An Inside Look at Building Client-Centered Digital Banking

Sherry Graziano, head of digital banking and contact centers, and Ken Meyer, chief information and experience officer, share the inside perspective on how Truist has emerged as a leader in driving client-centered technology innovation inclusive of strategic human interactions.

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An avid runner, Truist’s head of digital banking and contact centers, Sherry Graziano, is quick to point out that it is more apropos to think of digital banking as a marathon rather than a sprint. Citing the rapid pace of change in technology as well as consumer expectations, Graziano says the race is only speeding up.

However, the dash to retain and win customers with more mobile and online features must not overlook a core component to which banking customers have grown accustomed.

“How our clients think about engaging is often shaped and influenced by other experiences,” she said in a recent interview with PYMNTS. “We are very anchored to one of our core tenets, a concept we call T3, which is essentially how we think about leveraging technology coupled with the human touch to deliver on trust for our clients. [We are] ensuring that the human touch meets the client’s needs wherever they may be.”

Since Truist was formed as the result of a merger of BB&T and SunTrust Banks in 2019, the Charlotte, North Carolina-headquartered bank has invested heavily in digital, establishing itself among the industry leaders in driving innovation that resonates with customers.

“It is not something that you just flip a switch on overnight,” said Graziano. “It’s a journey, and we continue to add capabilities along the way based on what our clients expect.”

That journey involved major tech acquisitions last year, including Long Game, a 12-person FinTech startup specializing in gamification, and the Zaloni Arena platform, which Truist will deploy to accelerate intelligent technology and data governance.

This commitment requires intentionality in how Truist architects its experiences, not just technology. The approach means building modular technology that enables Truist to deploy similar experiences or capabilities across multiple channels. Ken Meyer, the bank’s chief innovation and experience officer, explained that Truist thinks more like an agile software company, building reusable components that can support mobile and online platforms.

“The best way to do that is to create simplicity in the architecture and simplicity for our teammates so you don’t have to go through many different paths in order to serve the client in the same way,” he said.

Meyer said Truist considers itself a FinTech, and he and Graziano agree that competition from traditional banks presents opportunities to learn and improve their own offerings. Truist’s differentiator is how quickly and accurately it can respond with new features, services and products that are laser-focused on meeting specific customer use cases.

One example of Truist’s commitment to client-centered technology is its Innovation and Journey Rooms, housed in its Innovation & Technology Center, a 100,000-square-foot hub it opened last year. The rooms are a single source of intelligence for a variety of feedback Truist receives across the entire customer journey. Team members can test and learn about changes to experiences before deploying new capabilities at scale.

Another example is Truist’s T3 Accelerator Lab, a customer care center where teammates take client phone calls and where product leaders, technology leaders and platform owners from across the company can hear about real-time frictions to better understand how to enhance the experience. This is supported by a full team of researchers testing new technologies for clients.

“Everything is ultimately rooted in [serving] clients, regardless of the different ways their feedback comes in,” said Meyer. “When you think about a client’s needs, specifically those that are potentially highly emotive and complex in nature, you have an opportunity to have caring conversations with that client, whether [through] our virtual assistant or a teammate in our care centers or in a branch.”