8 Factors That Drive Digital Transformation in Banking Industry

In the ever-changing terrain of the banking industry, the impetus for digital transformation has become increasingly vital. 8 factors that drive digital transformation in the banking industry encapsulate the key catalysts propelling this sector towards a digital future. These factors shape the industry’s competitive edge and redefine customer experiences and operational efficiencies.

Digital Transformation strategy enjoys deeper penetration across all industries, irrespective of the different end-user bases and other factors. Increasing usage of smart devices, improved connectivity, and demand for high-end-user experience are among the key aspects driving the digital transformation trend, taking services to the customer’s doorstep.

A convergence of crucial factors is driving the banking industry’s digital transformation. To start, customer preferences play a pivotal role, with 83% of banking customers favoring banks offering innovative digital products and services, as per the Capgemini World Banking Report 2023. Moreover, 75% of customers are willing to share their data with banks in exchange for personalized products and services, according to the Deloitte Global Banking Outlook 2023, underscoring the importance of personalized experiences.

Continuous improvement is another crucial aspect of this evolution. Banking leaders are implementing AI for risk management (56%, Insider Intelligence) and investing in cloud computing (65%, Capgemini World Banking Report 2023) to enhance operational efficiency, demonstrating their commitment to staying competitive in a rapidly changing landscape. Modernizing infrastructure is also a key focus, with 63% of banks migrating core systems to the cloud (Gartner) and 70% planning to invest in blockchain technology within the next five years (Deloitte Global Banking Outlook 2023).

Furthermore, the digital transformation in the banking industry is reshaping its operating models, with 52% of leaders adopting greater agility (Capgemini World Banking Report 2023) and investing in digital skills and capabilities for their employees (60%, Deloitte Global Banking Outlook 2023). These changes are vital to meet the expectations of tech-savvy customers and navigate the evolving digital landscape. The banking sector also fosters innovation by establishing labs (73%, Gartner) and collaborating with fintech companies (68%, Deloitte Global Banking Outlook 2023).

Data analytics has become a formidable tool for improving customer experiences (82%, Capgemini World Banking Report 2023) and fraud detection capabilities (76%, Deloitte Global Banking Outlook 2023). To ensure readiness for a digital future, banks are investing in the digital skills of their workforce, with 72% focusing on training and development programs (Deloitte Global Banking Outlook 2023). Lastly, there is a resounding commitment to become completely digital-driven, with 67% of banking leaders planning to achieve this goal in the next five years (Capgemini World Banking Report 2023), supported by investments in technologies like AI, blockchain, and cloud computing (Deloitte Global Banking Outlook 2023). These collective efforts mark the banking industry’s transformative journey into a digitally empowered future.

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What is Digital Transformation in Banking?

Digital transformation within the banking sector signifies the seamless integration of technology into various facets of banking operations, ushering in a profound shift in how banks operate and provide value to their clientele. This transformation empowers banks to enhance their competitive edge within a saturated market field when executed precisely.

Adopting digital banking innovation platforms enables banks to provide diverse digital strategy financial services through various channels, ensuring accessibility to customers wherever they may be. This software has significantly facilitated the shift of conventional brick-and-mortar banks toward the digital realm, making the transition notably seamless.

The fundamental nature of banking remains unaltered mainly, but the industry’s dynamics in customer interaction have undergone a substantial transformation.

Useful link: Successful Digital Transformation: CEO’s Path to Digital Transformation Success

Examples of Digital Transformation in Banking

The functioning of the banking sector has been reshaped by the digital transformation of the banking industry, ushering in a range of fresh use cases, such as:

1) Mobile Banking

Digital transformation within the banking industry extends beyond mere payment transactions and peer-to-peer fund transfers. Mobile banking empowers customers with the capability to manage their bank accounts and online financial activities seamlessly via smartphone applications. This comprehensive access encompasses reviewing account details, monitoring daily transactions, managing investments, accessing customer support services, and staying updated with financial news.

2) Digital Account Opening

Banks have streamlined the account opening process by implementing automation, which shortens the time required to initiate a new bank account and diminishes the manual tasks that employees have to undertake. Consequently, employees can allocate more of their time to delivering additional value to clients, making it a prime illustration of how digital engagement is enhanced throughout the customer journey while reducing the necessity for in-person branch visits.

3) Digital Payments

Financial institutions have integrated digital payment systems into their offerings, encompassing online transactions, mobile payments, and digital wallets. This allows customers the flexibility to conduct transactions and money transfers using their smartphones or computers. Digital payments have effectively consolidated mobility and convenience onto a unified platform, empowering customers with enhanced control and transparency in their financial activities.

Technologies That Drive Digital Transformation in Banking

The effective execution of a digital transformation strategy necessitates the utilization of cutting-edge technology. Now is the opportunity to acquaint yourself with the current trends in digital banking innovation.

1) Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly altered the functioning of the banking and financial sectors, introducing innovations like chatbots, online assistants, data analysis, and predictive capabilities. Machine learning (ML) also collaborates with data to enhance fraud detection. In real-time, it gathers, retains, and cross-references customer data to pinpoint unusual deviations, offering timely suggestions for preventive actions.

2) Blockchain

Any discourse concerning digital transformation within the banking and financial services sphere is inadequate without addressing the impact of blockchain technology. The adoption of blockchain in banking services has brought about augmented transparency, secure digital customer identity transactions, and an improved user interface.

3) Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT plays a pivotal role in enabling actions such as biometric sensor-based authorization, asset tracking and monitoring, delivery of location-based services, and contactless payments. It customizes and individualizes customer experiences by harnessing real-time data analysis. Moreover, IoT has ushered in risk management practices and opened doors to diverse platforms through seamless data exchange.

