
How Vinod Sivagnanam Uses AI to Personalize E-Commerce
How Vinod Sivagnanam Uses AI to Personalize E-Commerce
Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are allowing for greater personalization in e-commerce, whether in algorithmic pairing of consumers with the products they most desire or in customer service and support. One leader in this new field is Vinod Sivagnanam, who has led product management at several of the largest global tech companies, expanding their businesses into new countries and using AI to redesign their e-commerce platforms and payment solutions.
Vinod Sivagnanam's Story
Sivagnanam's product career has been marked by ongoing growth and personal transformation. He began his efforts as a technology consultant, working with a global consulting firm in their digital strategy practice. Afterward, he helped a major online retailer expand its retail and payments operations globally, launching in new countries on two additional continents.
As a part of that project, he designed cross-border payment solutions for sellers who would use the company's online retail marketplace within highly regulated markets. He onboarded thousands of international sellers. To overcome the regulatory hurdles for cross-border expansion, Sivagnanam had to propose an innovative payment system to senior executives; he made his case and proved able to both persuade investors and adapt to the complexity of the international regulatory map. He led cross-functional and international teams under high pressure to launch technically complex products under aggressive timelines, with a lasting impact on the company's revenue and reach.
Today, Sivagnanam works at a U.S. - based software services company, where he is leading a redesign of the company's e-commerce storefront technologies and using the capabilities of AI to design a more robust, personalized customer experience.
Through each of these experiences, Sivagnanam has developed a unique tapestry of expertise. He knows how to adapt e-commerce platforms to a swiftly evolving (and international) regulatory environment; he knows how to persuade investors and senior executives to greenlight ambitious projects; he knows how to apply AI models to optimize personalization in e-commerce platforms; and he knows how to achieve these changes through a customer-centric mindset and perspective.
What's Next for Vinod Sivagnanam
Looking ahead, Sivagnanam plans to continue building disruptive, AI-powered products for fintech and e-commerce. He dreams of a type of personalized shopping that does not currently exist but that could exist. 'I want to revolutionize online shopping by reducing the time to make purchase decisions,' Sivagnanam says. He gives the example of a consumer typing 'brown sneakers that go with blue jeans,' hitting an order button, and having the product show up on their doorstep. This would require innovative technologies and a machine learning model that could understand the consumer's buying history and preferences with more nuance than existing models.
Sivagnanam also wants to work to make borderless commerce possible – 'allowing anyone to buy or sell anything to anyone worldwide.' Increasingly, global commerce markets make such a move desirable, and Sivagnanam's past achievements in cross-border payments solutions demonstrate that borderless commerce is within reach. In the years ahead, Sivagnanam intends to help lead the effort to make that future happen.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Business Wire
an hour ago
- Business Wire
Cardless Unveils Embedded Credit Card Platform, with Coinbase as First Partner
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cardless, a leading fintech innovator known for its transformative credit card technology, today announced the launch of its embedded credit card platform, a breakthrough solution designed to help brands build their own credit card programs. Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN), the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency platform, is the inaugural partner utilizing this infrastructure to build the Coinbase One Card, a premium consumer credit offering for Coinbase loyalty members integrated directly into the Coinbase digital experience. This news represents a shift in the credit card ecosystem, enabling brands to take control of their financial relationships with customers and pivot away from legacy co-branding arrangements. Cardless' model delivers custom, embedded credit card programs that drive higher brand engagement and loyalty through improved rewards and membership benefits. Unlike traditional co-branded credit card models, Cardless' API-based platform, underwriting, and servicing workflows enable brands to natively build lending infrastructure directly within their app or webpage, creating delightful customer experiences and driving higher conversion. Cardless' embedded credit card platform empowers brands to launch and manage customizable card programs with full control over the user experience. With a robust suite of APIs, rapid deployment capabilities, and pre-built flows, Cardless simplifies the complexities of card issuance, compliance, customer support, and capital markets. By ingesting customer data to personalize rewards and loyalty features, Cardless helps brands drive stronger engagement and performance—enabling higher application volumes, improved conversion rates, and increased customer retention compared to traditional programs. 