“I never saved anything for the swim back.” Anton in Gattaca.

The Boston Marathon is like no other marathon in the country or the world. Its popularity is such that there are people who run the marathon, not once, but twice, and sometimes even more.

Anyone who has run the Boston Marathon would know that it is the ultimate test of grit, endurance, and perseverance. Considered the oldest marathon in the world, the Boston Marathon was first run in April 1897. The marathon is now entering its 127 th year. The inspiration behind the first Boston Marathon was the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, which featured a marathon for the first time ever in the history of the sporting event.

What makes the Boston Marathon such a singular experience is its inclusivity. You do not have to be a sportsperson to take part in the run (though that does give you an advantage). You could be a banker, a philanthropist, a gamer, or a marketer; you could be in your early twenties or a septuagenarian, the criteria for participating in the Boston marathon is super basic. You must be fit enough to run.

Now that it is that time of the year for many amongst us to take the ultimate test of endurance and stamina – the Boston Marathon – we present some interesting and unlikely parallels between the run and the world of finance in 2023. Whether it is a bank, a financial institution, or a fintech, the rules are inflexible! So, watch out!

1) Be prepared for the unpredictable

Today as people irrespective of sex, age, color, and physical impairments take part in this event, their chances of getting to the finishing line depend wholly on how committed they are, how hard they have trained, and how helpful lady luck is. For there are good days. And there are days (the bad days) when realization hits – like a ton of bricks… that run is going to be way tougher than expected. If lady luck is on your side, you will get an awesome day for the run. If she plays tough, be forewarned…

Be prepared for unpredictable weather turnout. The temperature can be as high as from 90-degree heat (1976) or drop to a low of -30 degrees Fahrenheit (2018). When it is cold, hypothermia is common.

There have been instances where elite runners have dropped out of the race simply because they were not prepared for the mind-numbing cold.

De-risk and prepare for eventuality.

2023, is going to be more or less the same for FinTech’s. Unpredictable. So, how do you prepare for any eventuality. By de-risking and investing in technology. For example, as a financial services firm or fintech desiring to have an edge in capital markets, as well as mitigate any risk, you must be up-to-date, or have the inherent ability to realize how shifting market winds can impact aspects of your business. If you fail to make the best of the opportunity – make amends/or the right choices – even by a whisker, the benefits (for you and your customer) are marginalized.

For you to invest better, deploy capital in the best risk-adjusted investment opportunity/opportunities, you cannot simply continue with the traditional approach that works at a snail’s pace. With the markets getting unpredictable, and customers demanding personalization, there is a need to augment manual efforts with technology – artificial intelligence and automation, that have the inherent ability to consistently upgrade and learn. With AI, you can have better control of what is happening in the market and how you can meet the needs of your customers better by aggregating and collating vast amounts of data dispensed from multiple sources and formats, and exchanges.

So, would you prefer an opportunity to lose and hide costs and (sometimes penalties), or investment in better data management practices and analytics powered by a DCAM strategy and a bespoke tool (Magic DeepSight^TM ) that only gets better with time? Magic FinServ’s solutions cater to an extremely niche segment – buy-side and capital markets. Our focused solutions leverage AI, ML, and the Cloud to enrich your data fabric from Static Data Repositories, and thereby provide the base for real-time analytics.

We are also EDMC’s DCAM Authorized Partner (DAP) and assist organizations figure the gaps in the data architecture and overall data management program with a thorough assessment and analysis. To know more, you can check how we helped a global investment firm save 40% of analysts’ time and make front-office processing activities more efficient with our bespoke tool DeepSight^TM and our cloud-native abilities.

2) Brace yourself for the headwinds: Invest in partnerships!

Runners must also brace themselves for the wind (headwinds of more than 25 miles per hour) and freezing rain. Both these furies slow down the pace of the run and can be super annoying for many runners. So, in many instances, runners have found that it helps to run in a V formation – like the Geese, where you back up the teammate behind.

Partnerships are necessary – Making the most of the Magic FinServ partnership.

A) Let’s take a scenario that is pretty much normal in the world of financial services. You have invested in excellent extension workflows or transactions platform. You are capitulating on it to reduce the workload and streamline process such as reconciliations, data onboarding, governance, risk and compliance, and easing the burden of back and middle office and IT in carrying out regular day-to-day transactions such as contract management. All’s good if the app works within some predefined boundaries of influence. But that is rarely so in today’s business landscape. Not just structured data from the organization’s CRM, or processes, and silos firms would also be dealing with a lot of data emanating from public websites, third-parties, cloud, and exchanges, and in unstructured and ad hoc manner. Extracting, transforming, and validating this data amounts to a complex and mammoth activity in itself. When organizations are literally swamped with tasks related to building a brand name and revenue generation, wasting a significant amount of time in ensuring high-quality data does not make sense. With a partner like Magic FinServ, that has developed solutions that partner and coexist with traditional legacy systems and provide promised benefits.

B) We can also take the example of SDFR submission that was due on 31 st December 2022. Much of the data required was dependent on third parties and despite best efforts wasn’t available on time and when it came in the nick of time it was in an unstructured format. In the likelihood that the data is structured, automation is still a viable option as most firms are literally swamped with work year end. For conversion into machine-legible data, a tool like Magic DeepSight^TM is ideal for both large and small firms as it releases resources.

C) Not just the SDFR submissions, there are many instances where we partner fintech’s and financial services organizations in enabling last-mile process automation solution. We can work as a team. Whether it is KYC, AML compliance, onboarding, cloud migration, aggregating and consolidating data for reconciliations, shareholding and voting rights disclosures, we could be the lead runner taking the brunt of the headwind, leaving you and your teams with ample time to tackle core business objectives and revenue-generation activities.

3) Be cautious of the downhills – there’s a steep climb ahead

Be careful of the downhills. The road ahead isn’t that easy. Rookie runners are lulled into a false sense of complacency when they run downhill. They run faster in the beginning because of the initial endorphin rush. But that is a bad maneuver, as muscles – quadriceps tire down real soon. And when the real test comes, the uphill run, they are out of energy and luck. The muscles cramp when the need is to fire it up.

Planning, continuous testing and agile are key to success.

