Why are banks switching to Creatio’s no-code AI CRM?
BOSTON — Two New England banks have traded Salesforce for Creatio, underscoring how personalization and no‑code automation are reshaping CRM choices in financial services.
The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod’s first vice president and business intelligence manager, Ken Tingle, came in as a long‑time Salesforce user and expected to stay. That changed after speaking with Boston‑based Creatio, an AI‑native CRM and business process management vendor founded in 2014 as Bpm’online. Tingle said Creatio offered a custom‑fitted approach where the bank’s needs would be heard—something he felt had become harder to find with a market‑dominant platform.
Personalization as a strategy
Jason Olkowski, Creatio’s chief strategy and transformation officer, said the company anchors its product and culture in “genuine care,” aiming to work closely with customers who want more influence over roadmaps and deployments than they feel they get with larger vendors.
Avidia Bank’s pivot from Salesforce to Creatio followed a similar path. CIO and senior vice president John O’Connor said that while Salesforce’s partner ecosystem offers choice, it can leave smaller customers feeling less prioritized. Avidia was also driven by costs and by Creatio’s no‑code philosophy for embedding AI in its CRM.
AI and no‑code as must‑haves
O’Connor called AI table stakes for CRM. He noted that, despite Salesforce’s Einstein heritage, the growing reliance on Microsoft’s Copilot added complexity and expense for the bank. By contrast, he said Creatio’s no‑code model was the biggest differentiator, removing barriers for teams to build and adapt workflows and AI‑assisted experiences without heavy engineering lift. Avidia is now weaving generative AI into its data strategy and developing an assistant for customer service agents—moves O’Connor framed as a step forward, enabled by stronger people and processes.
Tingle echoed the appeal of no‑code for The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod, saying it lets business users contribute without deep technical expertise. Olkowski added that low‑code/no‑code also reduces a chronic pain point: long‑term maintenance of enterprise applications.
Staying close as AI accelerates
With AI and agentic systems evolving rapidly, Creatio leaders say their focus is on helping customers adopt automation that clearly adds value. Chief growth officer Andie Dovgan said organizations need time and guidance to decide where AI belongs, why it matters, and how it simplifies work—rather than deploying agents for their own sake.
Avidia’s most urgent use case is its phone channel. The bank fields thousands of monthly calls, and O’Connor estimated that agentic AI could resolve roughly 80% of them, cutting costs and speeding responses so both the bank and customers benefit.
Competitive backdrop
Despite momentum with regional banks, Creatio still battles for visibility against entrenched CRM players such as Oracle, HubSpot, and Zendesk. Salesforce declined to comment on the banks’ decisions.
The key takeaway
For financial institutions, the next wave of CRM adoption may hinge less on who has the flashiest AI and more on who collaborates deeply with customers. Creatio’s pitch—personalized engagement plus no‑code AI to build, automate, and maintain at lower cost—helps explain why some banks are rethinking long‑standing CRM loyalties.
