Optima Partners announces new partnership with H2O.ai

Optima Partners, an insight-led business consultancy service headquartered in Edinburgh, has announced a new partnership with the AI cloud leader, H2O.ai.

The two organisations will work together to produce a series of specialist resources and solutions for financial services organisations to overcome the challenges of operationalising advanced machine learning within credit risk, strong fraud defences, and intelligently serving customers by helping them take the next best action decision.

Since 2020, Optima Partners has witnessed rapid year-on-year growth. This new partnership with H2O.ai, a provider of democratising artificial intelligence (AI), means the financial services arm of the business will only grow in strength.

"We're delighted to be working alongside H2O.ai and feel optimistic about our plans moving forward. Together, we can be a powerhouse for businesses looking to evolve, adapt, progress and succeed as they embrace the power of advanced AI and machine learning to better serve their customers," says Alan Crawley, chief executive officer at Optima Partners.

Optima Partners, a team of trusted advisors, consultants, technologists and data scientists, utilise digital and AI technologies to assist businesses in improving their services, managing costs and navigating complex customer decision processes in finance, sales and marketing.

"H2O.ai is undoubtedly one of the best in their field, which excites us even more at the prospect of working alongside them. We're looking forward to seeing how many businesses we can help succeed across the next 12 months. With an initial focus on financial services, we are looking forward to working with our current clients, and new opportunities, to bring the power of massively scalable artificial intelligence and machine learning to support and protect consumers in their day to day interactions with Banks and Insurance businesses," adds Crawley. 

Both Optima Partners and H2O.ai have experience with capabilities and competencies that can add value and increase profits from both a strategic and tactical standpoint.

"Financial services data brings a host of unique challenges from a scale, security, and compliance standpoint that automated AI and machine learning applications are particularly well-suited for," notes Rod Hamlin, senior vice president of global business development and general manager of EMEA at H2O.ai. "Our partnership with Optima Partners will further empower financial services institutions to better serve their customers through increased access to AI-powered data models."

H2O.ai uses AI to make data a business asset while maintaining expert accuracy, speed, and transparency in its algorithms. The H2O AI Cloud solves complex business problems and accelerates the discovery of new ideas with results that can be understood and trusted. In addition, the low-code and flexible architecture makes explaining and enhancing machine learning operations in any sector easy.

In recent months, H2O.ai's technical expertise was enlisted by a major financial institution to optimise credit portfolios and verify income proofs by automating credit decisions in milliseconds. It led to significantly improved outcomes, including better network predictions, real-time score updates as factors, such as spending habits and employment, change, and a reduced model building time from six months to just a few days.