Deep Srivastav, SVP, Head of Digital Solutions at Franklin Templeton, shares how adopting a client-centric approach is helping the investment firm drive greater returns with AI
When companies think of transformation, many focus on the technical side, rather than on customer needs. But AI is not a magical wand that can be waved across the organization to create value.
In this week’s Business of Data podcast, Deep Srivastav, SVP, Head of Digital Solutions at international investment company Franklin Templeton, shares how centering AI projects around driving value for clients can yield far better results.
Franklin Templeton’s Client-Centric Approach to AI
Investment companies rarely tailor their product offerings to speak to individual customers. Noting this disconnect between customer needs and its product offerings, Franklin Templeton is now reimagining its offering with the customer in mind.
“Individuals have different liquidity needs,” Srivastav says. “They have different priorities for multiple goals. For example, your vacation goal is very different from your goal to buy your home or how you save for retirement. Your time horizons are different for each of them.” In 2020, Franklin Templeton launched its machine learning-driven Goals Optimization Engine to recommend personalized investment options to clients based on their financial goals. The idea for the engine came from Franklin Templeton’s research into creating client value, something the company considers a core part of its strategy.
Srivastav explains: “We had to think about investment in a different way so we can really align it with what clients want; that’s where a big part of the research happened. But how do you bring that to life and how do you make it scalable? Finding those answers requires a different level of effort, because you may have the theoretical foundation but what’s often missing is the ability to translate that.”
“Pulling it off wasn’t simply about bringing in a data capability and fitting it there,” he adds. “We had to start by realizing that we may have to rewrite the rules of some of these investments.”
Looking to the months ahead, Srivastav says he looks forward to unveiling innovative new AI products to deliver even more personalized services and further strengthen customer engagement at Franklin Templeton.
“Digital allows us to deepen our stakeholder relationships – that’s the most exciting part!” he says. “We’re asking all our teams how we can further deepen those relationships. How do we engage across multiple domains and touchpoints? In the backend, we continue to augment our capabilities with more data, better exchange and new research frontiers.”

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Key Takeaways
● AI isn’t a ‘magic wand’. Innovating with AI doesn’t inherently drive business value. Laying the technical foundations for AI innovation is just the first step on the road to unlocking the AI’s potential
● Focus on creating innovative value propositions. To deliver value with AI projects, executives must apply the technology in ways that provide value to clients or company staff
● Transformation means rewriting the rules. To find out how AI can create more value for its clients, Franklin Templeton conducted market research and used it to reimagine its business processes