'Until now, a brand had to become a bank or strike a complex M&A deal to build a truly differentiated credit card,' said Michael Spelfogel, President and Co-Founder of Cardless. 'Our embedded offering removes that barrier, enabling leading brands like Coinbase to build a deeply integrated custom credit card program in record time, delivering a unique loyalty value proposition for their customers.' Coinbase today launched the Coinbase One Card waitlist for Coinbase One subscribers, who will be able to earn up to 4% back in bitcoin on every purchase. The Card will become available in the U.S. this fall. Powered by the American Express Ⓡ network, the Coinbase One Card combines everyday usability with crypto-native rewards and access to American Express experiences, offers, and protections. Learn more here. 'Partnering with Cardless has let us build a deeply customized and secure card product that aligns with our mission to increase economic freedom and makes it easy for people to earn rewards with the power to grow,' said Max Branzburg, Head of Consumer & Business Products at Coinbase. About Cardless Cardless partners with brands to design and manage innovative co-branded credit card programs. The company's seamless digital experience and powerful technology enable personalized rewards and enhanced customer benefits. The Coinbase One Card will be issued by First Electronic Bank. Terms and conditions will apply for the Coinbase One Card and the rewards program. American Express is a registered trademark of American Express and is used by the issuer pursuant to a license. For more information, please visit About Coinbase Crypto creates economic freedom by ensuring that people can participate fairly in the economy, and Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) is on a mission to increase economic freedom for more than 1 billion people. We're updating the century-old financial system by providing a trusted platform that makes it easy for people and institutions to engage with crypto assets, including trading, staking, safekeeping, spending, and fast, free global transfers. We also provide critical infrastructure for onchain activity and support builders who share our vision that onchain is the new online. And together with the crypto community, we advocate for responsible rules to make the benefits of crypto available around the world.


Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
FIFA Club World Cup Squad Values Exceed $12 Billion
The FIFA Club World Cup squad lists have been revealed. The landmark tournament in soccer this summer will be FIFA's new Club World Cup, which will go ahead with over $12 billion in player value on the field, despite struggles to sell tickets for games. Data from Sportingpedia calculates the value of the squad lists submitted by the 32 teams involved from across the globe, with five clubs surpassing a squad value of over $1 billion in the form of Real Madrid, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich. One of the other intriguing points flagged by the data shows that those five clubs' squads are worth more than the remaining 27 teams added together, as fears emerge about the quality gap between some teams. When comparing the most valuable squad at the tournament, Real Madrid at €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion), with the least valuable squad, belonging to New Zealand side Auckland City at €4.6 million ($5.3 million), Real Madrid's squad is worth over 289 times as much. Despite that, the opening game between Inter Miami and Al Ahly, on June 14th at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, will have squads worth a combined $134 million, less than the value of half of the clubs' squads in the tournament. In particular, European clubs have a significant advantage, as the top 11 teams for squad value are all European. The highest value of a non-European club is €252.6 million ($292.5 million) from Brazilian side Palmeiras. When analyzing U.S.-based teams more closely, we see that Inter Miami leads Seattle Sounders, with Los Angeles FC coming in below them, however even Inter Miami's value stands at only €66.2 million ($76.6 million). The lowest values from the U.S. belong to the Seattle Sounders, who rank at €51.8 million ($60 million), and Los Angeles FC at €46 million ($53.3 million), with the 25th highest value squad of the 32 teams involved. The country with the highest squad values of its clubs belongs to England, worth €2.3 billion ($2.7 billion), followed by Spain, Germany and Italy, all worth over $1 billion. That is despite Brazil being the nation with the most clubs, four, and ranking highly among the non-European nations. The most valuable group to watch will be Group G, with a combined market value of €2 billion ($2.3 billion), which is more than three times the value of the lowest-valued group in Group F, where Borussia Dortmund are the only side to break into nine-figures for squad value. In Group G, Manchester City, boosted by recent transfer business to sign Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait Nouri, and Tijjani Reijnders, will be joined by another heavyweight in Italian side Juventus, as well as Abu Dhabi-based side Al Ain and Moroccan team Wydad. The group which looks to be the most competitive is Group B, where Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain are the top dogs at €1.1 billion ($1.3 billion), and are joined by valuable sides such as Atlético Madrid at €508.5 million ($588.8 million), as well as Botafogo's €163.2 million ($188.9 million) and Seattle Sounders.


