Transforming your bank through continuous innovation

By Bridging Loan Directory 31st January 2018

In today’s digitally centered world, consumers expect all services to be quick, intuitive and digitally engaging, and that includes banking. The most successful banks are incorporating digital engagement and automation into new areas of their institutions, from deposit account opening to bill pay to SME lending. Banks that aren’t updating their infrastructure and strengthening their digital connections with customers risk being left behind.

However, it’s often just not practical for institutions to take on digital transformation alone. Many banks lack the time and resources required to build, deploy and maintain a successful digital platform on their own. And, they shouldn’t have to – bank employees should be able to focus on strengthening customer relationships and strategic growth, not maintaining systems. Instead, leading banks are investing in fintech partnerships to help deploy advanced digital channels. Nimble fintech companies often have the expertise and modern architecture required to transform processes and systems from within, increasing process efficiency across the institution and digital engagement with customers.

To be optimally successful, these digital platforms must be continually updated. ‘Set it and forget it’ is a mindset of the past; it is no longer an option for banks to purchase a stagnate product, implement it and then ignore it. Ten years ago, banks could more easily get by with adopting a solution and then only updating it infrequently. Today’s environment of rapid progress, however, requires continuous attention and innovation. As business needs, customer expectations and the regulatory landscape continue to evolve at a rapid pace, a flexible and updated digital platform is necessary for banks to concurrently evolve.

Savvy banks that are embracing the philosophy of continuous innovation are also starting to leverage the cloud. The cloud provides an unprecedented level of flexibility and digital automation that creates an optimally efficient, transparent and secure infrastructure. This infrastructure also enables banks to more quickly introduce new features or functionality without the expense or hassle of on-site upgrades.

Forward-looking banks understand that in today’s new environment, a mindset that prioritizes continuous innovation and digital engagement is critical to remaining relevant to customers. It’s not enough to purchase a single digital solution and then forget about it, and it’s definitely not enough to continue to rely on paper-based processes and manual systems to support the customer experience. Banks that are open to partnering with nimble fintech companies, embrace the cloud and continuously innovate are well poised to secure a competitive advantage and succeed.

Pullen Daniel, Managing Director, Europe, nCino