Whether it is the Boston run or how FinTech’s manage to preserve their energy in 2023 – it all boils down to one thing. How carefully have they planned? That is the whole idea of having enterprises that are agile and have robust data management practices. The incorporation of specific roles and responsibilities and success criteria at each stage is keenly tied to Agile practices, and automation and technology are essential for dealing with unpredictability. As in certain formulae races, drivers take time out to test the terrain. Whether it is a new idea, a new product, a cloud migration, a thorough testing for performance, system integration, APIs, acceptance, quality reassurance, and bugs is necessary. Our 3- Step Automation strategy ™ ensures that we keep reducing the manual test effort while increasing the test coverage. We offer the entire range of testing services under one roof for your financial services business along with extensive experience with on-cloud, on-prim & mobility products.

4) Learn to deal with the curveballs: There will be plenty your way in 2023

We have also seen the business ethos go through a subtle change. It is sustainability that investors are looking for. The Unicorns have seen their time of the day, now it is time for the centaurs – companies that reach $100 million of annual recurring revenue (ARR). A new milestone when compared to the unicorns which are techs valued by investors at $1 billion or more. Centaurs are ones that have reached a stage of maturity, there is no false hope or false aura surrounding them. They are completely de- risked.

Considering that the fintech’s success is being seen in a new light, and investors have different parameters for evaluation of the value of stock, how can the fintech’s and challengers dodge the curveballs of 2023?

The answer is by becoming more data-driven or data-centric.

For example, let’s take the example of a very likely scenario – a new requirement cropping up, one that had not been anticipated earlier. The firm finds that they must migrate a process or database to the cloud to remain competitive, or they find that they have been missing certain critical data elements required for an onboarding/KYC, regulatory compliance, etc., which is common as rules change frequently. One way to doge curveballs is to eliminate the additional human/manual effort wherever possible, so that teams have the time and bandwidth to deal with the “unpredictable”. Tasks such as uploading and downloading data from consumers on an average 40% time that could have been better utilized for other purposes. Automation releases that time and provides insights faster than ever. Furthermore, if there is a pattern or curveball sitting in the data, the ability to extract it faster with tools like Magic DeepSight^TM provides a definite advantage.

5) Focus on your core strengths rather than diversify: there will be plenty of time to seek new adventures later

Remaining true to your core objectives. Do not invest your time and energy in too many unnecessary activities. Whether it is a payments platform, or portfolio management, or traditional banking, or a new idea that you are bringing to the market, concentrate on making the customer experience richer and better. For what seems like curveballs can be an opportunity.

Realize the importance of data: this is the time to make it right with Magic FinServ

In the past few years, we have seen organizations going through a roller coaster when it comes to digital transformation, which has created a great deal of confusion regarding data. The risk of data existing in silos and data impersonation has increased as there are hundreds of SaaS devices and legacy tools that a mid-sized enterprise could use. Hence, the need to rethink a data-centric approach whether it comes to risk management, compliance adherence, smarter digital transformation leveraging APIs, cloud, AI, ML, and deep-rooted intelligent devices.

Magic FinServ brings a deep understanding of the financial services business to help FinTech and Buy- side firms build and support their EDM platform. We offer sophisticated tools, products, and services using AI, ML, NLP, and Analytics to manage data repositories, organize business glossaries, create and improve data lineage, review and optimize reporting rules, create and manage semantic frameworks and improve data quality of financial institutions. Here are some of the benefits that we bring to firms:

• Greater productivity: Handling the astronomical amounts of data existing in different formats online and offline.
• Reducing the gap between the front and back offices and thereby curbing inefficiency and rising operational costs
• Ensuring on-time, on-demand delivery of services with automation, AI, ML and data-driven approaches.
• Meeting the regulators requirements for transparent and granular data whether it be shareholding disclosures, ESG, or Basel III, MiFiD II, AML/KYC, etc.
• Channeling greater customer delight by meeting the changing customer expectations every time.

Remember there’s always a silver lining for every dark phase if you do not give up

While the layoffs have generated a lot of debate, these contractions, many of the experts believe are related to the pandemic-era expansion. With online being the preferred mode for almost everything, the demand for online services skyrocketed. While there is no comparing human intelligence, many of the modern tools that combine automation, NLP, and artificial intelligence can streamline cumbersome processes and cut processing time significantly, so that you can reach your customer faster, sooner, and in a more personalized manner.

In Conclusion: Hold on to the strengths that made you invincible in the first place

And lastly, because we are talking about comparisons with the Boston Marathon, inclusivity is an essential ingredient for success. As the Boston marathon is one of the most inclusive sporting events, it is certainly more popular than the others. The fintech growth story too is powered by inclusivity. What the conventional financial services could not offer, encumbered as these were in legacy systems and an inflexible brick-and-mortar model, the fintechs delivered these in a matter of minutes.

• The millennial fintechs made it easier to open accounts. Onboarding, due diligence, and KYC was way faster ever before, payments (even international ones) could be made from within the comfort of home, and customers could have an inside view of how their stocks fared and make better decisions with personalized updates on the mobile.
• The modern financial services had a winning edge over the brick-and-mortar models because they provided customers with the same personalized service and preferential treatment that they had become accustomed to in the retail and e-commerce space.
• Inclusivity begins with the cloud. As the biggest instrument of inclusivity, the cloud levels the playing field tremendously. The cloud has gone a long way from simply serving as an alternative to the physical server.
• Not just the cloud, but also powerful levers like artificial intelligence, hyper-automation, machine learning, natural language processing, etc., have broadened the playing field. Whether it is a new tool, or service, inclusivity means that efforts are directed to build for any user/customer, ensuring simplicity and clarity.

In all of this, as niche player in the financial services ecosystem, Magic FinServ with its expertise in the cloud, enterprise data management, capital markets, artificial intelligence-based solutions for buy-side and sell-side, have partnered with organizations big and small retain their edge by retaining their fundamental strength – inclusivity – while optimizing returns, and increasing productivity and efficiency by manifold times. Our teams – Quality Engineering, Platform Engineering, DevOps, Application Support, and Smart Contract testing, Cloud, and DeepSight^TM – have several customer success stories to their credit and ensure that your product, service, innovation, or idea matches the market requirements/promises. Thereby catching the curveballs before these could disrupt or steer you off course. So, if you too would like to doge the curveballs in 2023, write to us mail@magicfinserv.com

The Diors and Chanels have ruled the World of Perfumes long enough! It’s time to get a scent that is custom created just for you!

