Digital change — Opportunity and challenge for banks

Digital innovations increasingly influence the everyday life of many people. One out of three Germans has a Facebook account and one out of two has a smart phone. Digital services and devices determine when we access information and which decisions we make. Customer expectations change accordingly. Customers expect context-related real-time information and solutions deeply integrated into their digital lives that they like to use. Ordering a taxi in the MyTaxi app, comparing prices via the Amazon app in shops and checking in via iPhone before arriving at the airport—already taking account of any delays: digital transformation processes pervade more and more areas, change business models, redistribute market shares or give rise to new markets.

We are on our way to a digital society and banks, too, are looking for innovative concepts in order to continue to reach their customers and meet the new demands. That is both an opportunity and challenge that we have to face as an industry.

This requires that we recognize the digital needs of the customers, rethink processes and adapt corporate cultures. Of course, that is a major challenge for classic structures. Different enterprise departments suddenly have to cooperate even more closely and develop solutions and products. Information has to be accessible across departments and shared with pleasure (sharing is caring). Knowledge and information must not be trapped in isolation in separate silos. This requires a new culture of sharing, of social collaboration. It is necessary to establish an internal social network (Enterprise 2.0) in order to live up to the demands raised externally. Customers do not understand internal structures and problems nor are they interested in them. They want to get solutions, information, services—deeply integrated into their digital work flow so that they can understand and directly use them in an intuitive fashion.

A bank that realizes all that in due time can win new customers, intensify existing customer ties and will be warmly recommended — in the digital world, too.