Let’s Think: Why Would an Innovative Company Want to Work with a Bank?

Almost every financial institution says it’s looking for young, creative and innovative minds to help develop the ‘next big thing’. However, the question is, how do banking providers overcome the biggest obstacle when trying to attract talented innovators, especially if they are a bank?

The Role Banks Play in Your Life

Banking careers are being disrupted every day due to the confluence of technology and competition. The traditional career path of being hired and automatically moving up through an organization due to mutual loyalty between a company and the workforce no longer exists.

Not only does this effect how banking is done, but it is enough to scare innovative brands away – even if they are going through innovation themselves. However, the big thing that turns off innovative brands is there lack of budget. With the lack of budget exposing itself as a current issue throughout the industry, another question looms: How can banking innovate with innovative banks if they do not have a R&D budget?

The Future of the Banking Partner

To be prepared for the future of banking requires an ability to embrace the change that is upon us, a willingness to take intelligent risks and the internal commitment to disrupt yourself. The marketplace is no longer moving in incremental steps, but this means that opportunities for growth are everywhere.

When reflecting upon this, it is best to note the 5 most common mistakes that banks make when searching for innovative partners.

1. They do not know who they are. Innovators want to partner with an institution knows what is going on with not only themselves, but with their customers.
2. They have limited budgets. An innovator wants a partner that has money, as well as the change mandate to invest in that business.
3. The process of innovation is dragged out. Banks like to get everyone involved, so with banks looking for ways to drag this process out, it almost ensures that nothing gets done, deterring innovators from pursuing partnerships with those banking systems.
4. The tech is not aligned with the business. Innovators want a slick tech capability that is aligned to the business.
5. They are not keeping up with customer trends to keep things updated and easy. Innovators want a partner that will go-live with services that will make a real, positive difference for their customers, something which Financial Services and banks have been none to stretch out.

When looking at this list, it is easy to identify the common theme: You should not impersonate a vibrant home for potential innovators.  It is not only a waste of time, but it takes effort and costs money. But worse so, it is insulting to the innovators you want to attract into your space. With that being said, it is better for banks to be upfront about their own innovation before they start searching partners to innovate with.

The Key Takeaway

To move forward at the speed of change, it will require doubling down on providing a culture of innova­tion throughout your banking organization that is combined with a will­ingness to embrace change, take appropriate risks and disrupt what has been the norm in the past. By getting out of our comfort zone and finding a way to serve the consumer more efficiently, banking and other financial institutions will have an easier (and better!) time getting innovators and industry disruptors to partner with them.

ABOUT THE FSI TRANSFORMATION ASSEMBLY

Yup, we are already thinking of 2019.

Digital transformation has set its sights on the financial services and insurance industries. CIOs from North America’s top institutions are working to leverage new technology such as Artificial Intelligence to deliver products and services that answering changing customer needs.

While financial services and insurance CIOs will deal with many challenges in the coming years, one particular technological challenge raises to the top – dealing with the complexity of data. The massive explosion in data is creating unprecedented manageability issues for firms around the world. As firms expand customer touch points through the use of digital platforms like social media, CIOs are dealing with an overwhelming volume of structured and unstructured data, resulting in an increased need for tighter security.