A new-age algorithm perfumery is creating waves in the niche space dominated by Channel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Versace where they are creating custom-made perfumes with the help of AI. However, what is a buzz in the beauty business is a critical requirement for the financial services sector. Customized solutions powered with AI and cloud are fully entrenched with the fintech and financial services objective is to facilitate full-scale digital transformation and elevate customer engagement by providing quicker, faster, and better services.

What comes to mind when we think about perfumes?

Chanel, Gucci, Versace, and Louis Vuitton…and the distinctive scent of each bold, fruity, citrusy, etc.

These perfumes are so exclusive and niche that even the brand ambassadors have a personality that resonates with the distinctiveness of the perfume. So, while Chanel favors the quirky, edgy boldness of Kristen Stewart, Louis Vuitton taps into the mystique of Emma Stone for its Coeur Battant fragrance. The perfume is available in pear, jasmine, ylang-ylang-ylang, and narcissus aromas.

Each of these perfumes is extremely exclusive, expensive, and sometimes a limited edition, and available at only a few high-end couture stores across the globe or in duty-free shops at the airports.

But what if the customer desires something new… or a mix of scents? Something that is super exclusive. – a distinctive perfume blending scents that is different from anything that the client has ever used before!

Now thanks to Algorithmic Perfumery, customized perfumes can be crafted on-demand. A US and Netherlands-based tech company is helping customers create their own perfume/custom fragrances in sync with their tastes and body chemistry. The customer can choose from an exclusive palette of scents and aroma molecules; and the perfumery using a proprietary AI algorithm and the customer’s preferences create a customized fragrance.

Sprinkling the scent of AI in the financial services organizations

While the use of AI for creating customized fragrances in the beauty business is a recent development, fintech and financial services firms have been using AI for creating customized solutions for some time now. In a way, AI has become an indispensable ally for the financial services sector, because of its ability to process copious amounts of structured and unstructured data within minutes and provide clear-cut insights with its inbuilt intelligence and rules engine and automation capabilities. In fact, by leveraging AI and automation capabilities, customized solutions can be delivered at a scale unimaginable. Behind that reminder for payment, or stock update, or timely notification there is the hand of AI.

A Brief History of use of AI and the Rise of Expert Systems

The fintech and the financial services sector have come a long way from 1982, when the quantitative hedge-fund, Renaissance Technologies, became the first organization to rely on AI to parse through petabytes of data in warehouses for analyzing securities prices in any market. Today, its AUM is worth US $ 130 bn (April 2021).

Many financial services organizations were also beginning to use AI-enabled expert systems. One of these was the PROTRADER expert system for program trading. The advantage of the PROTRADER over traditional systems was that only it had the intelligence to provide the insights and keep track of the rapid changes in both markets futures and stock markets usually several times a minute.

Then in the 1990s, the biggest concern for firms was tackling fraud and anti-money laundering activities that was systematically chipping away the brand value that they had created. Around the same time, FinCEN’s Artificial Intelligence system (FAIS) managed to review 200,000 + transactions, and FIs realized how AI would make their life simpler. The same system then identified 400 potential money laundering cases that could have cost organizations $1 billion. This was the wake-up call for the FIs.

How is AI being used in Fintech Industry – New Frontiers and Predominant Trends

Today AI and modern technology has an ever-growing list of use cases in the fintech and financial services sector. The unprecedented proliferation of data – structured and unstructured and the increase of computing power, along with changing customer preferences, have resulted in AI adoption in back, middle and front offices, – from the conversational bots to data transformation engines working quietly in the backend going through tons on data, AI undoubtedly has emerged as a key player. Here are some of the prominent use cases for AI.

• AI and ML solutions are used for predicting market trends and customizing portfolios.
• Make intelligent underwriting decisions using a rules-based system
• Carrying out keyword searches from extensive documentation – SEC filings, company releases, filings, transcripts social media, etc., using a rules-based engine.
• With AI, ML, and OCR the processing time for KYC and onboarding is cut by half.
• For streamlining fraud management and anti-money laundering processing by ensuring timely triggers are raised.
• Protecting the rights of minority shareholders, and the investment company from libel in the worst-case scenario by ensuring accuracy in shareholding and voting rights disclosures.
• With Artificial intelligence, you can reduce process automation time considerably by taking over repetitive tasks.
• For algorithm trading – trading robots (or bots) carry out operations using the algorithms and data

Magic FinServ: How we customize solutions for every customer with AI, ML, and Cloud

As a partner, enabling the fintech growth journey, Magic FinServ has been providing customized and extremely niche solutions for every stage of the fintech journey. Our services ranging from quality testing and support for application development, smart contracts, cloud support during migration and application development, and intelligent data extraction and insight-building powered with our very own home-grown tool that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning for digital transformation. Here’s the milestones that cover the journey from start to finish.

1. Identifying the need: Whether the client is in search of a scent for a fintech solution, the first milestone is to identify the need. When a customer approaches Magic FinServ, our team of experts comprising the best in finance and technology, take a deep dive into what they truly want. We utilize a mix of extensive research and prototyping to provide solutions that are tailored according to the client’s needs.
2. Design process: Once the need has been identified, it is time to design the solution. We know that a customer’s requirement changes across every milestone of the journey, and so we scale up accordingly. Our teams are proficient in working in a highly competitive landscape and use the industry best practices to provide a solution that is customized as per your need. We make special mention of the ability to design interfaces that are in sync with industry best practices by combining the collective synergies of the client product management team and our magicians.
3. Evaluating the samples: As in the perfumery business where multiple iterations are required before a final version of the perfume is handed over to the customer, ideas and innovations whether it is a database transfer or a new product or feature launch, must be exhaustively tested. Tests for performance, latency, bugs, integration, APIs, and acceptance, functionality, etc., are crucial to ensure the desired results.
   We offer the entire range of testing services under one roof for the financial services business along with extensive experience with on-cloud, on-prim & mobility products. Today, as citizen developers are playing a more proactive role in all phases of the app development journey, Magic FinServ provides the much-needed boost to platform engineering experience of enterprise application development and financial industry domain knowledge with new-age technologies to power your digital transformation.
4. Customizing the cloud journey: No talk of customization is complete without a mention of cloud technology. Today, as fintech and the financial services sector become synonymous with cloud-nativity, enterprises must also build the right cloud architecture for their needs. Whether it is hybrid, or public and private approach that they desire, Magic FinServ helps them optimize the journey.
5. And lastly, Magic DeepSight^TM that takes care of all your data and deep insight needs: As a technology company with years of experience in AI and financial services, Magic FinServ understands the importance of data in the financial services business to re-engineer existing applications, design new platforms and validate machine learning solutions. We have a team of data scientists and engineers dedicating their efforts to develop systems that become smarter over time and reduce operational effort considerably while enhancing decision-making capacities.

