FinovateSpring Best of Show Winner Zengines on shining a light into the black box that is data lineage

In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg Palmer sits down with Caitlyn Truong, CEO and co-founder of Zengines, one of the Best of Show winners from FinovateSpring 2026. Caitlyn shares her journey from software and hardware engineering in the telecom space to consulting in financial services, where she and her co-founders identified a critical gap in data management for legacy systems. The conversation explores how Zengines addresses the challenge of understanding and managing legacy core banking applications written in older programming languages like COBOL, RPG, and PL1. With 92 of the top 100 banks running COBOL mainframe cores and over 50% of credit unions and regional banks using RPG cores, the need for comprehensive data lineage and code intelligence has never been more pressing. The discussion delves into Zengines' unique approach to solving the "black box" problem of legacy applications through contextual code intelligence. Unlike traditional data lineage tools that simply track data pathways, Zengines provides deep context and explainability by ingesting entire code bases and revealing not just what happens to data, but why and how it happens. This capability enables business analysts, data analysts, compliance teams, and technical staff to get answers in seconds rather than waiting days, weeks, or months for subject matter experts. The solution addresses three critical use cases: meeting regulatory compliance requirements, de-risking modernization and transformation initiatives, and ensuring data is AI-ready with the necessary trust and traceability. Caitlyn reflects on the positive reception at Finovate, noting how the Sherlock Holmes-themed presentation effectively communicated the concept of "shining a light into the black box." She emphasizes the immediate impact on end users, who experience dramatically faster response times and comprehensive self-service access to application information. For first-time Finovate participants, Caitlyn recommends maximizing the seven-minute demo by focusing on capturing interest and planting hooks that drive meaningful booth conversations with targeted prospects who share the same pain points. The episode concludes with insights into how Zengines' solution creates ripple effects that ultimately improve the customer experience at financial institutions. More info: Zengines: https://www.zengines.ai/; https://www.linkedin.com/company/zengines/ Caitlyn Truong: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlyntruong/ Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/ Finovate: https://www.finovate.com; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/ FinovateSpring: https://informaconnect.com/finovatespring/  #Finovate #FinovateSpring #Banking #banks #creditunions #data #datalineage #corebanking #communitybanks #legacybanking #datamanagement #digitaladoption #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #innovation #digitraltransformation #fintech #finserv #modernization