Chennai-based A & A Dukaan Financial Services Pvt Ltd, which operates financial services portal BankBazaar.com, has appointed former Microsoft executive Murari Sridharan as chief technology officer (CTO).
As CTO, Sridharan will lead technology initiatives such as the paperless application process at BankBazaar.com. Previously, he served as the general manager of the engineering division at Microsoft Redmond that launched Cortana – Microsoft’s digital assistant challenger to Apple's Siri. His career at Microsoft spanned 12 years.
The interesting science is how user intent is inferred looking through tons of user activity and how to simplify task completion, said Sridharan. “This understanding of the user will not only increase conversion rates, but will allow us to run long-term campaigns for the user in a way that adds significant customer value,†he said, adding, “Bankbazaar is uniquely poised to take advantage of the shift from an app-centric world to a task-centric world and from a reactive pull based interaction model to a more proactive push based model.â€
Sridharan has a PhD from the Iowa State University, and has had 12 patents registered while at Microsoft. In the past, he has chaired two global internet standards group, which have set the global standard for TCP’s congestion control mechanism that enables proper functioning of the internet.
In July 2015, Bankbazaar.com raised Rs 375 crore ($59.1 million) in Series C funding from e-commerce giant Amazon, Fidelity Growth Partners, Mousse Partners as well as Sequoia Capital and Walden International .
Established in 2008 by brothers Adhil and Arjun Shetty and Rati Rajkumar, BankBazaar.com provides instant customised rate quotes on loans, credit cards and insurance products.
