Jeff Martin, SVP Corporate Platforms, TD Bank Group

At TD, our goal has always been to innovate in ways that empower our customers with highly personalized, digital experiences that can help them make financial decisions with confidence. In an increasingly omnichannel world, our customers are relying on TD's digital tools more than ever before to manage their day-to-day banking needs, and we are supporting our customers with products and services to help them with their financial aspirations.

Over the last three years, we have significantly matured our data capabilities, talent and technology investments and delivered machine learning models that improved our predictive capabilities and helped to transform how the Bank operates. We recently announced the expansion of our work with Microsoft Azure and a new agreement with Databricks that will help power new customer experiences and enable employees to collaborate in new ways across the Bank helping to accelerate our move to the public Cloud and introducing tools to help deliver richer insights and power dynamic digital experiences for TD customers. The future not only includes collecting insights about customer needs but to also understand customer motivations and expectations, so we can deliver personalized experiences and help our customers with their financial goals.

Everything Starts with Data.

With an increased demand for digital convenience and individualized financial advice, we know there is potential to help deliver more personalized and connected experiences to our customers. As we continue to focus on delivering positive customer experiences, we are also committed to meeting and exceeding customer expectations. We are creating and executing on prioritized roadmaps for digital, data, and technology capabilities that drive business outcomes. Data is enabling us to have an ongoing digital conversation with our customers allowing us to understand their preferences and bring them personalized experiences to help meet their needs. Rooted in the principles of innovation, accessibility and agility, our data strategy represents an enterprise approach focused on outcomes.

The Demand for Skilled Talent

As we continue to evolve the colleague and customer experience, attracting and retaining skilled technology talent will be critical. Amid the industry-wide focus on attracting and retaining technology talent, we are looking to hire 2000 technology roles in 2022 with a specific focus on key skills in new technologies and processes to help power the future of banking for both customers and colleagues at the Bank. TD is therefore focused on hiring talent with skills in cloud-Azure, cloud security, DevOps, machine learning and automation alongside internal training and re-skilling of colleagues in these areas. Opportunities for talent with skills in agile, UX design, and mobile have grown significantly as the Bank brings digital experiences to market that are changing how its customers interact with their finances.

Our approach of keeping the customer at the centre of everything we do and driving engagement, doubling down on talent, especially when it comes to developing key skills.

  

​The future not only includes collecting data and insights about customer needs but to also understand customer motivations and expectations

   

The Impact of the Pandemic

At TD, we have embraced innovation in all its forms to tackle shifting market dynamics and disruptive forces, including changing customer preferences and expectations. This has allowed us to deliver best-in-class solutions and experiences for our customers,. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the technologies that is dramatically changing the way customers engage with the Bank, providing opportunities for more personalized experiences.

In today's connected world, we need our data environment to stitch all of our capabilities and insights together, in a fast and secure way.  Our customers don't directly see the investments we make in data and artificial intelligence, but they are foundational to creating customer experiences. We are leveraging state of the art, cloud-based capabilities to help get the most from our data assets and our AI capabilities are enabling us to deliver personalized, connected experiences. As a forward-focused bank, TD will continue to adapt, evolve and innovate in ways that help empower our customers who are growing more confident accessing solutions through our digital channels.

Piece of Advice

Now more than ever, identifying what our customers need and adapting to create products and tools that offer authentic and personalized digital experiences will be critical.

For TD, the future of banking is about bringing together technology, digital, and colleague capabilities so they are collectively delivering seamlessly and flawlessly.

When the COVID-19 crisis began, TD was already undergoing a technology transformation journey that led to new capabilities, including automation tools, AI, data, Cloud technology, and advancing the Bank’s cybersecurity defences. In the years ahead, our strategy is to continue to help deliver on our innovation and technology priorities as we look to build deeper relationships with our customers in this digital-first environment.