Why is it that organisations increasingly find the whole process of replacing existing digital banking engagement platforms as more of a chore to endure?
There was a time when delivering the next version was seen as an exciting experience for everyone. Organisations couldn’t wait to get on with the show. The chance to be creative, stamp your own mark on the solution and then bask in the success of the delivery was all too irresistible. Now it seems those days of glory are fading fast, replaced with premonitions of anxiety and aversion.
The fact is the whole industry is littered with cautionary tales of woe, strife and stories of disaster when it comes to implementing new digital banking solutions. Why is it increasingly hard to make a success of these projects? To answer this, we first need to recognise the causes of such ill-fated initiatives. These lie in the misconception that bigger is better, lessons from last time will have been learned and that somehow, fortune will favour the bold. The following statements highlight where organisations will typically go wrong in the process:
“We need to involve everyone in the organisation and gather their input.”
While it is good to make sure the whole organisation is behind the project, too much input creates the ‘too many cooks’ scenario. The result is a bloated and mismatched set of requirements that shoot at the moon and are just as impossible to deliver.
“We must make this the best in the market.”
Having ambition to create something to be proud of is always a great place to start. Where this goes wrong is translating it to mean you need a complex solution, squeezing in all of the functionality offered by your competitors.
“We have to be leaders of innovation.”
Innovation is one of the most overused words of the 21st century. True innovation cannot simply be plucked out of the air at will. Trying to become a market leader by introducing technology for the sake of it is neither what the business really needs nor what your customers actually want.
“We must cater for all of our customers’ needs.”
Thinking that you will serve all of your customers all of the time ends up creating a solution that is neither simple to use nor intuitive, which, ironically, is all your customers are really asking you to deliver.
Money20/20 Europe promises to be one of the most exciting and informative events of the 2019 fintech calendar
With this in mind, is there any hope of returning to the days of high aspirations and successful projects? Can we unlearn the damaging approach to such projects that have too much scope, too much complexity and are designed by too many cooks?
This year, Money20/20 Europe promises to be one of the most exciting and informative events of the 2019 fintech calendar, drawing CEOs, CIOs and world-class consultants from across the industry, eager to learn and share their experiences. Hot topics include innovation, security, payment transformation and of course digital banking engagement. But with over 2,000 organisations from across 80 countries, there’s going to be a mountain of content to consume. If you are about to embark on your next digital banking programme, or are still looking for ways to take your first steps with a finite budget and a small team, I’d like to share with you a simple guide, based on the points highlighted above, of where to start:
1. Keep it simple. I don’t mean make it basic, but think about what will really make a difference to your customers. When thinking about scope (and the effort you have to spend), think of this 80:20 Rule:
“If it’s complex, 80% of the effort will be spent creating 20% of the scope, while customers will spend 80% of their time using the other 80% of the scope, which only cost 20% of the effort to create!”
If you’ve just had to re-read that several times to make sense of it, good! You need to really consider where you should focus your effort and spend your budget wisely.
2. Your IT teams will say it’s all about the technology, adhering to their prescribed view of architecture and industry best practice. Sure, don’t go for something old and out of date, but also don’t be led by technology. You need to deliver a fantastic experience for your customers to enjoy. The customer is the archetype of your business model: You exist to service their needs (and make a healthy margin in the process), so take a customer-led, outside-in approach that puts the customer first when determining the scope of your solution.
3. Building and configuring a digital banking platform is neither simple nor straightforward for anyone who hasn’t done it many times before, learned the mistakes and can prove they are now proficient at it. Unless you are already experts at delivering highly customisable ‘Buy and Build’ or ‘Low Code’ projects, it’s a much safer bet just to give these a miss.
4. Avoid projects that end up taking longer than four months. Many platforms have too many options that are just unnecessary ‘sales candy’. If you try to implement one of these with lots of bells and whistles, your scope will be on an almost reckless scale when it comes to trying to achieve a successful timeline within budget. Financial service organisations have a habit of grossly underestimating the scale of the effort and time needed to deliver a successful solution.
5. Choose vendors who understand your business model and the needs of your customers, and show that simple, effective, secure and successful implementations are where their expertise lie.
6. Don’t just select which features you think you need. Create realistic and reliable personas of your key customer segments and use these to construct the best journeys they will need to engage with your products and services. These journeys will then define the right functionality required to fulfil their needs.
7. Think about what happens when it’s all over. The fact is, it’s not actually over at the end of the project. It’s the beginning of a journey where you can, with the right team behind you, evolve and grow the success of the platform. Continue to delight your customers with ongoing improvements that keep you on the crest of the wave.
Real innovation is focusing on the customer first, satisfying their needs and desires
At ieDigital, we believe in taking the outside-in approach, putting customers first and foremost. We have created out-of-the-box digital banking products that are ready to implement in three months, delivering on the promise of a successful project. Our focus is delivering better experiences using effective personas that represent your customers. Our customer success programme keeps improving the customer experience after the platform is live, continuing to deliver ongoing, business-led value.
Real innovation is focusing on the customer first, satisfying their needs and desires. Innovation is delivering solutions that continue to delight your customers and meet your ongoing business needs.
We’re here at Money 20/20 Europe, stand M50. Let us help you rediscover the excitement of delivering your next digital banking platform for everyone in your organisation.
To find out more about ieDigital click here…
