Information as a Strategic Asset for an Institution

With a dynamic career spanning over two decades in the IT financial sector, Fernando Treviño Elizondo serves as the Chief Information Officer at Grupo Financiero Banorte. Known for his expertise in Systems Development, Cyber Security, and Data Analysis, Fernando is passionate about harnessing technology to transform financial services.

A proud alumnus of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL), he earned both his Systems Engineering degree and a master’s degree from this esteemed institution. Committed to innovation and excellence, Fernando is dedicated to leveraging data-driven insights to enhance customer experiences and drive organizational success.

In most recent events and publications, it is mandatory to address the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) because it is the trend for the present and future in multiple activities across the industrial and service sectors. In the financial industry, the active use of AI is no exception. AI encompasses aspects that “touch” customers in different processes, such as inquiries about products and services, transactions, and monetary operations. It enhances self-service processes like obtaining a payroll credit, acquiring a new credit card, or opening an account, even involving the use of an avatar with which customers can interact to address any of these needs.

  ​For a financial institution, information (data) is the most valuable asset, and we must ensure its integrity at all times.

Moreover, AI is also utilized in internal aspects of financial operations, including automated validation of documents and signatures, targeted and enriched access to knowledge databases, marketing campaigns, contact center customer service, and process simplification, among others.

An AI system is only as efficient as the information base with which it is provided. Information management is a differentiating element in most service companies and a strategic ally for all organizations. Not long ago, storing, processing, and analyzing large volumes of information was a “privilege” of a few, but today, with access to data processing services, tools, and cloud computing, its use has been democratized, eliminating most skill and economic barriers.

The Information Technology (IT) department is responsible for defining the vision and strategy for the informational future of any institution. It must create the technological architectures and implementations that form the foundation of the informational ecosystem, which should support business strategies and be complemented by technological trends that allow the addition of hardware and/or software that can be seamlessly integrated and scaled. This infrastructure provides the capability to process large volumes of information, supported by specialized tools for analysis, ensuring that the customer remains at the center of all decisions.

For a financial institution, information (data) is the most valuable asset, and we must ensure its integrity at all times. Therefore, we rely on specialized areas of information security and data governance to establish mechanisms for controlling access to and the use of data. When the information is governed, there will be rules for creation, modification, and validity, as well as profiles and access controls, ensuring its efficient and correct use with established and well-known guidelines.

In IT, we must ensure that authorized users have the tools necessary for data analytics and modeling, based primarily on self-service. This approach eliminates dependence on technical areas while simultaneously simplifying data consumption.

At Banorte, the results of having an effective and efficient data ecosystem are evident in our enhanced understanding of our clients. This knowledge allows us to offer personalized, unique, and differentiated products and services, anticipating their needs. Our ecosystem is enriched by the outcomes of the analytical models our data scientists continually develop, enabling us to react online to situations that clients demand or question. This responsiveness allows clients to perceive the special attention we provide, which is our foremost interest: ensuring that clients have a “WOW” experience when interacting with our institution.