiative. “Because of that you can see that our investments are paying off, our focus is paying off, and our customers are rating a top-notch experience in our sector, which is great to see,” Sahota adds. The significance of the Chief Data and Analytics Officer role In order to fully understand why the CDAO role is so important in achieving the goal of BMO, Sahota explains the journey that a company must undertake to leverage data to the fullest extent. Within this, he highlights three key stages of the adoption process from information gathering to extracting value for commercial applications. “The early generation is all about building a data asset that an organisation can get value from,” says Sahota. “Traditionally, that journey starts because someone in a horizontal type role, for example, a chief risk officer, needs consistency of information across an organisation. So there becomes 10
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a need to have someone in the seat to help drive the creation of an asset or the creation of a capability that ultimately can service their needs. “As we start doing that, the concept moves to generation two, which is enterprise data. We should have certain domains of data that are consistent across the organisation so we can all speak the same language. Now that we’ve got it in one place, how do we replicate that? In many organisations that could be related to customers, it could revolve around how your organisation is structured, it could depend on your finances.”
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Then he brings us to the pinnacle of data and analytics application – the end goal of bringing commercially viable solutions that help generate value from clean, actionable data sources. “The third generation that we are in now is all about extracting value from all these assets. Now that you are a customer seamlessly across a variety of platforms that you may use, you may have a personal account with us, hold a business account, or have some wealth relationship with BMO, but you could be part of a company that’s looking to go public,” Sahota explains. “How do we seamlessly create that profile to be
able to assist you in a number of ways across the organisation? I think the reason you have someone in the CDAO seat is to get to gen three. You want a data asset, you want enterprise data, then the ability to extract value from it in a seamless way to drive progress for customers, and deliver loyalty, growth and efficiency.” Citing an analogy that is adopted among leadership at BMO, Sahota shares the approach to always ensuring the foundational functions are achieved, leaving staff free to mould to the needs of its customers. This is a critical ethos to adopt in order to reach the ‘gen three’ stage. www.bmo.com
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“One of our core principles that we’ve used to help drive that decision-making is ‘solid core, flex edge’. We build these solid capabilities to drive customer experience and our business has the flexibility to get in front of customers as needed with the right tools and capabilities,” says Sahota. Evolving AI and ML in the banking sector Notably, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have been present in banking for quite some time. As technologies evolve, the industry uses them to keep up with the rapid rate of change. The key here, as addressed by Sahota, is to be diligent and understand the risk factors – for example, client data in a high-risk industry – but also the relevant applications for such technologies. This is where governance comes to the forefront to ensure that expanding AI-based solutions for a bank provide value long-term. Sahota also stresses the importance of remaining on the same level as technology in order to leverage the new functions in the best ways. “Today everyone is focused on generative AI (Gen AI), and rightfully so. It gives tremendous value because you’re building upon all this rapid change that’s happening and, given the pace of change and the nature of that change, there’s a wealth of opportunity when applying some of these capabilities,” Sahota says. On the governance point, he explains: “We have to be very measured and very thoughtful about how to implement these capabilities. For us as a regulated entity, as an entity that’s a custodian of information from 13 million customers, we are considerate of the right approaches and when it makes sense for us to really implement some of this capability.” 12
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“ How do we bring together a customer journey that is seamless across any part of our business?” SANDIP SAHOTA
CHIEF DATA AND ANALYTICS OFFICER, BMO
One of the key areas in which AI can add value to the business is through automated decision-making. While considering the points above about good governance and keeping a close eye on AI’s functionality, BMO also recognises the opportunity for greater efficiency, by allowing AI to share the burden. From a customer-focused standpoint, lead generation is key to allowing BMO to repeatedly offer great products. “We can look at a variety of information and suggest a focused set of customers that they can work with,” as Sahota put it. “And a focused set of customers to bring them into the bank or to think about deepening their relationships or to consider how best to bring value.” Bringing solutions together in the cloud to manage a larger footprint In order to fully leverage data across the organisation, it must first simplify the way this can be accessed from multiple premises across the country – not to mention bringing on board 13 states in the US as the organisation celebrates the acquisition of Bank of the West. www.bmo.com
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“ I’ve witnessed a focus on
digital first, thinking about digital not just as a channel but as a true capability” SANDIP SAHOTA
CHIEF DATA AND ANALYTICS OFFICER, BMO
BMO
Cloud is the enabler of this data sharing and therefore forms a key part of BMO’s data infrastructure. Sahota will continue to focus on delivering this technology further as the backbone of its ecosystem. How will the company achieve its goals? Well, partnerships in alignment with the bank will play a key role. Sahota notes the great work taking place with experts in key areas of its digital transformation. BMO is already well established with AWS and Microsoft Azure as major partners for a number of digital functions and developing knowledge within the team to better leverage new and evolving systems. These solutions will also develop thanks to Vector Institute, an organisation BMO sponsors and a crucial one for delivering more advanced data sciences – Dataiku also being a key partner in this area. Referring back to automation, Sahota also praises UiPath as its chosen partner for robotic process automation (RPA), which the company has worked with tirelessly to optimise products within the BMO ecosystem. All in all, the work for Sahota and the wider data and analytics teams at BMO never stops and the seamless conversion of Bank of the West in its established ecosystem proves that the bank has a solid digital foundation that continues to grow.
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