We have a library of AI-driven fragrance formulas to inspire you in this Fintech Transformation Journey.
To know, write to us mail@magicfinserv.com or explore more here at www.magicfinserv.com

The season for football is not over yet.

Though FIFA World Cup Football 2022 has given us an undisputed winner Argentina, the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) – Messi, and a new star, Kylian Mbappé, the boy from Bondy, who left the billions watching the finale incredulous as he single-handedly changed an otherwise one-sided game by scoring two consecutive goals in the last few minutes leading to a super-charged penalty shootout, France lost …BUT that is not the end of the excitement, that is not the end of football season!

For come 2023, and it would be time for Super Bowl, football – the American version!

Decoding Playoffs Favorites!

Considering that both FIFA World Cup and Super Bowl are not just competitive sports, they are a national celebration; there is a different level of emotional engagement involved that is not seen in any other sport. It is therefore not surprising that betting on the winners starts much ahead of the actual game. There are columns dedicated to it and conversations and narratives revolve around it much earlier than the said event.

Super Bowl 2023, promising to be every inch as supercharged and interesting as FIFA 2022, Super Bowl LVII boasting an audience of millions, and a half-time power-packed performance by Queen Bee of Pop, Rihanna, already has some interesting predictions for winner, and surprisingly all this is happening even before the NFL’s first round of the playoffs have been played.

The punters have been betting on Buffalo Bills (+375), the Philadelphia Eagles (+400), and the Kansas City Chiefs (+500).

Artificial Intelligence predicts a different outcome. Cybernetic Semantics, the World’s First Magazine to use AI for writing articles predicts that Denver Broncos will be the Superbowl Season 2022 winner. For those who remember the Super Bowl 2021 season, the amazing display by Russell Wilson (who was playing for Seahawk Seattle then) and was responsible for 4,140 passing yards, a career-best 66.1 completion percentage, and 36 touchdowns (passes) was probably one of the highlights of the game. Russell Wilson is now playing with Denver Broncos and is one of the reasons why the odds for Broncos is so high.

AI writer has also made some other observations that is surprisingly human-like:

1. Wilson has the arm strength to make throws that land where his receivers can catch it.
2. Wilson can extend plays – akin to the drama we saw in FIFA, all for a penalty shootout. According to the AI bot at Cybernetic Semantics, Russel Wilson is a master at buying time in the pocket, keeping his eyes downfield, and finding an open receiver.

Another astonishing prediction was by Electronic Arts, the producer of “Madden NFL 15”. In 2015, they predicted the game’s outcome with astonishing accuracy. Madden NFL 15 not only predicted the final scores to the dot, but also the scores of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. The prediction was that Brady would throw 4 touchdown passes and that the winning touchdown pass would go to wide receiver Julian Edelman. (Source: Forbes)

Now the thing is how on earth could AI predict all that much and with such alacrity?

The answer of course is from data.

Where does this data come from? And how is it being used in competitive sports like Pro-Bowl and Super Bowl?

Not just American Super League Football, other competitive sports like football, lawn tennis, and chess data are actively collecting data to analyze strengths and weaknesses and gain a competitive edge. Today’s sport is not just about athletic powers, it is also about how you can use data to your advantage. For example, for quite some time NFL playoffs have been utilizing data in this manner.

• There are chips embedded in pads and helmets to collect real-time position data, as well as data related to the player’s acceleration and speed.
• Football involves throws that can unfortunately hit the player on the head as well. Data can be used to predict if the hit has caused damage or not.
• Players react differently to the weather. Data can predict if individual plays have been impacted by weather.
• Data is used as pointed out earlier to educate and prepare for a playoff. It is also used for scouting talent.
• Not just in predicting the winners, data is also changing the way the advertisers approach Super Bowl with targeted campaigns. Data has proved that best-run campaigns are being given a run for their money by those innocuous social media campaigns. Who can forget Oreo winning over the 2013 Super Bowl with its perfectly timed tweet “you can dunk in the dark as well” during the blackout?

How Data Super Charges Fintech and Financial Services in 2023

What Big Data is to Super Bowl, real-time and high-quality data is the fintech industry that is effortlessly servicing customers with varied requirements and interests across the globe. Whether providing personalized content, enabling them to make better decisions about their funds, or facilitating payments by making it easier to onboard and conduct KYC and due diligence, data is at the center of it all. As a FinTech Solution provider, Magic FinServ has been levelling the playing field for the big players the Banks and the established players who are like Broncos, the Seahawks, LA Rams, Cincinnati Bengals) of the game and the Wild Cards – the Neo-banks and the new entrants (fintech) that like Steelers (2005), the Giants (2007), Titans (1999), etc., sometimes establish a surprising early lead thanks to their nimbleness.

Magic FinServ – Transforming the Fintech and BFSI with Data

1. Data at the Heart of Personalization in Financial Services- How DeepSight TM Elevates the Client Experience

The Financial Services sector relies more on data than ever before. While super bowl coaches and managers use data to gather strengths and weaknesses of the key players and competitors and scout for talent as well, fintech uses data to provide quick, timely, and accurate personalized content and services to the customer. One key area where high-quality data, excellent data management tools, practices and strategy, and technologies like AI, ML, and NLP has been optimizing CX is KYC and onboarding which had otherwise been an area fraught with challenges due to the existence of massive amounts of data that require analysis and emerging exhaust data.

Magic DeepSight™ goes beyond pure data extraction and leverages AI, ML, and NLP technologies to drive exceptional results for financial institutions and FinTechs alike. A complete solution, as it integrates with other technologies such as API, RPA, smart contract, etc., to ensure frictionless KYC and onboarding, thereby making way for a more rewarding experience.

