The human body is such a complex and amazing system. And so is banking today.
- So many systems in the body come together to perform several vital functions, just as the multiple departments and Lines of Businesses in a bank do. You don’t realise how very connected several body systems are, until one develops a complication, or one is headed for surgery.
- In a bank’s case, this could be anything from a major technology change to changing customer needs to regulations, and yes, a Fintech disruption.
- One talks about inner peace and for that, synchronicity between body, mind and soul. We experience conflicts at these planes many a time. This is very typical of the conflicts between Business, Operations and Technology functions in a bank.
- Lifestyle diseases are on the rise thanks to desk jobs and working across time zones. Similarly, globalisation and rampant innovation have created multiple complexities in the banking ecosystem.
Talking of the human body naturally leads us to medical science and the various treatments. Let’s take the case of an allergy-triggered asthma. Left untreated, this can become life threatening.
There are many ways to treat the asthma.
Note: We said ‘treat’ and not ‘cure’. There in lies the challenge.
You can treat asthma with steroids. It may give temporary relief. What about the long term management and side effects?
When I interact with many CIOs, they confess that the ‘steroid’ treatment is how a typical core banking solutions look like. Quick and dirty, get the job done! One sticky tape here, one sticky tape there…
And before you know it, you are sitting on a million lines of code like a badly made patchwork.
Is it any wonder that many banks continue to sit on systems that are so fragmented, particularly with ‘here and now’ problem solving that has not thought through the side effects and ramifications.
Now coming back to our medical track and holistic healing practices. They use a combination of various forms of medicine to treat the underlying causes, improve resistance to allergens, boost immunity and above all, steadily wean one off from strong, invasive medication. This will include some changes in lifestyle and food habits.
Typically, practices like Pranayama are introduced to improve the overall respiratory function. With such a holistic approach, even chronic asthmatics get over the disease and even take to tough sports such as marathons or mountaineering.
Isn’t it time to apply this holistic approach to digital banking ?
This is our inspiration and approach to Digital banking and modernisation programs.
Harmonizing Banking
Rather than fragmented digital activities, we bring DESIGN to drive holistic and sustainable business outcome.
In our case, the underlying element is nothing but DESIGN !
Our approach is to focus on what we call the 5Es to accelerate your outcome-based digital transformation. Never one at the cost of the other. Not a steroidal approach, but a holistic one.
Our Core banking design puts the customer in the centre and thus ‘treats” the modernisation issues with Robust, Agile and Connected design.
The 5E design comprises :
- Experience
- Operational Efficiency
- Empowered Role Holders
- Economies and Scale
- Ecosystem Thinking
In the next blog, we will share how this 5E thinking is integrated into our design architecture.