Artificial intelligence (AI) has captured people’s imagination for decades. Sci-fi movies have often placed technology at their centre, depicting both potential utopias and dystopias of human life. In recent years, remarkable strides in AI have brought us closer than ever to a future where it seamlessly integrates into our daily lives. Yet, we are merely scratching the surface of what lies ahead.
Quantiphi, an award-winning, AI-first digital engineering company founded on the premise of solving what matters most to business through responsible AI, emerged in 2013, co-founded by Asif Hasan, Reghu Hariharan, Ritesh Patel, and Vivek Khemani. At that time, they ventured into the AI landscape when it was still in its nascent stages, brimming with untapped potential.
Bhaskar Kalita, the global head of financial services and insurance at Quantiphi, aptly described the early days of AI, stating, “During that time, AI was still in its nascent stages. It was a topic of discussion, a subject of contemplation, and many were conducting experimental endeavours with it. However, a widespread movement had yet to take shape.”
In 2016, Quantiphi encountered a significant turning point as the momentum of modernisation, digital transformation, and cloud adoption intensified. Notably, the company pioneered the concept of AI-first digital engineering, which prompted organisations to approach digital transformation through the lens of AI and data. Kalita elaborated on this approach, stating that it encompasses the spectrum from knowledge mining, experience, automation, and simulation, extending to data and infrastructure. He emphasised, “This approach underscores the fundamental importance of data in driving large-scale changes through AI and highlights the need for data standardisation.”
Quantiphi has evolved to become a leading force in empowering financial institutions to embrace the power of AI across their entire technology ecosystem. By laying a strong foundation of core infrastructure and establishing a robust data estate, Quantiphi enables these institutions to harness intelligence and automation, delivering AI-driven customer experiences at every touchpoint. Their technology empowers companies to gain deep insights into their customers, drive profitable growth, optimise risk and compliance processes, and reimagine business processes to reduce cost structures.
Quantiphi’s impact extends beyond the financial sector, serving a diverse range of clients spanning industries such as banking and financial services, education, insurance, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing, oil and gas, public sector, media, and more. With a global team exceeding 4,000 talented professionals, Quantiphi proudly boasts a substantial customer base of over 2,000 organisations worldwide.
Applied AI – what does it mean?
Quantiphi takes pride in its position as an applied AI company, but what exactly does that entail?
According to Kalita, the field of AI can be categorised into two main realms. The first encompasses renowned entities such as Google, AWS, and Nvidia, where a significant portion of theoretical and algorithmic research takes place. It is within these laboratories that groundbreaking technologies like generative AI are conceived.
On the other hand, Quantiphi operates within the domain of applied AI. This realm focuses on harnessing the latest advancements in AI to drive tangible business outcomes, foster innovation, improve operational efficiency, and enhance customer experiences.
The advancement of machines in cognitive capabilities, such as visual perception, language understanding, and pattern recognition, has enabled businesses to address four distinct problem categories that were previously beyond their reach: knowledge, experience, automation, and simulation problem-solving.
“That’s why we refer to it as applied AI,” Kalita explained. “It involves the practical application of AI within a business context, deriving tangible value from its implementation.”
The importance of digital transformation
In an increasingly digital-native world, customer expectations have evolved, compelling financial services providers to deliver streamlined, personalised, and engaging experiences.
Kalita highlighted the disparity between the highly differentiated and personalised encounters offered by platforms like Amazon, Netflix, and Instagram compared to the relative limitations of financial and insurance apps. Consequently, there is a growing demand for a similar level of hyper-personalisation in the financial sector.
While meeting these expectations may pose challenges for financial services and insurance firms, the need for personalised and streamlined interfaces persists. This reality underscores the importance of digital transformation as a means for these firms to remain competitive in the market. Kalita emphasised the necessity for financial institutions to modernise their customer engagement approaches, whether through leveraging chatbots, automating customer outreach, or facilitating seamless and frictionless digital experiences. Such transformations can only be achieved by establishing a robust technology backbone that enables the development of native client services.
How Quantiphi helps
Quantiphi follows a comprehensive approach when working with customers, encompassing the key stages of “Hack it, Prove it, Nail it, and Scale it.”
