Emre Tokses, Istanbul

Zeynep Erdoğan states that success in artificial intelligence projects is possible through a focus on value and the user, before technology.

On the stage of Webrazzi Fintech 2025, Zeynep Erdoğan, Deputy General Manager Responsible for Corporate Architecture and Artificial Intelligence at Architecht, explains in her presentation titled “A Value-Driven Approach in Artificial Intelligence” why institutions frequently experience disappointment in AI projects and how they can break out of this cycle.

The first framework Erdoğan presents is the expectation–reality cycle in artificial intelligence investments. The chart shows that AI-powered projects generally start at the peak of inflated expectations and then descend into the trough of disappointment. Referring to a chart shared by the technology research firm Gartner, she notes that it took automobiles 33 years, telephones 15 years, the internet 6 years, WhatsApp 3 years, Instagram 2.5 years, and ChatGPT only 2 months to reach 100 million users.

Stating that due to regulations they cannot use cloud technologies in the financial technologies domain, Erdoğan explains that they have therefore been conducting their own internal “GPT battles,” even consulting these systems for architectural designs and receiving guidance. However, she emphasizes that ChatGPT delivering this experience to the entire world in just two months has significantly raised expectations. She highlights the difficulty of meeting these expectations while senior management, customers, and bank employees all expect results simultaneously.

The question “How can we manage these expectations better from this point forward?” comes to the forefront. According to Erdoğan, focusing solely on technology makes the task more difficult. She explains that when blockchain first emerged, technical teams were highly motivated to build something with blockchain, yet this approach lacked sustainability, ownership, and value creation.

Erdoğan gives the example of the transition period from keypad phones to smartphones, recalling that competition at the time focused on smaller, thinner, and foldable devices, until Apple changed the game entirely with a completely different technology and user experience. From this perspective, she states that the way to manage expectations is to think in a value-driven manner rather than a technology-driven one.

Erdoğan structures the value-driven approach into three layers. She emphasizes that first the business need and the targeted outcome must be questioned, then the impacts of that work should be discussed, and only at the final stage should the technology be debated.

She then shifts the focus to the user and the process. After defining a problem, she states that it is necessary to examine whether users can truly use the solution and where processes break down. She underlines the importance of gathering feedback from both customers and teams working with the screens. According to Erdoğan, solutions should be designed together with these stakeholders, and metrics that both create value and can be measured must be defined.

Only after all these points are addressed should technology be discussed. Noting that sometimes even a simple automation can be a lifesaver, Erdoğan draws attention to the fact that approaching every problem with a massive AI solution is unnecessary. At this stage, she says it is essential to ask whether an assistant, a chatbot, or a simple robotic process automation would be more meaningful.

In the final section, she addresses the importance of pilots and scaling. After selecting the technology, pilots must be well designed, and feasibility studies should clearly answer the question of whether the desired outcome has been achieved with the tools used. She emphasizes the importance of progressing to scaling by evaluating these results.

While underlining that artificial intelligence is not a luxury but a necessity for the fintech ecosystem, Erdoğan concludes that the winners will not be those who pursue AI merely to say “we integrated AI,” but those initiatives that truly create meaning and value.