Not all financial institutions have been open to upgrading
their core banking systems. If you're part of such an organization, it's
important to acknowledge that this delay places the company at a disadvantage.
Adopting digital innovation at a much later date or at a slower pace can cause
your bank to miss out on the many advantages that your competitors are enjoying
by leveraging emerging technologies. Sticking with a legacy core banking system
means that your organization needs to spend more time, manpower, and financial
resources in order to accomplish tasks that other institutions are now
automating or completing with the help of artificial intelligence, machine
learning, big data solutions, and other smart innovations.
If your bank is not yet ready to embrace the digital
revolution, what can you do to speed up the introduction of retail and corporate banking solutions to your
organization's top decision-makers? If ramping up the adoption of digital
technology will significantly benefit your bank, how can you make this one of
the top priorities in your institution?
In this article, we'll explore some of the ways you can
bring your bank up to speed with the digital age.
Prepare a Compelling Message and a Plan That Complements It
It's true that making the
shift from using a legacy system to employing a modern, digital one can be a
costly and time-consuming investment, and convincing more traditional-minded
leaders of the benefits of such an undertaking can be a considerable challenge.
To get through this first hurdle, you need to prepare a compelling message that
will get the decision-makers to your side. Perhaps, you can highlight the
long-term cost benefits of upgrading your core banking system, compare the
price of adopting emerging technologies today versus employing more people to
do the same amount of tasks, or focus on the growing need for better safety,
security, and compliance measures in the digital age.
After bringing these up, present a plan that makes use of
digital solutions to address these issues. Seeing a practical plan will help
traditional decision-makers acknowledge the urgency of adopting digital
technologies.
Recognize the Specific Challenges That Digital Solutions Can Solve
As an alternative or in support of your compelling message,
you can approach digitalization as a solution to your bank's existing challenges.
Which area of your banking system can benefit the most from digital innovation?
Perhaps the bank's current know-your-customer (KYC) process has been unable to
keep up with applications from corporate clients, causing these would-be
customers to look for other corporate financial service providers. This is a
great opportunity to showcase the benefits of modern KYC solutions and
introduce innovations that can speed up your KYC process while adhering to
compliance standards. Or maybe your corporate bank is aiming to reach out to
tech-savvy entrepreneurs? If this is the case, then it is a good time to insist
on the need for core banking systems that are more accessible and appealing to
business owners who are also digital natives.
Jumpstart the Transformation Process
It's unlikely that you'll convince your company's
decision-makers to embrace the digital revolution and upgrade your core banking
system in one fell swoop, but you can speed up this process by focusing on one
or more of your company's pain points and turning it into a model of what
digital innovation can do for your bank. Again, if your KYC system is no longer
cutting it, you can focus on this first. If you succeed in showing how digital
technology can significantly improve this problem area, then it will be much
easier to compel the bank's decision-makers to commit to long-term and
broad-reaching initiatives to introduce digital solutions to the company.
Many banks are steeped in tradition, but this doesn't mean
that these financial organizations are averse to changes that are designed to
optimize their processes, to cut costs, and to provide opportunities to improve
their relationships with their corporate and retail clients. It's no wonder,
then, that many financial organizations have been quick to embrace the digital
revolution in recent years. While their legacy systems have undoubtedly served
them well in the previous decades, it has become quite clear to these
forward-looking financial organizations that they need to adopt digital solutions
in order to respond to the demands of a more tech-savvy market.
Getting the rest of your organization to adopt a more
welcoming attitude toward digital technology can be an uphill battle, but it is
key to ensuring that your bank will be able to keep up with the changing needs
of retail and corporate clients. Once you can bring your organization into the
digital fold, it will be much easier to convince the rest of your team of the
benefits of embracing digitalization and keeping an eye out for emerging
finance-related technologies. In due time, you'll be able to foster a financial
institution that has a high level of awareness of the need for—and the benefits
of—continuous innovation.