4) Cloud Computing

Banks have transitioned from initial resistance to embracing the inevitability of cloud-based services. Cloud computing empowers banks to develop solutions featuring applications and infrastructures that enhance their operational efficiency. Furthermore, cloud-driven services yield heightened productivity and enable the swift delivery of products and services.

5) Big Data Analytics

Banks’ operations have evolved significantly over the past decade, and big data is a crucial catalyst for this transformation. From scrutinizing customer spending habits to risk assessment and feedback management, big data technology has elevated the progress within the banking sector to a whole new level.

Useful link: What is a Digital Transformation Strategy?

8 Key Factors for a Successful Digital Transformation Journey in the Banking Industry:

1) Customer is Crucial

Ensure to understand and analyze what the customer is looking for. Seamless delivery of services, high-end-user experience, personalized product experience, transparency, and security stand at the core of customer satisfaction in today’s fast-changing market trend. It has become imperative for organizations to adopt a ‘customer-first’ approach to achieve success in this competitive scenario.

Bring about the change in operating procedures, introduce digital platforms in service offerings, enhance customer interaction procedures, and more. All these activities not only enhance your service delivery but also boost customer engagement with your business, the key driver behind any business success.

And digital transformation strategies are about making things simple and current. In this age of the Internet of Things, digital transformation is vital to stay ahead of the competition. The digital transformation banking strategy has to be customized to the customer’s needs. Post-Covid, most of the customer bases have become reliant on digital technologies, and it is all the important to reinvent your aging, legacy infrastructures before your competition overtakes you.

2) Continuous Improvement

A seamless innovation delivery pipeline built on agile principles is key to continuous improvement. The pipeline should be so effective and be able to easily track changing market trends, test innovative products, and facilitate fast feedback mechanisms to iterate products for enhancements. This cycle contributes to on-demand service delivery, continuous innovation, and continuous improvement, accelerating time-to-market.

With an increased appetite for digital products, reliability, and robustness are expected. Your digital transformation strategy and digital transformation tools should foster growth instead of complicating things with jargon and techniques that are not required in the first place. One should understand that digital products need and demand continuous improvement. If one ignores the continuous refinement, the products will no longer be future-proof, and the deliverables risk becoming outdated. So, by harnessing the inputs of your customers and quashing out the bugs in the deliverables, your products, which have been built on your unique digital transformation strategy, should be bettered using value engineering.

3) Modernize infrastructure

Achieving digital transformation is not just about introducing digital transformation technologies. The underlying infrastructure facilitates the information flow key to the front-end digital transformation journey. So, it’s important to modernize your legacy infrastructure to support digital transformation strategies.

What we have to understand is that the world has become increasingly interconnected. Given the digital transformation strategies that have fostered digital innovation, change is happening faster than ever. These digital transformation trends are difficult to cope with, and the companies that have their hand’s complete rope in MSPs, such as Veritis, to execute digital transformation strategies.

Microservice architecture, APIs, and DevOps can be helpful for continuous integration and delivery, resulting in shorter release cycles.

4) Operating Model

Now, customers need a hybrid experience, a combination of never-seen digital experience in terms of speed and convenience and the personal look and feel of the product. This is possible by transforming the business in three different digital transformation technology models:

- Digital as Business – At the management level
- Digital as New Line of Business – At the next level, a separate digital division to take care of digital activities
- Digital Native – New setup with its technology stack, focusing directly on customers.

These are the various types of digital business transformation models available. However, selecting the right one needs due diligence and expertise. These factors influence most innovative enterprises to seek the digital transformation services of Stevie Award winner Veritis.

Useful link: Guide to Digital Transformation Technologies and Their Business Impact

5) Identify Viable Solutions

Ensure not to miss out on anything while executing the digital transformation strategy. Even the things you feel obsolete can make some crucial contribution. Identify and leverage the potential of all the minimum viable digital transformation solutions and introduce them across the digital transformation services. Ensure the effective and best utilization of existing options, too.

Most of the time, enterprises get swayed by digital transformation technologies and take on too many digital transformation tools. This results in unwanted expenses, and the solutions that needn’t be modernized are unwantedly bogged down by these digital transformation technologies.

6) Leverage the Power of Data

Banking institutions should realize the power of data and related tools and resources in driving business success. They must consider implementing data analytics practices to understand and monitor customer thinking patterns. This helps them produce the most relevant products that match customer needs.

This will also help them gain critical market insights that can further assist them in enhancing product offerings and experience and deepening the customer relationship.

7) Improve skillset

As the World Economic Forum’s report shows, more than 55% of finance sector employees must upgrade their skill set to fulfill existing and changing operational demands. These needs have the potential to be catered to by digital transformation services. The drive for improved skillsets for the enterprise digital transformation will require necessary investment for change in operating culture, thinking patterns, the culture of learning, skillset training, and more across the teams.

8) Completely Digital-driven

Finally, the organization should possess all digital capabilities such as strategy, culture, relevant technologies, funding, skillset, and more that contribute to a complete digital transformation journey. The digital transformation strategy should also factor in the latest digital transformation trends and dole out a digital transformation framework based on customer requirements. Learn from the experiences, adopt the best available practices, and develop a perfect digital strategy.

Conclusion

More than enthusiasm, a perfect digital transformation journey should ideally begin with a well-planned strategy backed by a clear vision. Go with stepwise implementation, make priority-wise investments, and spread the culture across cross-functional teams to achieve the desired results.

However, overhauling the infrastructure with digital banking transformation technologies is an arduous task, and that’s the reason why companies of various sizes from different sectors rope in Stevie Award and Globee Business Award winner Veritis to execute the digital transformation strategy. Contact us, and we shall help you along the digital transformation journey.

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