2. Timely Risk Management and Analytics: Balancing Digital Transformation Efforts while Ensuring Sustainability and Competitiveness

Another key area where high-quality data plays a key role is risk management and analytics – which could emerge due to competition, changing customer preferences, liquidity and credit concerns, and market tailwinds. All this requires analysis of scores of data, which is both in structured and unstructured form. While it is easier to shift through structured data, doing it manually makes little sense as it is extremely time-consuming and error prone. However, unstructured data requires more than a pair of keen eyes, and human intelligence for accuracy and timely analysis. It is here that AI, ML, and RPA paves the way for quicker estimation of risks and opportunities.

3. Ensuring conformity with ESG guidelines: Accuracy and Transparency with Sound Data Management and Intelligent Tools

While the BFSI sector is understandably undergoing rapid digital transformation to keep up-up with the challengers and the neo-banks, they must take care to ensure that the efforts are sustainable as per the ESG guidelines as per the metrics defined by the prominent frameworks such as SFDR, Task Force for Climate-Related Disclosures (TCFD), and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) because sustainability is gradually becoming a KPI of the degree of digital transformation. (Source: Forbes)

4. Real-time Analytics for Trading and Portfolio Management

Fund Managers and Portfolio managers require accurate real-time view of the valuations and risk of their derivative positions, especially when it comes ensuring that they serve the best interests of their customers. When it comes to shareholding patterns and voting rights, they must ensure that the information is up to date. With intelligent tools, it becomes much easier to improve investment decisions and lower operational costs.

Sports and Fintech are both increasingly relying on data. Whether it is sports of fintech and BFSI, both are increasingly relying on data to churn out accurate and real-time results that result not just in a super charged and thoroughly entertaining fare on Super Bowl Sunday, but also ensures that there is greater insight into the state of affairs when it comes to devising strategies or providing a personalized and customized touch.

Irrespective of what the punters, or armchair quarterbacks or even our favorite AI writer says, we still believe that a game is a game and despite the insights that data and AI provides, it is always the most passionate and the most talented team that wins. For more however in Fintech write to us mail@magicfinserv.com.

Now that we are entering 2023, and the 2022 roller coaster has officially ended, it is time to deal with the after-effects. Despite the pandemic, 2022 started off as a good year for fintechs and capital markets on the back of a robust 2021. They rallied due to government concessions, buoyant investor confidence, and customer preference for digital. But the party has now ended. It ended when the markets slumped, and some of the biggest tech firms lost valuation and investor confidence overnight. The everyday layoffs are also a brutal reminder of what lies ahead in 2023 as organizations are cutting expenses drastically. Now it is time to deal with that nagging hangover.

So, here is how you can get rid of the post-party hangover both in fintech and literal sense!

Say No to Binging!

According to the CDC, binge drinking is 5 or more drinks on a single occasion for men or 4 or more drinks on a single occasion for women, within about 2 hours. (Source: CDC)

Now that the party time is over, organizations will have to be mindful of the excesses, and ensure that they do not yield to these in 2023. Here are some of the excesses of 2022.

• Incurring expenses in moonshot projects
• Leaving data in disarray that have become messy data swamps
• Investing in multiple applications and no process optimization
• Excessive reliance on manual when automation can do just as fine

Take Stock! Keep an Open Mind

Now here is how to deal with the hangover if you have not been careful enough. Hangovers do not go away on its own, you have to deal with it. How can you do that? The most failsafe way to avoid hangover blues is to increase the consumption of vitamins and nutrients and stay hydrated in the days leading to the holiday season and pre and post the party. This will not get rid of the hangover, but the effect will be less severe.

When it comes to the fintechs and financial services, despite the prophecy of grim times, due to the many excesses we indulged in, in the last couple of years, Wall Street Colossus, Warren Buffet, believes that there is opportunity to make money because “Money will always flow toward opportunity, and there is an abundance of that in America.”

The fintech and financial services market is vast and varied and is unlikely to stop growing. Niche domains like payments, stock trading, alternative marketplaces, money transfer and remittances, mortgage, and lending, and robo-advisory, despite the looming recession, have multiple avenues for growth. But first you must take stock of your strengths and weaknesses:

• What problem are you looking forward to solve?
• Do you have the skill set and qualified management?
• How big is the market opportunity?
• What positive early traction has the company achieved? Are there early or pilot customers?
• Does the business understand the key financials and metrics of their business?
• What are the potential risks to the business, especially regulatory risk? (Source: Forbes)

Up the Stakes! Look at What the Competition is Doing

If you have problem with the alcohol, check the alternatives. There are some plant-based like the GABA Labs’ Sentia, an all-natural herbal blend that recreates the feeling of a drink without alcohol or hangovers. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

How does one look for opportunity or seize the day “carpe diem” even in these unprecedented times, particularly the fintechs that have fared worse than the rest in 2022? The answer is giving up on the excesses, reflecting on internal restructuring, and brainstorming about how to move ahead into 2023 with our greatest strengths – technology, people, and process, without going over budget. You must be willing to up the stakes and your competitiveness and so, look at what we believe to be the top trends of 2023, where a lot of innovation is already happening.

Top 2023 Trends!

AI for automation and innovation: Artificial Intelligence will be the allrounder responsible for spurring growth and innovation.

Robotic Process Automation: Another key player robotic process automation will level the playing field by synchronizing back and middle office with front office and ensuring streamlined and optimized processes.

Microservices: Microservices have already become the next big thing when it comes to testing.

Big Data and Data Quality Management: There will be more stress on cleaning data as we have elaborated upon in this blog whether it be for meeting regulatory requirements or ensuring sustainability in the supply chain with ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), or onboarding, compliance, and due diligence.

ESG: As the COP27 summit has vowed to revive global efforts in combating climate change, sustainability and diversity, equity, and inclusion your Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores will play a key role when it comes to attracting investment opportunities. As a fintech company with ESG mandate, you are uniquely poised for rapid and exponential growth.

When in Doubt, Outsource! Realizing the Benefits

Holiday guilt trip is not just about alcohol, it is about food as well, as it is common to overeat and gain weight in the holiday season, but a strong support system can keep all the “weighty” problems at bay.

For fintechs and financial institutions, third-party vendors and partners are akin to a support system that can keep rising costs at bay.

As fintechs and financial institutions cater to stakeholders with differing interests or agendas like the regulators, stakeholders, customers, etc., while pursuing growth, profits, and revenue generation, it makes sense to delegate tasks that are not a part of the revenue generation cycle to a third-party vendor.

