Interview: Lloyds Banking Group, Digital Technology Leaders Awards finalist

"Our purpose is Helping Britain Prosper."

Technology continues to transform business, and is being used to a greater level than ever before. In a period of changes to 'regular' practices, not only has technology taken the spotlight in providing efficient and comprehensive solutions to many problems, but companies have had to re-evaluate their approach - to their daily business, as well as to their overall strategy.

In this landscape, innovative firms and individuals have used technology to stand out from the crowd.

The Digital Technology Leaders Awards occupy a special place among Computing events. Rather than platforms and tools, this event is dedicated to the companies and workers driving technology forwards at the leading edge of IT.

This year, we will announce the winners at a live ceremony on the 6th July in Central London.

One of those finalists is Lloyds Banking Group, which has reached the shortlist for four categories: Best Large Enterprise Digital Project; Most Successful Project in the Pandemic; Project Team of the Year; and Digital Ambassador of the Year.

We talked to Elliot Johnston, Retail Lab Product Owner at Lloyds Banking Group, about what makes his company stand out from the crowd.

Passionate about transforming business processes, Elliot and his team have recently re-written the flagship Pega Fraud & Disputes application, which is used to support customers in a key moment of truth. A native New Zealander, he applies a "can do" work ethic to business problems, and his alternative approach helps navigate solutions within such a large employer. Based in Skipton, "the Gateway to the Yorkshire Dales", Elliot enjoys travel, cars and with two young children has little time to keep up with the All Blacks.

Computing: Please provide some background on your company for our readers.

Elliot Johnston: We are a household name and a financial services group focused on retail and commercial customers - with millions of customers in the UK, and a presence in nearly every community. It is our role to help businesses and individuals, while making a positive contribution to the communities in which we operate.

CTG: What makes you different from other technology companies?

EJ: Our purpose is Helping Britain Prosper. We do this by creating a more sustainable and inclusive future for people and businesses, shaping finance as a force for good. Technology is a key enabler of our purpose, and we have the largest mobile banking presence in the UK.

CTG: What one company achievement in the last 12 months are you most proud of?

EJ: We have launched a mobile banking journey that allows our customers to dispute a debit card transaction via their mobile banking application. After initial triage within the mobile application, the customer submits their dispute which is then assessed via Straight Through Processing. If the dispute is appropriately qualified it will be processed, the customer refunded, and a chargeback submitted to Visa in near real time. Appropriate controls are built in to ensure the customer and Lloyds Banking Group are appropriately protected throughout the end-to-end journey with Colleague review of the case being required only under exceptional circumstances. Key to the journey is capturing and validating accurate information up front so this can be acted on with confidence later in the journey. Customer take-up of this new journey has been very strong with great feedback received around convenience, ease of use and timeliness of response. Cost to serve is also reduced significantly due to the levels of automation within this new journey. Collaboration across a number of business and IT areas within the group has been integral to the success of this work.

CTG: What are you working on this year?

EJ: We are working to extend this journey to other products within the group so more customers can benefit from the solution. We are also looking to apply similar innovative solutions to other complex journeys within the retail banking environment. Our method of doing this involves coupling deep customer research combined with integrating leading edge technologies such as Pega 8.

CTG: Why are events like the Digital Technology Leaders Awards important to the IT industry?

EJ: Events such as the Digital Technology Leaders Awards are important to showcase innovation within Banking technology which benefits our customers directly, reduces cost to serve and ultimately contributes to our vision of Helping Britain Prosper. We can highlight where we can provide speed and convenience for our customers and reduce cost to serve via innovative use of Digital technology. Over time this will benefit our business and improve efficiency across the industry as a whole.