Highlights you won’t want to miss from Alkami Co:lab’s Technology sessions

Over the last couple of days, our presenters addressed a number of topics that are critical to our technology strategy and success at Alkami – including our modernization projects in partnership with AWS Application Modernization Lab (AML), the innovation possibilities with our extensibility and developer tools, our strategic quality investments, and so much more. We even held our very first TechFin Hackathon where we welcomed over 30 clients, partners and system integration experts onsite for a full day of developing new functionality with the Alkami Software Development Kit (SDK). Keep reading for the full recap!

Alkami’s TechFin Year in Review

It has been one year since Alkami introduced our vision and journey towards becoming a TechFin. Deep Varma, CTO at Alkami, shared an update on Alkami’s progress, accomplishments, and learnings over the past year as we worked to improve our technology and platform across five key pillars: Reliability, Quality, Efficiency, Performance and Scale. In addition, Deep shared our journey partnering with AWS AML in order to help modernize our technology stack and set us up for future success in these pillars. Barry Evans, Head of Application Modernization Lab at AWS shared valuable insight into the 3-phase approach to how AWS helps companies identify, plan and execute modernization projects.

Unleashing the Benefits of Modernization with AWS Application Modernization Lab

As a continuation of the previous TechFin Year in Review session, this panel discussion featuring Justin Collins, principal architect at Alkami, Marius Ducea, director, SRE at Alkami, and Sanjay Gulati, senior  solutions architect at AWS, provided a deeper dive into various modernization projects that Alkami is working on, in partnership with AWS Application Modernization Lab. To ensure that Alkami’s systems are highly performant and compatible with the latest and greatest technology on the market, we are working on a number of initiatives including (but not limited to): transforming our microservices and migrating them to Kubernetes (K8s), implementing observability and also managing certificates at scale. Attendees enjoyed the greater detail that this session provided, as it gave them a “behind the scenes” look into how these projects are establishing the foundation for us to elevate the quality, performance, and scalability of our platform.

Deploying Microservices to Kubernetes

As a further continuation of the previously mentioned TechFin Year in Review, and Unleashing the Benefits of Modernization sessions, Austin Howard, senior manager of software engineering at Alkami, provided attendees with a more technical tour of Alkami’s evolution to K8s. Over the course of our journey from microservices to orchestrating containerized workloads with K8s, Austin shared the challenges, learnings and discoveries that have led to significant and measurable improvements on the Alkami digital banking platform, impacting everyone who uses it. Attendees gained insight into how Alkami’s methodical approaches and strong engineering culture were not only pivotal in facilitating the K8s migration, but also vital in tackling inevitable tech migrations in the future.

Alkami’s Shift Left Improvements to Make Quality “Right”

Last year at Alkami Co:lab 2023, we introduced our client journey wall where clients left meaningful feedback on various areas of our client lifecycle. This engaging panel discussion started with Eakta Pandey, vice president, engineering at Alkami, who shared key client feedback that we received as it relates to Alkami’s platform quality, and how that feedback was internalized by the engineering team to shape the investments on the technology roadmap in 2023. Eakta shared several substantial shifts and upgrades that have been made in our quality strategy – across our people, processes, and the technology we use to enforce top quality standards.

This panel also featured technology leaders Cindy Galindo, vice president, technology operations at Smart Financial Credit Union, and Jesse Evenson, director software quality and reliability at Mountain America Credit Union, who shared their candid experiences using the Alkami digital banking platform and how Alkami’s quality investments have had impacts on their financial institution, and end users. In addition, the attendees learned about various opportunities that they can get involved to be part of the quality conversation with Alkami, including how to provide feedback, how to participate in technology pilot programs, and how to stay apprised of Alkami’s quality investments on a quarterly basis.

Become a TechFin Trailblazer: Innovate with Extensibility and Developer Tools

Especially popular with the developer and technology audiences, this session led by Ritesh Mishra, senior manager, software engineering at Alkami and AJ Jaiswal, vice president, engineering at Alkami, showcased how Alkami’s powerful extensibility solutions including our software development kit (SDK), banking APIs, and our brand new Alkami Developer Portal give financial institutions the “keys to the kingdom” to learn, innovate and build on the Alkami Platform. The speakers gave an inspiring look into how we are elevating our extensibility solutions to make it easier and faster for financial institutions to develop and bring new functionality to market, and how they can achieve greater customization to better retain and engage their end users.

Unlocking the Technology Group as a Business: Secrets to a Better Business Strategy

The Alkami engineering and technology group has matured and evolved – especially as we have grown and established ourselves as a TechFin. In order for Alkami to create and achieve sustainable growth, we had to figure out how to operate our technology group “as a business.” In this session, Sharilyn Bowen, director of technology strategic operations at Alkami, and Jerri Chiu, senior manager,technical program management at Alkami, shared how Alkami leverages intentional communication, meaningful data and practical, yet ambitious objectives and key results (OKRs) to power a business strategy that propels our technology group forward, and allows us to better serve our clients. This was an interactive session where attendees took away practical tips and exercises that they can implement at their own institutions to gain greater team alignment and more effectively reach their business objectives.

Building the Future of Banking at the TechFin Hackathon

Continuing the theme of iconic “firsts”, we also hosted our very first external TechFin Hackathon, where our clients, partners and system integrators arrived onsite and formed teams to collaboratively build innovative functionality on the Alkami platform using the SDK. 30 participants formed 7 teams focused on a variety of projects that solve real-world problems, and incorporate greater visibility, control, and convenience to the end user experience.

With a diverse range of expertise and perspectives, the teams delved into their coding marathons, brainstorming sessions, and rapid prototyping, fueled by endless cups of coffee and the desire to win the grand prize trophy. Mentors and judges, consisting of seasoned professionals, offered invaluable guidance and feedback throughout the process. As the hackathon progressed, the atmosphere buzzed with excitement as teams proudly presented their projects, showcasing impressive feats of ingenuity and technical prowess. The event not only fostered innovation but also strengthened bonds within our community, leaving a lasting impact on both participants and organizers alike.

Read more about the TechFin Hackathon at Alkami Co:lab 2024

Transforming Digital Banking with TechFin

This new Technology Track provided Co:lab attendees a deeper look into not only ‘what’ the Alkami engineering team is working on, but also the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ behind these strategic investments. As a TechFin, Alkami is technology company, first and foremost, and we are committed to equipping financial institutions with technology that will enable them to:

• Deliver a great user experience to their account holders and  maintain PFI status
• Be competitively equipped to compete against the megabanks and neobanks
• Be appropriately architected to handle the waves of tech innovation now and in the future
• Capitalize on new opportunities with a digital sales and service platform that can drive revenue and lower costs

We look forward to continuing the technology conversation with our clients and prospects throughout 2024 and beyond! Want to be a part of the co:laboration? Save the date for Alkami Co:lab 2025. We’re headed to Nashville, y’all! 

Continue exploring all things Alkami Co:lab 2024! Read more.