Likewise, if you are considering launching a new product or managing operations while remaining risk-averse, there are many benefits of using the services of an experienced partner like Magic FinServ which has been listed below.

Increase Reliance on Technology

There are hangover products that advertise quick relief, but the experts are not sure. Meanwhile for fintechs and financial institutions, the scenario is quite the opposite as technology is the key to success.

Navigating a Tough Year with Process Optimization, Automation (RPA), and Data Centricity

Like that last glass of wine, some of your pet projects might just have to wait. A suitable time instead to retrospect on what went wrong and ensure process optimization and last mile integration. With process optimization, changes in a system, process, or product result in a manifold increase in operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Whether it is growing in valuation or aligning your ESG efforts with demands of the investors and the regulators, here’s how Magic FinServ and our Fintech Accelerator program can be your partner in need.

How Magic FinServ can Help?

As a fintech or a financial services operator, we can help you locate not just the pain points but the areas where slight improvements or optimization can result in exponential gains. Process optimization makes processes sounder by eliminating time and resource wastage, minimizing unnecessary costs, and the bottlenecks and mistakes that get in the way of organizational and process efficiency.

1. Streamlining processes with our experience in leveraging the right infusion of Technology
2. Streamlining application landscapes with our knowledge of Agile and Dev Ops
3. Ensuring that workflows are more efficient
4. Resolving the tech debt – using microservices and APIs
5. Leveraging the power of Magic FinServ’s DeepSight TM to reduce manual effort by up to 70% and accomplish task with higher speed and lower error rate, thereby reducing cost.
6. Automation: Another powerful tool when it comes to streamlining processes and reducing excessive human dependency which in turn makes time to market faster, eliminates errors, and drives efficiency is automation. As a fintech, you can drive a competitive edge with Magic FinServ’s powerful automation fabric for process optimization and last-mile integration. We help you identify where it can result in better gains – i.e., in highly data-intensive, cumbersome, manual-labor oriented and mission- critical activities that are core to fintech functioning.

For millennial businesses, data is that powerful tool that opens the door to many opportunities. Mitigate the data hangover (the disarray and chaos) and whether it is ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance), or onboarding, AML, due diligence, or any other activity, you can find in Magic FinServ’s DeepSight^TM a steady partner and a sure cure to many of your organizational data woes.

Magic DeepSight^™ is a one-stop solution for comprehensive data extraction, transformation, and delivery from a wide range of unstructured data sources leveraging cognitive technologies of artificial intelligence and machine learning for the buy-side.

The Perks of Growing in Valuation with Magic FinServ’s Fintech Accelerator Program

Magic FinServ’s Fintech Accelerator Program is designed to suit your purpose and needs. You can choose between three models depending on the level of engagement required.

• Model 1 – In-house Fintech: For building from scratch: If your requirement is comprehensive including core product development, Magic Augmented (in-house Fintech) approach is tailored for your unique needs.
• Model 2 – Magic Owned (Outsourced to Magic): Our talent and skill sets are engaged for your activities from our premises and the end-to-end ownership lies with Magic FinServ as well. With services such as a shared service desk with customers, automated QA, release and deployment to the cloud, and cloud infrastructure including build and QA for quicker releases and smoother management.
• Model 3 – Magic Assisted (Co-Source): Where your requirement is integrated with Fintech Ecosystem – Dev, QA, Support Production, and Distribution of Content.

With Magic FinServ’s Accelerator Program, you get the best in terms of consultation, and you can profit from the experiences of our consultants to navigate the complex global digital landscape with our rich pool of experienced enterprise technologists executing tasks creatively and achieving zero latency for our clients.

We can help organizations identify areas for improvement within their organization, allowing them to optimize their processes and maximize efficiency with the right tools and approach.

You can also benefit from our partnerships with the best including DCAM (Data Management Capability Assessment Model) and Magic FinServ’s distinguished network of global senior executives and venture capitalists across the financial services technology industry.

In conclusion, the times might indeed be tough, but a recession does not last forever and a bit of restraint and restructuring, we might all still sail through. Or as Warren Buffet indicates if history is any indication of the future, the economy always recovers. For more on how we can be of help, write to us mail@magicfinserv.com.

Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus are in a quandary.

Up at the North Pole where they have been working overtime, it is crunch time for Mr. and Mrs. Claus and their team. They know children across the world are counting the days when Santa will climb down their chimney and secretly leave them their favorite toys in the secrecy of the night. Children have been good the whole year in anticipation of the gifts they will receive. But as Christmas nears, Santa and Missus are not sure if they will be able to fulfill every child’s request anymore. A glitch has been unearthed.

Thanks to the five Naughty Elves, quality levels and deadlines have not been met. With the quality checkers and regulators breathing down their necks, Santa is worried that there would be more toys in the Island of Misfit Toys and not enough for his reindeer sleighs that would be racing overtime on the eve of Christmas.

Exposing Santa’s Naughty Elves

Bad Boy Billy and Bad Data Throwing a Spanner during Xmas Merriness

Bad Boy Billy: Bad Boy Billy, the naughtiest elf in Elfland has been up to no good. He is most likely to be shelved by Santa. Due to his carelessness, the toy-making factory missed several deadlines and Santa is likely to face a bad rap as children across the world question his credibility when they do not get their favorite toy. There is no one who can make Bad Boy Billy realize that when you use poor-quality raw materials you will only get low-grade toys. No matter, the best 3D technologies are at your disposal.

Similarly, for Financial Institutions and Fintechs, Poor Data Quality is the Bad Boy Billy. Too often, they have not bothered to improve their data quality which is bad for their businesses.

Source: @DiegoKuonen 

Here’s what counts as poor-quality data

• Data that is entered wrongly at the entry-level primarily due to oversight and overwork
• Incomplete data or data missing certain details in forms and invoices
• Data coming from websites and other third-party sources can also be fallacious
• Poorly labeled or unlabeled data – data that is lacking in metadata
• Data that is unstructured and difficult to organize – requires digitization
• Data inconsistency and disjointedness due to its existence in multiple silos or emanating from different channels and sources.