Business Wire
5 hours ago
- Business Wire
U.S. Bank and Fiserv Create Market-Leading, Integrated Agent Card Issuance
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--U.S. Bank (NYSE: USB) and Fiserv (NYSE: FI) have entered into a partnership in which U.S. Bank's industry-leading Elan Financial Services credit card program will be integrated into the Credit Choice solution from Fiserv, with plans to introduce significant new capabilities later this year. Credit Choice empowers financial institutions to deliver a digital-first, branded agent-bank credit card program for consumer and small business cardholders, currently serving more than 100 Fiserv financial institution clients. As part of the partnership, Credit Choice will be enhanced with the Elan Credit Card program to offer integrated digital technology that combines both debit and credit card account information for consumer and small business cardholders within each financial institution's digital card management solution. This reimagined user experience will be more robust and engaging for the end user, as customers can access credit and debit card information and servicing all in a single place. In addition, financial institutions will have easier access to the tools they need to onboard and service their cardholders, reducing friction and improving the ability to easily reach new potential card relationships. 'Integrating an agent card into the client financial institution banking application is truly groundbreaking,' said Peter Klukken, head of credit card issuing for Elan Financial Services. 'We're excited about this relationship and look forward to offering a new, seamlessly integrated technology experience to even more banks and credit unions.' The collaboration will accelerate this summer, with innovative, integrated technology underway and full conversion of the portfolio by the end of 2025. Throughout this time, Fiserv will continue to offer support, training, and program engagement, as well as onboard new financial institutions to Credit Choice. 'We're introducing a new level of digital card integration along with exceptional service and capabilities to the Credit Choice solution,' said Erik Wichita, head of Card Services at Fiserv. 'Our clients need self-service customer journeys and easy to navigate platforms for their cardholders to drive loyalty and increased usage. This collaboration brings two great industry leaders together for one solution.' The enhanced Credit Choice program will be available to U.S.-based banks and credit unions via a new or existing relationship with Fiserv. Users of the new platform will have access to Elan's trusted suite of agent-issuing capabilities. Fiserv's digital card solutions for consumer and business card and expense management will be integrated in the first half of 2026. Learn more about Credit Choice at Credit Choice | Fiserv. About U.S. Bancorp U.S. Bancorp, with approximately 70,000 employees and $676 billion in assets as of March 31, 2025, is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company serves millions of customers locally, nationally and globally through a diversified mix of businesses including consumer banking, business banking, commercial banking, institutional banking, payments and wealth management. U.S. Bancorp has been recognized for its approach to digital innovation, community partnerships and customer service, including being named one of the 2025 World's Most Ethical Companies and one of Fortune's most admired superregional banks. Learn more at About Elan Financial Services Elan Financial Services partners with nearly 1,400 financial institutions nationwide to help them grow their business through a turnkey credit card program. Elan's dedication to its partners, growth philosophy, and investment in technology has made the business a leader in the industry since 1968. To help its partners remain competitive, Elan invests in digital optimization and personalized experiences for cardholders. For more information about Elan Financial Services, visit About Fiserv Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE: FI), a Fortune 500 company, moves more than money. As a global leader in payments and financial technology, the company helps clients achieve best-in-class results through a commitment to innovation and excellence in areas including account processing and digital banking solutions; card issuer processing and network services; payments; e-commerce; merchant acquiring and processing; and Clover®, the world's smartest point-of-sale system and business management platform. Fiserv is a member of the S&P 500® Index and one of Fortune® World's Most Admired Companies™. Visit and follow on social media for more information and the latest company news.