How Data Integration Transforms Customer Insights For Banks

Forbes

24-04-2025

Digital Banking
For centuries, banks have relied on relationships and legacy reputations to maintain their standing. But the world has changed. Consumers—especially Gen-Z and Millennials—no longer choose banks based on history; they choose based on experience. They demand seamless, personalized, and AI-powered interactions that mirror what they get from Amazon, Netflix, and digital-first fintech challengers.
Banks can no longer afford to ignore digital and AI-driven experiences—they are vital to survive. Companies that excel in customer experience grow revenue nearly 2.5 times faster than those that lag behind. The banking industry has already seen this shift as is the case of digital-only banks in the UK and Brazil's Nubank.
The problem? Most banks are not ready. Their biggest obstacle isn't a lack of technology—it's their data. Legacy infrastructure has created fragmented, inconsistent, and unreliable data across customer accounts, transactions, and interactions. Without a foundation of trusted, real-time data, even the best digital strategies will fail. According to recent research from Prosper Insights & Analytics, the top concerns for U.S, adults were the need for more transparency and disclosures for data, AI hallucinations, demand for human oversight, and overall lack of trust. Each of these concerns is mitigated by using reliable, clean data.
Prosper - Concern About Recent Developments in Artificial Intelligence
This lack of trust directly translates into customer retention. The report also shared that approximately one in four Gen-Z consumers and one in five Millennial customers who were concerned with banking safety would switch to a community bank, savings bank, or credit union. To win in the AI-powered future and keep consumers' trust, banks must integrate, cleanse, and unify their data at scale to address consumers' biggest concerns.
Banks have amassed vast amounts of customer data, yet many still struggle to use it effectively. Disparate systems, legacy infrastructure, and regulatory requirements create a tangled web of data silos that prevent institutions from fully understanding their customers. The result? Frustrated customers, missed opportunities, and inefficient operations.
'The biggest challenge banks face today isn't a lack of technology—it's fragmented, unreliable data. Leading institutions are solving this by building unified, real-time data ecosystems that integrate customer interactions, transactions, and external insights. This shift doesn't just improve compliance and efficiency—it fuels AI-driven personalization, faster decision-making, and new revenue streams. The banks that invest in trusted data today will be the ones driving the industry forward tomorrow,' said Manish Sood, founder and CEO of Reltio, a cloud-native data unification company.
Fulton Bank, a regional bank in Lancaster, Pa., struggled with fragmented data. Following Fulton's expansion to other states and markets, customer data became complex and scattered across multiple platforms, leading to inconsistent views of customer relationships, low data quality, operational inefficiencies, and missed revenue opportunities. For Fulton Bank, these challenges directly impacted on customer experience, regulatory compliance, and long-term growth. The question was not if they needed to act—but how.
Fulton took a bold step toward modernizing its data architecture by implementing an advanced cloud-based platform designed to unify and govern customer data across its systems. While the underlying technology was essential, their success hinged on three key principles:
The bank created a 360-degree customer profile by integrating data across 15+ systems, from core banking to CRM and digital interactions. Each customer was assigned a unique identifier, allowing the bank to consolidate records into a single view.
This change improved customer authentication, fraud detection, and regulatory reporting. Call center representatives could instantly access accurate customer data, eliminating the need for customers to repeat information or verify multiple accounts manually.
A unified cloud data platform also allowed Fulton to identify and correct errors in its customer records proactively. With greater visibility into data discrepancies, the bank could:
The result was a significant reduction in data errors and improved compliance readiness.
Fulton reduced reliance on manual data reconciliation by leveraging automated processes to match, merge, and validate records in real-time. This led to faster customer onboarding, improved efficiency in risk assessments, and better alignment with compliance frameworks. The bank freed up resources to focus on customer engagement and strategic initiatives rather than data cleanup by streamlining these processes.
With a trusted, unified data foundation, Fulton Bank was able to shift from reactive to proactive decision-making. The benefits extended beyond operational efficiency to business growth and customer experience.
Fulton's transformation highlights the critical role of data strategy in modern banking to eliminate silos, improve data quality, increase efficiency, and unlock new growth opportunities. For institutions grappling with fragmented data, the following steps can serve as a guide:
Covid-19 accelerated changes in how banking institutions engaged their customers, driving people to digital portals. What was once a relationship-driven industry has shifted to a digital-first experience powered by AI, automation, and real-time insights.
The financial institutions that will survive and thrive will deliver the best digital experiences across every channel. Whether a customer interacts through a smartphone app, website, or call center, the experience must be seamless. Bank representatives must immediately recognize the customer, anticipate their next needs, and integrate every interaction and transaction into a real-time, 360-degree view. Broken links, sluggish load times, error messages, and waiting in chat queues inevitably lead to disappointed or worse, angry customers. These integrated experiences demand a foundation of current, trusted, and accurate data.
Banks investing in data infrastructure, data governance, and AI will be the ones that emerge as industry leaders. Those that don't will struggle to keep pace in a world where data is the difference between growth and irrelevance.