Improving competitiveness, enhancing collaboration and creating a customer-centric culture – here’s how to use agile development to boost innovation in banking
Want to unlock more innovation in banking and FinTech?
The finance sector is transforming fast, driven by changing customer expectations, disruptive innovations and rapid technological advancements. To stay competitive, banks and FinTechs need to adopt approaches that foster adaptability, speed, and customer-centricity.
Research shows Agile approaches – iterative, collaborative methodologies that emphasise flexibility and responsiveness – are a powerful tool for driving innovation in companies, but how do you unlock it for your finance business?
Here, we look at using Agile development to drive innovation in baking and finance…
Traditional banks suffer from slow decision-making, siloed operations and lengthy product development cycles. Yet their position and control over the market are reinforced by years of legacy and goodwill – and often a little regulatory help from the political arena.
Innovators are however making inroads into the banks’ traditional stronghold, and they do it through more modern approaches to doing business.
Agile empowers teams to break large problems into smaller, manageable pieces. This iterative process allows them to:
All of which contributes to them creating better products, faster than banks, while creating better customer experiences. By also embracing agile, financial institutions can unlock the same culture of experimentation and continuous learning, enabling them to thrive in an ever-changing industry.
Banks and FinTechs need to continually innovate, adapting to consumer needs and building on technologies like blockchain, AI and advanced user interfaces to stay relevant because today’s customers expect seamless, visually appealing and intuitive digital experiences.
Yet those are not traditionally skills within the finance domain. So financial institutions need to adopt the methods used in tech and especially software development to stay relevant.
Often, the key to remaining competitive can lie in collaborating with others using innovative technologies like blockchain and cloud computing. Blockchain enables secure and transparent transactions, while cloud platforms provide the scalability and flexibility required to meet ever-evolving demands. These tools are pivotal in creating streamlined, future-ready financial ecosystems.
However, collaboration is challenging in an industry bound by traditional systems and regulatory complexities. Financial institutions often lack the infrastructure or culture to support open, tech-driven partnerships effectively.
The key to staying competitive is prioritising customers’ needs and expectations. A customer-centric approach ensures that financial products and services resonate with users, fostering trust and loyalty.
The challenge lies in moving beyond a transactional focus. Many financial institutions struggle to align their processes with a customer-first mindset, often due to outdated systems and a lack of actionable insights.
All products are meant to be used by people. The more people want to use it, the more successful the product. So it goes without saying that using the insights of the people you’re building products for, can help you become way more competitive.
Yet achieving customer-centric innovation is difficult without agile practices. Traditional models lack the flexibility to iterate rapidly based on feedback or evolving market demands.
Data is the foundation of modern innovation. Just as you use data to understand and profile potential customers, you can use it to get a deeper understanding of your current customers’ needs, which helps you become more competitive.
The challenge lies in leveraging data effectively.
Need to build smarter products that help you achieve your business goals?
Let our team of digital consultants help you do it right, save money and get it done faster.
