AT&T Finance Solutions GM on Shrimping, Software, and CX

Why the Cloud? Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination

By G C Network | October 23, 2008

So why is the intelligence community so interested in cloud computing? Three letters: PED (Processing, Exploitation, Dissemination). Take these two real life examples from the publishing industry. Jim Staten of…

World Summit of Cloud Computing: “Enterprise Cloud Computing” work group

By G C Network | October 22, 2008

To leverage attendees of the World Summit of Cloud Computing, a kick-off meeting of the “Enterprise Cloud Computing” work group will be held near Tel Aviv, Israel on December 3,…

Cloud Package Management

By G C Network | October 21, 2008

In his post “Missing in the Cloud: package management“, Dave Rosenberg highlights a critical issue in the adoption of cloud computing by government agencies. “I dare say that a standard…

PlugIntoTheCloud.com

By G C Network | October 20, 2008

Information Week has just launched PlugIntoTheCloud.com as their cloud computing destination. In his Non Linear Thinking blog, Bill Martin calls it a movement aimed at “providing a source and forum…

Is the cloud computing hype bad?

By G C Network | October 17, 2008

From Gartner “Why a little cloud hype might be useful“: “It’s too simplistic to say cloud hype is bad . If we are technically expert is might irritate us with…

Stop the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) !!

By G C Network | October 16, 2008

Dan Morrill! Count me in !! In his excellent article, “Cloud Computing is Scary – But the FUD Has to Stop“,  Dan makes some excellent points: It is time to…

IBM, Microsoft and Google

By G C Network | October 15, 2008

On October 6th, IBM launched their cloud services initiative. This is a:  “[C]ompany-wide initiative that extends its traditional software delivery model toward a mix of on-premise and cloud computing applications…

Government in the Cloud

By G C Network | October 13, 2008

Back in mid-September, there was quite a thread in the Google Cloud Computing Group on the use of cloud computing by the federal government.  Some of the interesting comments were:…

CloudCamp Partners With SOA-R !!

By G C Network | October 10, 2008

I’m proud to announce that the final SOA-R Cloud Computing Education Event will be held in collaboration with CloudCamp. Now dubbed CloudCamp:Federal, the event will be held as an “unconference” to help…

Federal Cloud Computing Wiki

By G C Network | October 9, 2008

With the fast growing interest in cloud computing, the Federal Government community has established a Federal Cloud Computing Wiki. This wiki is managed by Dr. Brand Niemann, Senior Enterprise Architect…

Helping clients address the trends and challenges presented by the Financial Services industry is the main focus for René Dufrene in his role as General Manager of Finance Solutions at AT&T Business. His global responsibility includes Retail Banking, Insurance, Payment, and Wealth Management solutions. His background, the impact of digital transformation, the role of 5G, and what impact the “fast-to-market†model might have on the Finance industry was all fair game when Mr. Dufrene spoke with Dez Blanchfield on the “Conversations with Dez†podcast.

Born in Louisiana Cajun Country, René paid his way through college by shrimping on the Gulf of Mexico. After finishing his education in math and software engineering, he put that knowledge to use developing solutions for a number of financial institutions (FIs). After honing his skills developing highly resilient, highly secure capabilities for the finance community, he led the development of an advanced cloud networking solution, and finally landed his current position.That background placed him in an ideal role to advise clients dealing with operational issues driven by changing customer expectations.“Consumer behavior has changed… Some of this has been driven by emerging FinTech [financial technology] companies. A more important driver is the customer experience in other industries. For example, the apps you or I may use in a retail store influences and changes our expectations of what we expect, and are willing to deal with, at our financial institutions.â€According to René, this is a main driver of digital transformation across both small and large FIs. Although they may be in various stages of transition, a common nexis is enhancing the customer experience (CX), whether in-branch, in-office, online, mobile app or even contact center. The technology needed to implement CX enhancement can include digital signage, Wi-Fi, and other collaboration tools. An innovative possibility is the use of iBeacon technology that allows mobile applications to derive consumer context on a micro-local scale, enabling the delivery of hyper-contextual content to users based on location.All of these services need highly secure software-defined networking (SDN) technology.

This is essentially what René and his team help to provide. Mr. Dufrene shared specific in a recent whitepaper, â€The financial industry builds its networks of the future.â€â€œIn the financial services world, are IT networks up to the challenges of digital transformation? Motivated by the rapid growth and innovation of fintech, the industry’s established players are going for new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and blockchain—and in a big way. Their main aim is to create the new sources of value and efficiencies needed to compete effectively for the next decade and beyond. Getting the most out of the new tech requires on-point modernization of their IT networks, parts of which are not fit-for-purpose in the digital era.â€

  • René leads the AT&T Financial Services Solutions team to integrate uniquely capable technology and expertise, Edge-to-Edge IntelligenceSM, and a highly-secure global network to help clients:Increase customer loyalty by delivering a high-value customer experience
  • Improve operational efficiency by enabling rapid deployment and quick customer adoption of new services and offerings
  • Confidently embrace change in a way that protects data and elevates customer trust
  • Client objectives have included:Meeting the challenges of operating nimbly and more securely at a global scale
  • Helping to develop responses to changing cyber-threats
  • Managing the increasing mobile device types, capabilities, and numbers
  • Extending services to non-traditional customers in non-traditional sites
  • Delivering a contextual and personalized CX
  • Providing convenient access through the customer’s chosen channel and device

As René shared with Dez, “Being able to integrate at scale is a precursor to modernizing core financial systems. Some FIs have been around for a long, long time. In some cases, over 100 years… Now, they’re modernizing, and that requires them to re-write the software, re-architect infrastructure, move workloads into public or private clouds, and rethink their data center strategy to do all of this in a highly-secure manner. It’s a multi-year journey in some cases.â€Would you like to know if you’re on track or falling behind on your network transformation? Take this 5-question assessment and get a free, personalized business value snapshot.

AT&T Business is a leading provider of Edge-to-edge solutions for Financial Services, and the largest SD-WAN provider globally. Achieve smarter, more trusted interactions with business solutions that integrate our unique ecosystem of technology and expertise with our highly-secure global network to obtain near real-time intelligence from every corner of your enterprise.

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