The initial stage, “Hack it,” involves an intensive period of engagement, typically through a 48-hour hackathon. During this collaborative event, Quantiphi diligently seeks to understand the specific needs and use case priorities of the company.
Moving on to the “Prove it” phase, which typically spans four to six weeks, Quantiphi meticulously outlines the implementation plan, detailing how the solution would function and operate. This phase allows for experimentation and iterative improvements, enabling the company to assess what works and what requires adjustments.
Following the “Prove it” phase, the focus shifts to “Nail it,” where Quantiphi concentrates on building a minimum viable product (MVP) that can deliver tangible business value. The emphasis lies in creating a smaller-scale solution that can effectively demonstrate the value it brings, rather than investing resources in a massive product that may not provide sufficient returns.
Finally, the “Scale it” stage involves taking the successful solution and expanding it into a broader product. Here, Quantiphi leverages the insights and successes from earlier stages to drive wider implementation and adoption across the organisation.
By following this structured approach, Quantiphi ensures a thorough understanding of customer requirements, iterative development, and a focus on delivering tangible value throughout the entire engagement process.
Standing out from the competition
In the ever-growing realm of AI, the demand for cutting-edge technology has intensified, leading to a highly competitive marketplace. Quantiphi possesses several unique qualities that distinguish it from its rivals, and according to Kalita, five key differentiators stand out. “When it comes to finding a partner capable of leveraging AI and data to solve complex problems, the depth of their research and their forward-thinking approach is of paramount importance.”
Companies need to assess whether a service provider prioritises innovation and remains committed to enhancing their technology. If a provider fails to do so, they may not be the best choice as their solution is likely to become outdated. If a provider halts their innovation efforts and solely focuses on sales, they will quickly find themselves rendered obsolete.
Quantiphi is centered around innovation. It boasts a dedicated research arm and a partner ecosystem that helps them consistently look toward the future and build the next big solution. For example, Dociphi, our AI-led document processing SaaS platform, sets itself apart from competitors with patent-pending classification and extraction models that were developed from scratch to give highest possible accuracy for the insurance and financial services industry. We have also invested in building enterprise-ready generative AI capabilities in Dociphi to unlock and maximise the value of our customers’ data assets.
Another of Quantiphi’s major differentiators is its responsible AI initiatives. As AI becomes a core part of operations, AI-based models are being subjected to increasing regulatory standards. Quantiphi has always focused on building responsible and ethical AI solutions. For a comprehensive understanding of the ethical AI principles in action, we recommend referring to Quantiphi’s whitepaper. It provides in-depth insights and details on the functioning of these principles.
Quantiphi boasts two additional differentiators that truly set itself apart: its AI catalog and its exceptional talent pool. According to Kalita, Quantiphi’s AI solutions are remarkably versatile, catering to customers from diverse sectors by providing them with the perfect tools tailored to their needs. He further added that Quantiphi’s teams are carefully assembled, blending industry expertise, mathematical proficiency, and technology skills to ensure effective resolution of any problem encountered.
Finally, Kalita lauds Quantiphi’s impressive track record, stating, “In the last ten years, I believe no other player even comes close to the number of projects, engagements, and business value we have delivered.” This rich history serves as a testament to Quantiphi’s domain knowledge and its ability to revolutionise digital capabilities for its customers.
Kalita concluded by sharing an inspiring case study highlighting the success of one of Quantiphi’s satisfied customers:
Quantiphi helped a leading supplemental insurer revolutionise its end-to-end claims processing. Together, we embarked on a transformative journey, starting from implementing a unified data view across various business units to enhance customer-facing applications. We empowered sales and operations teams to make informed decisions by providing them with valuable insights. We also helped the client focus on improving the experience for data consumer communities within the organisation, including agents and service teams, resulting in an elevated customer experience.
As a trusted partner in an ever-evolving technology landscape, Quantiphi remains committed to advancing its data strategy and addressing transformational challenges to achieve groundbreaking outcomes.
Quantiphi was recently listed in the latest annual AIFinTech100, which identifies the world’s most innovative companies developing AI technologies in financial services. Find out more about the AIFinTech100 here.
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