Goizueta students pictured during collaborative experiential learning with Truist.
Goizueta students pictured during collaborative experiential learning with Truist.

Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and Truist Financial Corporation recently collaborated for a two-day event to educate students on cyber-security challenges of fraud claims and related financial crimes. “We hosted an immersive education seminar where students used the emerging “no-code” technology supplied by Unqork’s platform to tackle a real-life business problem without writing a single line of code,” said Bill Rogers, Chairman and CEO of Truist.

This hands-on seminar was presented by The Roberto C. Goizueta Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. The Center’s Academic Director Rob Kazanjian shared more about the effort. Driven by Goizueta and resulting from initial conversations with Unqork, a powerful collaboration was born. Truist, a Goizueta partner, works with Unqork and brought Amazon’s voice-enabled technology and Verizon’s 5G into the conversation. “The Roberto C. Goizueta Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is very excited to work with Truist, Unqork, Amazon, and Verizon to pilot this cutting-edge experiential learning opportunity,” Kazanjian said.

The innovation challenge took place at Goizueta this past March with members of Truist’s Enterprise Technology and Risk Management functions as sponsors. The participating student group—19 BBA students and 7 MBA students—evaluated the process for controlling and responding to potential fraud cases in banking.

Students Build Solutions to Handle Fraud Claims in Financial Services

“Truist has been exploring opportunities to invest our time within the banking footprint to educate the next generation of business leaders and arm them with the knowledge and skills that will help them excel in an ever-changing business landscape,” Rogers shared.

Truist logo

Students were given a brief overview of financial crimes and received training on Unqork, a new disruptive “no-code” platform and Truist partner.

Rogers went on to say that during the two-day session, “Student groups created an enterprise-grade software solution for a complex business process using the no-code accelerators, and integrated Amazon’s Alexa into the solution to improve client experience. The program gave students both the tactical training in how to use Unqork and Alexa, along with an understanding of how effective software can fuel business outcomes.”  

With the expectation that the process must function end-to-end, the exercise emphasized the need for not only innovative ideas, but also collaboration and integration. Rogers pointed out, “These are critical traits for success in business.”

The results were impressive and Truist team members left inspired. “Students asked great questions and produced a fantastic solution in a very short timeframe,” Rogers said. He noted, “Our ability to use Unqork internally to Truist is game-changing. Rapid prototyping and ease of delivery will improve quality and time to market. These students validated long-term potential uses of the platform.”

By all measures, the collaboration was a success. Several students expressed interest in career opportunities at Truist with one student joining the bank following their graduation in May. Rogers added, “We are going to continue to improve and expand on our relationship with Emory.”

Kazanjian reflected on the positive outcomes and looked ahead to future collaborations. “Our students addressed a major corporate challenge using the very latest technology which is not yet utilized at other universities. Not only did our students benefit greatly, but our corporate partners gained new insights into the problem and appreciated the chance to gain greater visibility with BBA and MBA students. We are already planning our next such event.”

The Roberto C. Goizueta Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation empowers entrepreneurs, innovators, and problem-solvers to respond to changing business needs. Learn more about cutting-edge student and corporate partner initiatives like this meaningful collaboration.