Embracing Generative AI as a Collaborative Partner: Examining Nationwide's Strategic AI Adoption
Established in 1884 as the Southern Co-operative Permanent Building Society, Nationwide Building Society has a rich history rooted in the member-owned mutual movement in the UK. Today, as it ventures into the 21st century with a focus on technological innovation and growth, it pays homage to its ancestry.
Nationwide's foray into technology, specifically its increased use of generative AI in 2025, is guided by its commitment to benefiting its approximately 15 million members and over 18,000 staff. Rather than embracing technology for its own sake, the society emphasizes a human-centric approach, ensuring there's always a human component involved in the deployment of generative AI applications.
Nitin Kulkarni, Nationwide's Chief Information Officer (CIO) for data platforms, engineering, and AI Center of Expertise (CoE), joined the society in July 2023 after nearly a decade at Barclays. Speaking to our platform, Kulkarni underscores Nationwide's intention to use generative AI as a tool that assists staff rather than a means for replacing people.
"We are using it as a co-pilot because we believe this is the optimal balance," Kulkarni stated, mentioning that a comprehensive framework governs the use of generative AI to ensure activities in this emerging field remain controlled and secure.
Nitin Kulkarni highlighted that the society aims to lead the sector in data and AI strategy. Initially, the plan is to make cautious, incremental steps, test generative AI across various applications, and adhere to strict guardrails.
In January, Nationwide announced an expansion in its use of generative AI with Microsoft to deliver enhanced experiences for customers and staff. By integrating the GPT-4 model within Microsoft's Azure OpenAI, Nationwide reports a significant drop in response times for customer letters, reducing them from 45 minutes to 10-15 minutes – translating to an efficiency improvement of 66%.
The society anticipates the back-office application of these new technological tools will allow staff to address customer queries more efficiently and expedite the handling of more complex member inquiries.
Central to Nationwide's success with AI is major data migration and centralization. To achieve this, the society uses Microsoft Azure to consolidate all its data on a single platform, and then leverages open data analytics platform Azure Databricks and Teradata's VantageCloud to analyze and manage the information.
"For AI to be successful, all data needs to be in one place—that's a fundamental requirement," says Kulkarni.
The selection of the optimal modeling for utilizing that information is the next critical decision.
"Microsoft offers a robust ecosystem that ensures models and prompts are validated throughout the process," explains Kulkarni. "They also provide a unified platform for managing various tasks."
Nationwide's efforts have resulted in improved access to essential data for employees, laying the groundwork for more Azure OpenAI applications in the future.
Areas currently being eyed for a greater role for generative AI at Nationwide include contact center operations, credit risk assessment, economic crime monitoring, virtual assistant development, and CO2 emissions reporting. The ultimate objectives encompass improving service quality, optimizing decision-making, managing risk, and boosting operational efficiency.
In the context of AI-driven decision-making, Kulkarni believes that managing legacy code and modernizing the technology building blocks is another promising area of interest.
In 2024, Nationwide integrated generative AI as part of the GitHub Copilot launch, subsequently garnering more than 850 active users within the organization. This integration has empowered developers to deliver new code and innovative customer experiences more rapidly.
However, the data foundation remains the cornerstone of Nationwide’s AI strategy. According to Kulkarni, "this is essential to us as an organization because whatever technological advancements emerge in the future, the need for data-driven decisions will only grow more important."
Nationwide collaborates with Microsoft to monitor the performance of AI. This initiative supports the society's commitment to using AI responsibly in conjunction with a joint responsible AI framework and an AI Center of Expertise established in association with IBM Consulting, to oversee and deliver all AI development.
The AI Council, which includes representatives from risk, procurement, security architecture, compliance, data protection, legal, and people teams, ensures all AI applications conform to responsible principles, covering fairness, transparency, inclusivity, and security.
"It is a responsible body that vets each AI use case we look to implement," Kulkarni explains. "Our business needs to be represented in its implementation because this represents organizational change."
Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, Nationwide has made significant progress in testing generative AI.
"In the early stages of generative AI, it was about how you asked a question and got a response," Kulkarni notes. "The expansion we're doing in this space is ensuring that we're utilizing the latest and greatest technology plans so that we can scale to a level that wasn't achievable in the past."
The rapid advancements in generative AI necessitate continued adaptability and innovation. Kulkarni shares his enthusiasm for exploring the possibilities presented by "agnetic AI" – a trend that promises to challenge and drive future development.
- In its data and AI strategy, Nationwide Building Society aims to lead the sector, focusing on human-centric approaches to the deployment of generative AI applications.
- Nitin Kulkarni, Nationwide's CIO, has emphasized that generative AI is used as a co-pilot, assisting staff and not being a means for replacing people.
- To facilitate AI success, Nationwide uses Microsoft Azure to centralize all data on a single platform, then leverages data analytics tools like Azure Databricks and Teradata's VantageCloud for analysis and management.
- The AI-driven decision-making at Nationwide is closely monitored for responsible use, with an AI Council overseeing AI applications to ensure they conform to responsible principles such as fairness, transparency, inclusivity, and security.
