Data + Flexibility are Key to a Customer-Obsessed Tech Strategy

Bess Healy, SVP, Chief Information Officer at Synchrony

Bess Healy, SVP, Chief Information Officer at Synchrony

Over the past decade, consumer demands in the digital world have continually evolved. Successful businesses must adapt to customer’s expectations, instead of vice versa.

When it comes to digital consumers, it has become standard to offer embedded finance solutions- modern online platforms and banking apps with experiences integrated into customers’ everyday lives. At Synchrony, a leading consumer finance company, we have found that the key to keeping up with consumer demands is a combination of data analytics and a flexible technology platform.

Synchrony is the largest provider of private label credit cards and point of sale financing in the U.S. We manage 71 million active credit card accounts, which means we have access to seven trillion data points across several large retailers and multiple markets including healthcare and wellness, home repair and furnishings, automotive, and pet care. This volume of data grows each time a consumer uses one of our products to finance a purchase, and, ultimately, this data is at the heart of our finance innovations.

From our work with merchants, we’ve learned customers want digital wallets, online and social shopping with smooth embedded finance, and choice and flexibility in financing options. No matter if a customer is completing a purchase from a checkout line, their veterinarian’s office, or sitting on their couch, they want a seamless journey. A technical architecture built for flexibility is key to satisfying these demands.

We have leveraged our flexible technology platform to enable and accelerate delivery of multiple Synchrony products via multiple distribution channels including Synchrony-developed platforms, third party platforms and directly with our merchant partners. Our commitment to being customer-obsessed is powered by the flexibility that APIs enable so we can create experiences with our partners that embed parts of the finance journey into the consumer journey. Additionally, our built-in security and cyber risk measures help to continue to strengthen and protect our customer’s and partner’s data.

“A flexible cloud architecture has enabled us to deploy our library of enterprise APIs that allow our partners to create and scale personalized, customer experiences.”

A flexible cloud architecture has enabled us to deploy our library of enterprise APIs that allow our partners to create and scale personalized, customer experiences. We think of APIs as “lego blocks” to build customized applications. It’s also important to have the technology foundation in place that can allow partners to pivot quickly and scale personalized, customer experiences such as applying for credit, purchasing on credit, loyalty programs, and account servicing.

An innovative and consistent API framework enables our credit experiences to be seamlessly embedded within environments such as a store, point of sale, partner mobile apps, online checkout, and patient healthcare platforms. With this framework, the same capabilities are molded to fit entirely different industries and customer experiences, enabling growth for Synchrony and our partners.

Synchrony is a relatively newly formed company since we spun off from GE in 2014. We had a unique opportunity to invest in a technology infrastructure that would enable growth and innovation. My advice to fellow CIOs would be to invest in cloud and data infrastructures that will enable you to remain flexible as consumer demands shift in years to come. If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that you never know what consumers may need next!