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Digitisation in banking | Balancing on the border

Fri, 12 Mar 2021

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Jakub Pluta Business Development Manager Comarch

Digitization in banking

Digitisation in banking: a blind run or a well-thought-out pursuit?

In times of a pandemic, the borderline is extremely thin.

Until recently, only a few, usually the biggest players in the banking sector, undertook the time-consuming and often very costly digitisation process in banking. Today, in times of a pandemic, the term digitisation in the banking industry is ever-present and used by virtually everybody.

There would be nothing wrong with this if it were not for the fact that COVID-19 has forced financial institutions to accelerate significantly in this area, and the trap of digitisation in banking as an end in itself is lurking at every step. To avoid this trap, it is essential to focus not only on what effect digitisation in the banking industry should have but also on how to achieve it.

A pandemic in the eyes of the banking industry

Economic instability, the always present threat of lock-down and bad public sentiment have a negative impact on banking. Customer relations, which have so far been built mainly through bank branches' employees, are transferred to remote channels.

Customers are no longer as sentimental as they used to be, and the reason for changing their financial services provider can be mundane. To retain current customers and acquire new ones, banks have to start the quest for digitisation in the banking industry. There is a long way to go, and the time is short. Such pressure is favourable for good, well-informed decision making.

More than micro, not yet large

Susceptibility to error can be particularly strong in banks building strategies to increase market share in the SME segment if that strategy is based not so much on creating a deposit or credit offer but rather on extending the functions of electronic banking.

Although the differences between the needs of SME and corporate clients are blurring - both of them are now interested in obtaining funds for trade activities or debt recovery - you just cannot offer both of them the same products. SMEs' expectations are entirely different from those of the big players: intuitive and automated processes, short time to launch a service or ease of use of interfaces. The critical factor is user experience; if it is not satisfying, they may decide to choose another bank's offer.

Business management centre

Today, we can hear better and better the voice of small and medium-sized enterprises demanding business intelligence and AI solutions. Solutions that help analyse current and future cash flows, obtain data from financial and accounting systems to prepare input for bank scoring mechanisms, or gather information about accounts in various banks and make payments from these accounts from one place.

The most innovative e-banking IT tools available on the market support financial institutions in defining needs and recognising subtle differences in customer segments' expectations. Moreover, they allow for the creation of an ecosystem of services, thanks to which it is possible to comprehensively manage a business using one tool - electronic banking - and in only one place. This is the right digitisation in the banking industry.

100 trillion on the table

The World Economic Forum reports that by 2025, the digital transition will add US$ 100 trillion to the world economy. According to The Financial Brand, 75% of the world's organisations indicate digital banking's transformation as the top priority for 2021, and 88% expect to improve customer experience and build the customers' involvement.

However, the line between effective and bad ideas is extremely thin. McKinsey reports that 70% of digital transitions fail - mainly due to low employee involvement, inadequate management support and, above all, focusing on 'what' to achieve rather than 'how' to do it.

Digitisation in banking is not an objective for its own sake. It is a path that should give predefined and expected results if it's followed. Otherwise, McKinsey's numbers will grow worryingly.

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