Banks digital transformation should start with customer experience

Access to credit is not the same as enabling a credit card, according to Brett King, acclaimed influencer in financial services, Co-Founder and CEO of Moven, US-based mobile financial services provider.

"It’s more about creating an a new credit experience where banks can predict and assist one's daily life credit requirements without a credit card and how Open Banking can tie all these data together for them."

Four major trends

King said in keynote address to 'Confluence,' a flagship event hosted in Dubai by the Thiruvananthapuram-based SunTec Business Solutions, a leader in relationship-based pricing and customer experience orchestration.

As a futurist, King visualised how four major trends - artificial intelligence, voice-based artificial intelligence, smart glasses and machine learning – are changing the ecosystem dynamics.

He also dwelt at length on how these will need to be embedded in customer experience journeys across industries like banking, telecom and retail.

They also look to build a new core that is intelligent, immersive, integrated and invisible – one that can help in creating highly personalised customer experiences.

Digital transformation is gaining priority for organisations, the main drivers being the opportunities it presents and the competitive pressure to stay ahead of the digital curve.

Banks and other organisations need to go beyond offering customers a product or a service and own the experience instead. This was the highlight of the presentations made at confluence.

'Hollowing the core'

The larger theme for the event was 'Digital at the Core,' an essential strategy as leading organisations seek to digitally transform, modernise legacy systems, a SunTec spokesman said.

The key takeaway was the growing need for organisations to focus on the 'customer experience' part of their digital transformation programmes.

Replacing the core is not a viable option for most banks, which used to be a big hurdle for modernisation projects. But not anymore, as became clear through different sessions at Confluence.

The SunTec product session demonstrated how banks can adopt a simple approach of 'hollowing the core' and separating the customer engagement layer to leapfrog the customer experience ladder.

'Hollowing the core' refers to the focused activity that helps providers of IT technology diversify for greater flexibility and innovation.

The primary idea behind this action is to have traditional core banking platforms solely act as systems of record that securely hold information about customers' transactions, history and status.

This simple yet highly effective strategy enables banks of all types, to exponentially increase their customer experience orchestration capabilities.

Digital transformation

Nanda Kumar, CEO, SunTec, talked about the ever-pervasive effects of Industry 4.0. He advised organisations to understand and embrace the ‘basic human-needs’ driven approach if they want to succeed in today’s digital world. Jost Hopperman, Vice-President, Forrester Research, was another prominent keynote speaker.

Amit Dua, President, SunTec, said, that the goal of Confluence is to provide a meaningful platform for industry thought leaders to come together and deliberate on the state of digital transformation.

The response has been extremely positive with generous appreciation for the content. "We are delighted to have delivered to expectations of our clients and partner ecosystem in helping shape the digital transformation roadmap for the industry."

SunTec has been a provider of services to various banks and other enterprises for years, the spokesman said. The Dubai event highlights its growing presence and focus in Middle East.

A number of leading banks in the region are working with SunTec in meeting VAT regulations as well as moving further in their legacy transformation journey by creating a truly digital core.

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