If you retain bad-quality data, you cannot create Magic. So as an organization if you are not doing something about your bad data, you will make poor decisions, business inefficiencies will continue no matter the cutting-edge technologies incorporated and implemented, you will miss out on opportunities, and ultimately you will not meet the expected revenue targets. As today’s business demands last-mile process automation, integrated processes, and a cleaner data fabric that democratizes data access and use across a broad spectrum of processes, good-data quality is imperative that you can ill afford to ignore.

Another Naughty Elf, Trixie Trouble, makes Santa Less Jolly this Christmas by not following Process Automation

While 3D is a major disrupting trend in toy making, Trixie Trouble with her penchant for carelessness has gone ahead and made Santa less jolly by not enabling 3D – the process automation of toy making.

Many organizations resort to automation without realizing that without reaching the critical mass of process automation, they cannot achieve the desired results. Today, process automation has become quintessentially associated with Banks, FinTechs, Hedge Funds, Asset Managers, Brokers, and others dealing with a massive and steady flow of financial, business, and operational data that must be parsed on a day-to-day basis.

Here are some of the common mistakes that organizations make when it comes to automation and which must be rectified at the earliest for desired results:

Financial Institutions and FinTech that have not optimized their critical processes, most of which exist in silos, are like Father Christmas less likely to be jolly this Christmas as well because they have squandered away the opportunities.

If trying to become a Duplicate Santa to steal gifts was not enough, Grinchy Grinch Face tried stealing the Christmas Spirit as Well

Grinchy Grinch Face tried stealing Santa’s identity. He tried to become a duplicate Santa and steal the gifts and the spirit of Christmas, but he failed.

Duplicate Data is any data shared with other data in the database. Apart from increasing storage costs, duplicate data results in missed opportunities and comes in the way of the delivery of personalized content to consumers.

Not just duplicate data, fintech or financial institution you must be able to leverage the power of unique customized solutions, and not cut corners with a one-size fits all solution (which unfortunately is a common experience). However, Magic FinServ’s advisory and fintech accelerator program facilitates customized solutions tailored to varied business and organizational needs.

Bah Humbug nixes Christmas once again because of incorrect deliveries

True to his ways, Bah Humbug has once nixed the Christmas spirit. Santa is worried that the delivery of the wrong toys would result in unhappiness and spoil his name. All because Humbug did not cross-check which gifts had to be delivered to whom. Same in case of FIs, they should be thorough with the testing – whether of the APIs, the infra and the environment. When you do not test APIs, the environment and the infrastructure for efficiency and performance, the costs rack up higher, the user experience is poorer, and you get a rejection or an extremely disappointed child by delivering wrong gift to them

Nuisance Nelly fails to follow DevOps practices in its right spirit, and angers Santa.

Nelly has failed to avail the benefits of cloud and platform engineering and so scaling up the production of toys will take time – resulting in unmet demands.

Santa is angry at her because she has the habit of saying Done when she is not actually ready. In DevOps and Project Management Methodology, being ‘Ready’ to start a project/sprint is vital as indicating you are ‘Done’.

You need to test your requirements and validate that not only can you write test cases against each requirement but also ensure that the definitions are clear and without ambiguity for good code, and a defect-free production environment. Get it wrong and you will face large costs due to rework and possible system outages and damage to your company’s reputation and be burdened by tech debt.

Also, when it comes to installing a production ready environment for quicker and more efficient work, cloud-native approach and platform engineering facilitates the capacity to easily grow horizontally, which in the case of FinTechs and financial organizations might even lead to more revenue generation.

Don’t Worry! Good Elves still hold up the Christmas Spirit…

As Santa frets, few good elves hold up the Christmas spirit. Like the three wise men who bore with them gifts for baby Jesus, the good elves have been working overtime to ensure that there is a smile on every child’s face.

Some of the good Elves who have been working overtime are:

Holly: This good elf is responsible for last mile process automation and RPA (Robotic Process Automation) to ensure that customer experience, in this case, millions of children are blessed with benefits realization (the toy they desire for being good).

Happy: This elf works closely with Holly to enable the building of frictionless CI/CD pipelines. At Magic FinServ too we have a proprietary automation fabric framework to build frictionless CI/CD and automated testing pipelines, using custom or open-source tools; thus, enhancing the time-to-market and a happier client experience.

Merry: Merry is at the helm has the responsibility to ensure things (fall in line) without fail – a proactive SLA-driven support / maintenance of applications, environments, and infrastructure (cloud) to ensure scalability, stability, and availability. She is also making it easier for Holly and Happy by cleaning the back and middle office operations by automating the acquisition, consumption, and distribution of data.

The happy elves will not allow duplicate data to get in the way of Christmas Cheer. Here is how they find and merge duplicates using an AI and ML powered tool (DeepSight TM ) and applying data governance best practices when it comes to fulfilling their requests on a worldwide scale without glitches.

The good elves know that collaboration in the right spirit can get the work done – the toys made, packaged, and delivered to their rightful owners, with ease impossible otherwise – hence they follow the DevOps approach with testing involved right from the outset along with other best practices for Product Backlog refinement and sprint planning sessions, and much more.

In a Nutshell: Long Story in Short

The above tale is of course a work of friction. But we guarantee that should Santa ever be in dire need of automation support for scaling up his toy-making factory, we would be delighted to help, just as we would be glad to be of help to any financial organization or fintech planning to scale their digital transformation initiatives with automation, artificial intelligence, cloud, and robust DevOps practices without costs spiraling out of control in these troubled times. For more on how our good elves – our experts in finance and technology, and our Fintech Accelerator program can help reach desired potential reach out to us at mail@magicfinserv.com.

We all at Magic FinServ wish you and your family Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year! Cheers!

On the 24th of November, Americans would be partaking in the traditional thanksgiving dinner of a stuffed roast turkey, mashed potatoes, greens, and cranberry sauce among others – an American tradition that has been carried down for generations. A day or two earlier, if the turkey is lucky enough, it would have received the presidential pardon. As Thanksgiving nears, we have developed our thanksgiving menu based on the foundation of our data expertise and prepared with a DevOps and AGILE approach and with generous sprinklings of AI, ML, Cloud, Managed Services, and Automation.

1) Starting with the Centerpiece or Showstopper – The Roasted Turkey.

