AiThority Interview with Cory Gaines, Chief Product Officer at Blackhawk Network (BHN)

Hi Cory, welcome to AiThority.com’s Predictions Series interview. You have witnessed the technology industry grow into a multi-billion dollar economy in 2023.

Please tell us about your fintech journey. What is your current role at Blackhawk Network (BHN)?

Throughout my career, I’ve focused on creating innovative products and product experiences that push the status quo on a global scale. I’ve held senior leadership roles across several Fortune 100 organizations including Visa, Citibank, Bank of America, and PayPal, in addition to roles at Green Dot and Lively.

At Blackhawk Network (BHN), I lead the organization’s aggressive efforts to leverage payment technologies to deepen the connections between people and brands they love. As a digital payments expert, my focus is to help drive customer acquisition and deepen engagement, at scale, by developing new products and product experiences.

Please tell us something about your company Blackhawk Network (BHN). What are your core offerings?

BHN is the leader in global branded payments. For more than 20 years, BHN’s mission has been to connect brands with their customers, employees, and partners. During that time, we’ve built a platform that drives those connections, at scale, in 32 markets.  We deliver hundreds of brands to consumers through hundreds of thousands of physical and digital commerce locations. Our services include Gift Card and eGift products, promotion and distribution, rewards & incentives, payment acceptance, loyalty solutions, and mobile applications, all to enhance those connections.

How do you leverage artificial intelligence to make payments seamless? How is it beneficial for Fintech customers?

We’re just beginning to scratch the surface of how fintech organizations will be able to leverage AI to make payments even more seamless. One of the most beneficial uses for BHN and in the industry is—and will likely continue to be—fraud detection and prevention.

AI-powered algorithms for Fintech decision-makers can more quickly and thoroughly analyze payment data in real-time to detect and identify suspicious patterns or even come up with the best protection methodology to use to secure consumer data. This will provide an additional layer of security to protect against fraudulent activities and safeguard organizations and consumers.

However, another way we are exploring AI is to improve recommendations and considerations.

Ensuring that a gift or a reward for an employee generates the right impact is not always easy, even for those we love or know well.  AI will be another way to leverage data to improve choices and make any reward or gift more enjoyable for the recipient.

The prepaid card sector is doing its part by streamlining an evergreen payments product, making it more convenient for consumers regardless of what channel they’re shopping in. What are your thoughts?

Prepaid cards are already one of the most inclusive and ubiquitous payment options and offer convenient ways to connect gifts, budget tools, disbursements, rewards, and even payments from employers. However, it’s no surprise that we are in the middle of a massive shift in the way consumers research, shop and connect with others so even though friction is disappearing with more streamlined processes, we are still seeing a few trends worth paying attention to.

With more than 5 billion people having access, the internet now connects more than 60% of the world’s population, according to a 2023 Digital Snapshot by DataReportal. But what we consider to be the internet is also changing. What was dominated by websites, email, and large screens is evolving into chat, messaging, video, and smartphones.

More than 95% of consumers use chat or messaging versus 49% using email.

About 15% of internet users use messaging and live chat to research brands in addition to more than a billion people now using social media to find products.

Consumers are also increasingly relying on other people for information and advice when they are looking to buy something rather than traditional search engines. Data from GWI Core shows that this gap has narrowed for all users over the last seven years but has already been flipped for a few years when it comes to Gen Z, who look to their favorite influencers more than traditional search. People are also spending more time in gaming and virtual experiences and brands are looking for ways to establish themselves in these channels and exploring how to transact in these venues.

Because of these meaningful shifts, we all have to continue to figure out how to be relevant in this space and streamline experiences, contextually adding capabilities in the newer channels where people are shopping and interacting with each other. The good news is—in addition to the traditional ways of driving people to websites, like ads—messaging platforms have evolved to allow third-party integration and become super apps. We now have ways to put gifting and rewards right where people are sending birthday wishes or giving virtual high-fives to one another.

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How according to you will the fintech segment evolve in the coming years?

Which industries will benefit most from the latest fintech innovations?

Embedded finance will become more prevalent, enabling non-financial organizations to integrate financial services into their offerings seamlessly, including embedded payments and rewards. The technology already exists that will marry into existing software platforms and allow organizations to embed payments and rewards into user experiences for a variety of use cases, but adoption will expand.

Leveraging intelligent apps or APIs enables brands to dole out digital rewards people can access from anywhere which translates into real-time reinforcement and deep customer insights that can help tailor future interactions and promotions and frequent touchpoint opportunities.

A wide range of industries are likely to benefit from the expanded use of embedded finance, but eCommerce and retail will be among some of the biggest beneficiaries. Embedded payments and rewards allow eCommerce platforms and retailers to offer integrated payment options, personalized financing and loyalty programs directly through their websites or mobile apps, enhancing the checkout process, improving overall customer experiences and boosting conversion rates for online businesses.

Beyond brands and merchants, for almost any organization, instead of having to invest in yet another expensive platform to reward and engage employees or customers, they can insert a rewards app right into the tech tools they are already using for day-to-day business. Microsoft Teams is one prominent example of this—it now offers a BHN Rewards app, allowing teams to issue instant rewards during group and private meetings, as well as chats, via eGifts.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face when marketing your new idea and trying to improve the overall customer experience for them?

Often the biggest challenge is simply technology fatigue, brought on by the overwhelming abundance of new and constantly changing technologies. Gartner predicts that global IT spending will total $4.6 trillion in 2023—a 5.1% increase from last year. The 2023 Zylo SaaS Management Index Report found that even organizations with fewer than 500 employees have a staggering 172 SaaS subscriptions on average.

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APIs will continue to lead the way in digital transformations, but many organizations don’t realize that APIs can help get more out of the tech stacks and subscriptions that they already have.

Many organizations are feeling the strain of global economic challenges, and optimizing existing tech stacks is a smart, strategic way to streamline resources, reduce training time and time spent switching between platforms, and help protect budgets.

Effectively using and streamlining the technology already at an organization’s fingertips allows businesses to reach people in more powerful ways.

We’d love to know what are your predictions for the AI in Fintech domain for 2030.

Predicting tech innovations and advancements is challenging with the rapid evolution that has taken place over the last few years, but some developments that I think are likely to take shape for the tech domain over the next decade include:

AI regulation: As AI gets embedded in more aspects of our lives, ethical considerations, transparency and a need for regulation will all become more prevalent to address potential biases and create guardrails for responsible AI deployment.

Climate-focused FinTech: FinTech will also need to focus on sustainable finance and climate-related initiatives, with eco-friendly manufacturing processes, sustainable materials, and overall ESG considerations growing more prominent.

Expanding financial inclusion: With wider mobile wallet adoption, FinTech will continue to play a significant role in expanding financial inclusion through mobile-based solutions for non-banked and under-banked consumers.

Thank you, Cory! That was fun and we hope to see you back on AiThority.com soon.

[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]