The financial services industry has seen a great deal of disruption from digital-based alternatives. Many of these challengers use advanced technology and expanded data sets to offer apps that provide financial solutions at a lower cost, with less friction and greater personalization than traditional bank or credit union offerings. Toronto-based startup Flybits believes that the best way to compete in the future is not just by developing innovative products and services, but by becoming the repository of choice for data in addition to money. "I definitely see that banks are in a perfect position, if they innovate right, to be the perfect data vaults for the future – managing the privacy and also the data of their customers," says Hossein Rahnama, CEO and Co-Founder of Flybits, in an exclusive interview for Banking Transformed, a new podcast from Jim Marous and The Financial Brand. "Using AI and machine learning, there is the potential to build a'data marketplace' for banks, fintechs and other data providers to partner and build more services together."

More online businesses are integrating machine learning into their operations, with the bigger and established ones trailblazing the revolution. Machine learning has brought myriad opportunities and improved strategies to help business owners foster customer relationships and get more profit and conversions. If you haven't fully leveraged the power of machine learning in your business, let me give you five reasons why you should do so now. Can you imagine buying from the grocery store without having to wait in line to pay for your goods? If you can't, then you'd better prepared because that is now a reality.

The financial services industry has seen a great deal of disruption from digital-based alternatives. Many of these challengers use advanced technology and expanded data sets to offer apps that provide financial solutions at a lower cost, with less friction and greater personalization than traditional bank or credit union offerings. Toronto-based startup Flybits believes that the best way to compete in the future is not just by developing innovative products and services, but by becoming the repository of choice for data in addition to money. "I definitely see that banks are in a perfect position, if they innovate right, to be the perfect data vaults for the future – managing the privacy and also the data of their customers," says Hossein Rahnama, CEO and Co-Founder of Flybits, in an exclusive interview for Banking Transformed, a new podcast from Jim Marous and The Financial Brand. "Using AI and machine learning, there is the potential to build a'data marketplace' for banks, fintechs and other data providers to partner and build more services together."

Knowing when and where a person is, was, and will be can enable magical customer experiences. Flybits today announced that it's raised $35 million in series C funding led by Point72 Ventures, with participation from Mastercard, Citi Ventures, and Reinventure, along with existing partners Portag3 Ventures, TD Bank, and Information Venture Partners. The fresh funding brings its total raised to $50 million, and it comes as Flybits notches 300% growth in 2019 and gears up to hire across sales, engineering, and business development teams and offices, including adding solutions engineers, sales executives, business development reps, and engineers. "Customers are already used to seeing content and recommendations based on their behavior," said CEO Hossein Rahnama. But Flybits leverages an unlimited amount to create far more personalized and relevant recommendations than ever before, all in an effort to help financial institutions deliver real time lifestyle banking that gets at their customers' deeper needs.

Machine learning has been defined by Stanford University as "the science of getting computers to act without being explicitly programmed." It's machine learning that is now behind some of the greatest advancements in technology, driving new industries like autonomous vehicles. From machine learning, a whole new world of concepts has developed, including supervised learning and unsupervised learning, as well as algorithm development to build robots, Internet of Things devices, chatbots, analytics tools, and more. The sales function has benefited from the growth in sales-focused data thanks to the increase in digital interaction. Sales teams can tap into metrics from social media platforms, A/B testing, and website visits.

Machine learning has been defined by Stanford University as "the science of getting computers to act without being explicitly programmed." It's machine learning that is now behind some of the greatest advancements in technology, driving new industries like autonomous vehicles. From machine learning, a whole new world of concepts has developed, including supervised learning and unsupervised learning, as well as algorithm development to build robots, Internet of Things devices, chatbots, analytics tools, and more. The sales function has benefited from the growth in sales-focused data thanks to the increase in digital interaction. Sales teams can tap into metrics from social media platforms, A/B testing, and website visits.