Title

AWS re:Invent 2022 - Cash is alive: How technology has enabled phygital at scale (PRT285)

Summary

Capital One, a Fortune 100 company, has been a data-first company since its inception in 1994 and completed its move to the cloud in 2020, leveraging AWS.
The company has a mission to change banking for good, focusing on customer experience, innovation, and industry leadership, such as eliminating overdraft fees.
Despite the rise in digital transactions, there is still a significant reliance on physical banking locations, particularly for cash transactions.
Capital One introduced the concept of "phygital" - a blend of physical and digital experiences, such as depositing cash at retail checkouts like CVS.
The company has developed a system allowing customers to deposit cash at CVS stores, using a barcode generated in the Capital One app.
The solution scales like software, leveraging AWS and a partnership with Incom, which is integrated with CVS, to quickly deploy and scale the service.
The architecture is designed for high availability and resiliency, using AWS services like Aurora Global Database and active-active compute across multiple regions.
The focus on end-to-end customer experience was paramount, ensuring backend systems were as robust as the front-end experience.

Capital One's strategic decision to leverage AWS cloud services has enabled them to scale their operations and innovate rapidly, demonstrating the power of cloud computing in the financial industry.
The "phygital" approach addresses the customer need for physical interaction when dealing with sensitive transactions like cash deposits, while still providing the convenience of digital services.
The partnership with CVS and Incom shows how collaborations across industries can create new customer experiences and solve traditional business challenges.
The architecture's emphasis on resiliency and performance underscores the importance of reliability in financial services, where customer trust is closely tied to system uptime and transaction integrity.
The success of the cash deposit solution at CVS highlights the potential for banks to expand their services without the need for physical branches, which could redefine the future of banking infrastructure.