How Diversity Leads to Better Technology

October 5, 2017 /3BL Media/ - Our world is changing more quickly than ever through the advent of digital technology. Fuencis Gómez, Vice President of Digital Banking at Scotiabank Mexico, remembers the beginning of her digital journey. “I had the opportunity to experience the first stages of e-commerce in the travel industry in 1997. Twenty years later, we see that those first technology players are now the leaders in travel.”

Banking’s digital transformation

As the head of Scotiabank Mexico’s Digital Factory, Fuencis is excited to be leading the Bank’s shift towards a digital future: “Banking’s digital transformation goes much further than the travel or even product retail sectors. Banking uses much more data, more complex algorithms, and even artificial intelligence in new ways. It’s a new frontier for digital.”

However, Fuencis cites Scotiabank Mexico’s boundary-pushing digital innovations as only part of the reason for why she chose to join the Bank: “During the summer of 2016, three different banks in Mexico asked me to join their digital team.

“I decided to join Scotiabank Mexico not just because of its digital strategy, but most importantly because of its culture — and diversity is a big part of that.”

Scotiabank Diversity and Inclusion: More about talent than gender

Just as Scotiabank Mexico is working to adapt to digital ways of banking, the Bank is also adapting to the future by including more women like Fuencis in the ranks of leadership and management. The Bank has established a set of seven “catalyst initiatives” that ensure that women are recruited, trained, and provided opportunities to thrive within the organization.

These initiatives are moving the Bank in a positive direction. A recent study by Expansion magazine found that Scotiabank Mexico ranked #1 in the country for percent of women in leadership positions. The study also found that Scotiabank Mexico ranked as the third most attractive employer for women in Mexico, stating that the company culture “talked more about talent than gender.”

Fuencis can attest to the truth of these findings about Scotiabank Mexico: “It’s a very true statement that Scotiabank Mexico talks more about talent than gender. I do not see myself as a woman in my position or on a daily basis — I am a well-prepared professional giving the best of my talent to my company.”

Better understand our customers

Diversity at Scotiabank Mexico is an essential part of how the Bank upholds its core belief: that every customer has the right to become better off. Fuencis explains the importance of building teams that reflect the Bank’s diverse customer base in her digital work: “We have the opportunity to look at current processes and improve or create them digitally, making them easier, more human. That always starts with an understanding of the customer as a person, and how to ensure that their dealings with the Bank are simple and appropriate, suited to their lifestyle.”

“Diversity on our teams helps us better understand our diverse customers — people of different walks of life, their diverse needs and what they really want from our products. With this understanding we can serve them in a more appropriate way, enabling them to become better off and ultimately to improve their quality of life.”

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