Today’s guest is Kyle Hathorn, Director of Customer Experience and Strategy at First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO). FNBO is a privately held, family-led financial institution with over $32 billion in assets and approximately 4,500 employees, offering personal, business, commercial, and wealth banking across eight Midwestern states, alongside a national reach through its credit‑card programs. Kyle joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how banks can meet rising customer expectations while navigating economic uncertainty and digital transformation. Together, they unpack the unique challenges of delivering seamless, personalized experiences in a heavily regulated, multi-platform environment. From the impacts of inflation on customer loyalty to the cautious integration of AI, Kyle emphasizes the importance of trust, transparency, and alignment across product and data teams. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click  for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj’s flagship’ AI in Business’ podcast! If you’ve enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

Trust and Transformation in Banking CX – with Kyle Hathorn of FNBO

When we polled our audience about what they were interested in, the most selected response was "business intelligence." As a follow-up, we asked them what business intelligence meant to them, and their responses boiled down to anything about understanding the data businesses are already collecting. That kind of broad definition gets to the heart of the confusion surrounding the differences between business intelligence and artificial intelligence. The line is starting to get blurry.&nbsp; Our guest this week is Elif Tutuk, Senior Director at Qlik. Tutuk talks about how business intelligence is evolving and how we might define it now that a lot of BI is becoming AI. Tutuk discusses where AI is making its way into business intelligence and what that might enable for businesses. Read our comprehensive definition of machine learning for business leaders here:&nbsp;https://bit.ly/2Ya2NxK

What's the Difference Between Business Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence? - With Elif Tutuk, Senior Director at Qlik Research

It's the first episode of the new style of AI in Industry, in which we spend a month at a time on a specific theme. This month is AI adoption. This week we speak with Vlad Sejnoha at Glasswing Ventures, an AI-focused VC firm. Sejnoha spent many years as the CTO at Nuance Communications. He talks to us about the table stakes AI insights the C-suite have to know and the dangers of relying entirely on consulting firms and vendor companies for these insights. In addition, Sejnoha discusses the need for a "BS-o-meter" for when someone is making a claim about AI to determine if it's real or hype. Lastly, Sejnoha discusses how he would go about choosing a first AI project.

Table Stakes AI Insights for the Enterprise - with Vlad Sejnoha of Glasswing Ventures

This week we speak with David Carmona, General Manager of AI at Microsoft. Carmona discusses&nbsp;how redefining a business process is a very different kind of AI adoption project than working on something that is horizontal. He discusses how to attack both of these scenarios, which to handle first, and why.&nbsp; In addition, Carmona talks about proprietary data and things that are close to your own IP. How do you take advantage of the real strategic data value within your own organization? How should you be thinking about that differently? Carmona poses three different questions to determine where those valuable opportunities are for you.

Critical Questions to Ask Before Adopting Artificial Intelligence - With David Carmona of Microsoft

This month, we focus on the ROI of AI, and our guest this week is Sankar Narayanan, Chief Practice Officer at Fractal Analytics, a unicorn company in Bangalore. In this episode, Narayanan discusses how to measure the ROI of AI in ways that aren't just financial return. In addition, he provides examples from his hands-on experience implementing AI to provide business leaders with ways of thinking about success when it comes to AI projects. For more on measuring the ROI of AI, learn about our newest report Getting Started With AI: Proven Best Practices of AI Adoption - emerj.com/a1

How to Measure the ROI of AI - With Sankar Narayanan of Fractal Analytics

This week, we speak with Dr. Charles Martin of Calculation Consulting. He's a bit of a mentor of mine when it comes to AI knowledge. Charles speaks to us about the pitfalls in getting to ROI, particularly the cultural elements within enterprises that make it so hard to get a return from AI projects. Charles and I tend to go off in a variety of directions when we talk—so be prepared for a fun ride. For more on the fundamentals of getting started with AI in business, learn more about our newest report:  Getting Started with AI: Proven Best Practices of Adoption (https://emerj.com/a1).

Pitfalls to Avoid for the ROI of AI - With Dr. Charles Martin of Calculation Consulting

We continue our theme on advancing your career in the era of AI. This week, we speak with another AI lead from a gigantic IT services firm: Cognizant. Bret Greenstein is Head of AI at Cognizant, and he talks about what folks who think about AI in terms of strategic direction, project management, etc., have in common. Brett also discusses how non-technical folks can think about AI in order to take on leadership roles in AI projects, including having a firm understanding of what is possible with AI in their industry.

How to Think About and Lead AI Projects in Business - With Bret Greenstein of Cognizant

This week, we speak with Scott Nowson, AI Lead at PWC Middle East, about the critical capabilities nontechnical business people need to understand to be able to advance their career and apply AI in their industry even if their company hasn't started with AI yet.

Scott has an uncanny ability to convey business lessons on AI, and he's one of the few people who got our full Getting Started with AI report before today's formal launch.

The report is finally open, and in it, listeners can find the must-know knowledge that will allow you to take your AI interest and turn it into real career opportunity without learning any code. Listeners can learn more about it at emerj.com/a1

AI in Industry Podcast

Bonus Episode: The Critical AI Capabilities for Nontechnical Professionals - With Scott Nowson

It's the final week of our month-long series on planning your corporate AI strategy. This week we speak with Shane Zabel, Head of AI at Raytheon. Shane talks to us about the phases of building an AI strategy. What are the steps? He discusses the importance of finding an AI pioneer at a company who can build some initial ideas of what AI use-cases could be viable at the company. If you're in the process of analyzing AI use-cases for your company or clients, we created a guide for this exact topic. Learn more about it at emerj.com/t3.

The Phases of Building an AI Strategy - With Shane Zabel of Raytheon

Ryan Smithright is a Research Fellow at Emerj Artificial Intelligence Research, and the lead author in our latest "US Public Sector AI Opportunity Report" (learn more at emerj.com/gov1). Ryan spent months investigating and documenting the various AI initiatives, budgets, and strategies for different branches of the US government, and in this interview he breaks down some surprising trends and data snapshots from the complete report. Anyone with an interest in selling AI to the US government should get a lot out of this unique episode.

Selling AI to the US Government, Opportunities and Budgets - with Ryan Smithright

Stay ahead of the curve as artificial intelligence disrupts the financial services sector.

Discover the lessons learned from organizations like HSBC, Citigroup, and Visa; learn business strategies from venture capitalists investing in AI for the financial services industry; and see the future with AI banking innovators from Silicon Valley and around the world.

Each week Emerj Founder Daniel Faggella interviews top experts to bring their best insights to our audience.

This show is for financial services leaders, consulting and IT services leaders, and any businessperson with an interest in the evolving world of AI in financial services.

www.emerj.com

Trust and Transformation in Banking CX – with Kyle Hathorn of FNBO

Emerj AI in Financial Services Podcast

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