GFT and Databricks Partner on AI Data Infrastructure Push
Research shows 80% of insurers have begun implementing artificial intelligence or plan to do so, yet 69% report challenges with accuracy and bias in their AI initiatives, citing inaccuracies and biases in the technology. A new partnership between GFT and Databricks aims to address these implementation hurdles.
GFT has partnered with Databricks, a data platform provider that enables organisations to consolidate and structure data for AI applications. The partnership focuses on helping insurers and financial institutions reorganise their data architecture to support AI deployment.
GFT brings 35 years of experience in digital finance, enterprise AI, data solutions and platform modernisation.
The company operates in 20 markets globally and is listed on Germany's SDAX index. Its 12,000 staff focus on software engineering for financial services, insurance and manufacturing sectors.
Data architecture challenges
Many financial institutions store data in separate systems across different business units, creating access barriers that limit AI applications from using organisation-wide data.
While some firms have attempted to consolidate data into data lakes—centralised repositories that can store structured and unstructured data—these often lack the structure needed for effective AI implementation.
The Databricks Data Intelligence Platform aims to solve this by not only consolidating organisational data but providing a structured environment designed for AI applications.
GFT builds the workflows and frameworks that allow companies to input their data and use it to train AI models for real-time insights.
“It's no longer enough for financial institutions to offer generic, surface-level AI capabilities,” says Andre Gagne, CEO of GFT Canada.
“In order to align with customers' demand for personalised experiences – from hyper-specific claims monitoring, to real-time fraud detection – insurers and banks need AI to be their right-hand-man, instead of a background helper. But doing so first requires accessible, structured data.”
Canadian implementation
Drawing on its 13-year presence in the Canadian insurance market, GFT has begun work with one of Canada's ten largest insurers. The firm provides auto, home, life, farm, travel and commercial insurance alongside investment products.
GFT and Databricks have consolidated data from these business lines, including policy management, billing and claims, into a Microsoft Azure-based infrastructure.
This unified data environment enables the insurer to implement AI-powered analytics across its operations, removing departmental gatekeepers that previously restricted data access.
The partnership aims to scale this approach across North America, developing custom data infrastructures based on individual industry and business requirements. This work focuses on enabling financial institutions to implement AI capabilities that match market demands.
UK banks face IT resilience challenges
A separate GFT study reveals growing concerns about digital banking resilience in the UK. One in four British consumers now maintain physical cash reserves due to concerns about banking outages, with an additional 11 per cent planning to do so.
The past year saw 17% of UK banking customers experience IT failures lasting an average of six hours. The research highlights specific concerns about third-party technology providers, with 38 per cent of respondents worried about their role in causing bank IT failures.
This follows significant disruptions including a CrowdStrike outage affecting 8.5 million devices globally and a CHAPS payment system issue in July 2024.
Consumer trust remains higher in traditional banks than digital-only institutions, with 32 per cent of respondents expressing greater confidence in established banks' ability to protect money from technical failures.
The findings come as regulatory bodies prepare for the implementation of the European Union's Digital Operational Resilience Act in January 2025.
Explore the latest edition of FinTech Magazine and be part of the conversation at our global conference series, FinTech LIVE.
Discover all our upcoming events and secure your tickets today.
FinTech Magazine is a BizClik brand
