Financial Services companies face ever-growing challenges in terms of competition, regulation, and technology. In many cases, digital transformation can be the answer. It is achieved by promoting systems that support high levels of data-centric interoperability and interconnectivity.
Regulated firms (e.g., wealth management practices, retail banks, payment companies, etc.) looking to go digital should start by defining their strategic goals relative to their desired value proposition, client experience, channel management, delivery platform, and product or service design. Executing against a digital strategy requires a multidisciplinary engagement model, strong delivery focus, and rigorous change management. Financial services companies have needed to evolve to provide integrated enterprise, real-time, Cloud, and mobile-computing solutions to the user. The quest for value, in today’s world, has essentially shifted from delivering services to improving a customer’s journey. As such, the financial services are embracing connected digital services in areas like customer engagement, mobile banking, and customer education.
Building a leading digital offering involves three digital paths:
An increased need to leverage APIs to connect with marketplaces and open platforms
Grow a data science team able to enhance company systems by developing cutting-edge algorithms
Consider integrating people – workers, customers, suppliers – into your digital ecosystem with bring-your-own (BYO) policies, digital controls, sensors, and wearables to benefit from an augmented and connected world
This transformation does not happen overnight and requires an approach we outline hereunder:
What’s your ambition? Gain early alignment with upper management, project teams, regulators, and other external stakeholders.
What’s your primary focus? Define a limited set of use-cases or client stories while minimizing complexity and keeping costs down.
What client experience would you like to create? Develop intuitive and actionable features to enable a unique user experience. Drive adoption and advocacy.
What is your test and iterative strategy? Refine continuously. Use agile solution development and proactive alignment with all parts of the company to maximize effectiveness.
