Many vendors are talking the customer-first talk lately. But who’s walking the walk? What does it take to win customers’ loyalty among so many digitally armed competitors?

The recipe combines technological and human ingredients, according to Kavita Sangwan (pictured), director of technical programs, artificial intelligence and machine learning, at Intuit Inc. For example, Intuit uses customer data to build products with AI and machine learning. This requires the business and financial software company to build trust with its customers.

“Intuit operates with the principal and the mindset that this is our customers’ data and we are their stewards,” Sangwan said. “So we make sure that we are one of the best stewards for their data.”

Their customers will be able to tell as soon as they use the resulting products. The result is a loop that reinforces Intuit’s bonds with its customers. “That’s what we reflect in our products — how we serve them, build intelligent products for them. And that’s how we start to gain trust from our customers,” she added.

Sangwan spoke with Lisa Martin (@LisaMartinTV), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Stanford Women in Data Science event in Stanford, California. They discussed Intuit’s technological and cultural methods for staying in touch with its customer base.

Pouring more than tech in the product pot

Intuit goes further than gathering data points from customers. It strives to maintain a team of product developers and others that understand customers on a human level. This is how they are able to deliver products they want and need.

“It’s very important for us to build a culture which reflects the values and the talents and the skills of our customers,” Sangwan said.

The company strives to put together a team with diverse skills to build smart products that are easy for end users to adopt. “It’s very important for us to operate in a team setting,” she stated. “A data scientist has to interact with a product manager, a data engineer, a business person, a legal person.”

The diverse skills and knowledge these team members bring are necessary to build its products, Sangwan concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Stanford Women in Data Science event.

Photo: SiliconANGLE