Dive Brief:

• Catering to the new age of the digital consumer, Synchrony Financial is beefing up its analytics and mobile technology, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Carol Juel, who has served as CIO for almost four years, is leading the development of Synchrony's artificial intelligence and mobile tech teams. 
• Synchrony and Walmart recently partnered to develop on-the-spot credit card applications for customers using Walmart's shopping app, facilitating the application process by working with data from mobile carriers, according to the Journal. Such a system uses APIs to connect point-of-sale and app endpoints with the backend databases of Synchrony and retailers, which can then use the additional data to paint a better picture of customers. 
• The company has four innovation labs in the U.S. and India that work with Synchrony's partners to develop new tools and products for customers, according to CIO.com. The labs have brought 30% to 40% of ideas from "bolt sessions" to market, such as voice capabilities for customers, geo-location tools and new mobile applications. 

Dive Insight:

For B2B and B2B2C companies, staying ahead of the curve requires reducing friction for customers — whether by shaving a few hours off of delivery time, autofilling information in forms or predicting what a customer will purchase next. With the lifecycle of products and services increasingly attached to a digital trail from beginning to end, businesses have more data on customers and behavior than ever before. 

Investing in customer-facing platforms, especially mobile-based ones, helps with the first step of getting a customer in the door, while robust data and analytics operations afterward will help a business cater to and retain its customers. 

Just delivering the expected is not enough anymore — for boards or for customers. Technology is expected to drive innovation, growth and products, and CIOs like Juel are expected to lead the transformation.