The showstopper of any thanksgiving meal is of course the turkey. The recipe and flavorings are generally a secret and passed down from one generation to the next or developed with a lot of passion and enthusiasm. Nonetheless, there is no second-guessing that for a crackling turkey roast you have to do a lot of groundwork before you put it in the oven for a roast – thawing it completely, soaking it in brine for long enough to bring out the flavors, and being generous with the baste of butter and maple syrup for ensuring a lovely golden crisp roast.

Magic FinServ’s showstopper for FinTechs and Financial Institutions – DeepSight^TM

Whether it is reconciliations, invoice management, trade and loan instructions, structured and semi/unstructured structured data extraction for Shareholding and Voting Rights, Financial Forecasting, Day-to-Day trading, AML, ESG compliance, etc., there’s a lot of groundwork that modern enterprises have to engage in to ensure that data is accurate and up-to-date. For a seamless transition from excel sheets, pdf files, paper documents, social media, etc., to a single source of truth, last-mile process automation, integrated processes, ready accessibility, and transparency act as key differentiators for any financial organization.

Magic FinServ’s USP is that we understand the needs of the financial markets – Asset Managers, Hedge Funds, Banks, FinTechs, Fund Advisors, etc., better than the others. We speak the same language and understand the business ecosystem better having carried out several successful transitions. Our bespoke tool DeepSight^TM for data extraction, transformation, and delivery in standardized formats that can be easily integrated to algorithms and platforms to make a critical difference in terms of saving working hours and dollars and enhancing revenue opportunities. To know more: Magic DeepSight

2) Green Bean Casserole: The Easy and Convenient Thanksgiving Staple

Simple and inexpensive, the green bean casserole is also known as the “jiffy casserole” because it could be quickly made and stored for the dinner in advance. However, there’s a history to the green casserole. According to Cathy Kaufman, president of the Culinary Historians of New York , “Casseroles bound with white sauces became especially prevalent during the Depression as a way of stretching ingredients.”

Administrative AI: The Staple response for greater productivity and cost efficiency

When it comes to financial institutions and fintechs, moonshot projects are good to have, but the results are inconclusive if the back and middle offices struggle under piles of siloed and poor-quality data, manual processes, and legacy systems. Fintechs and Financial Institutions must clean their processes first – by organizing and streamlining back, middle, and front office operations with the most modern means available such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, RPA, and the cloud. To know more you can check our blog: Improve Administrative Processes with AI first before aiming for Moonshot.

3) The Crowd Pleaser: Mashed Potatoes

Turkey is incomplete without the customary sides of mashed potatoes and greens. It is difficult to go wrong with mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are the crowd-pleaser, but it must be light and fluffy not gummy and gloopy. Choose the right quality of potatoes – starchy ones like Russet potatoes that just wonderfully soak up the butter and cream. On the other hand, if flavor is what you require, Russet only will not suffice, potatoes that are flavorful such as Yukon Golds are perfect for the buttery flavor.

Magic’s FinServ’s Cloud Services: Cloud Assessment, Cloud Migration, Cloud DevOps, and Cloud Support

The cloud is certainly a crowd-pleaser. However, for most financial organizations and fintechs, the trouble is that the costs exacerbate, and the results are not satisfying, whether you are moving data, applications, or infrastructure if you simply decide to move to the cloud without proper preparation. The risk of not fixing it is higher. Some of the common problems that financial organizations and fintechs face in a nutshell when it comes to the cloud are:

• Choosing the cloud as a panacea instead of
• Choosing the wrong supplier or the wrong service plan
• Losing control over your data, and lacking bandwidth

You could read more about what could go wrong with your cloud journey in detail in our blog: Saving Costs with the cloud: best practices for banks and financial institutions.

We ensure that you get the best that the cloud promises – agility, scalability, and above all cost optimization. Our multidisciplinary team is well-versed in cloud economics, and we take immense pride in developing a clear set of agreed success criteria for optimized and cost-effective cloud journeys.

4) Turkey is incomplete without Gravy: Here’s what is required to make sans the lumps

Gravy is an essential part of the Thanksgiving menu. It’s a must-have for turkey. However, if you are a novice, you could end up messing up this simple dish. The trick for making a good gravy is ensuring that the cornstarch/thickener is dissolved well. Also, you could reserve the turkey drippings to give it the distinctive flavor. It is these little things that matter, but obviously you would know unless there’s an expert to give you the helping hand.

Magic FinServ’s Advisory Services: A little help from friends for a transition minus the lumps

While it is all good to be independent and start from scratch. Some journeys require the expert’s advice. When you need to scale up quickly or remain competitive, our consultancy services help you decipher where exactly you can save costs and ensure productivity. Magic FinServ’s team of advisors combining the best of technology and finance understand the challenges associated with digital transformation in a disruptive time and help their clients pilot and optimize their transformative journeys with the appropriate mix of new technologies and processes for a delicious add-on.

5) Mac and Cheese: Nothing beats this Rocking Combo

Mac and Cheese are a quintessential part of Thanksgiving dinner. Nothing beats this rocking combo. Likewise, our partnership with EDMC for DCAM.

For if there is anything that gives an organization an edge – it is data.

Data is what empowers wealth managers to carry out their fiduciary duties effectively.

Data is at the center of incisive and accurate financial forecasting that saves the day from another

Data has the capability to recession-proof the organization in these troubled times.

As a FinTech or Financial Organization, you rely on Magic FinServ to facilitate highly accurate and incisive forecasts by regulating the data pool. With our DCAM strategy and our bespoke tool – DeepSight^TM , you can get better and better at predicting market outcomes and making timely adjustments.

6) Cranberry sauce: Original or Out of the Can as you like it

When it comes to cranberry sauce, you can either get it canned or make it from a scratch. It is basically a case of as-you-like-it. But canned cranberry sauce is nowhere as delicious and wholesome as sauce made from fresh cranberries. Hence, cranberry sauce made from a scratch is our clear frontrunner compared to the readymade ones.

The same is true for automation — when it’s built to meet the needs of your organization it will create significant ROI.

We have other interesting items too in our spread for thanksgiving such as Test Automation and Product and Platform testing which our Thanksgiving spread would be incomplete without because doing business in these testing times would require continuous innovation to deliver superior quality services and products to consumers while keeping the operation costs optimized.

Reach out to us. Soon!

Hoping that you have enjoyed the spread. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hannukah! And a super binge Black Friday! For more on our thanksgiving menu and Black Friday Super Binge reach out to us at mail@magicfinserv.com