July-August 20158pinionIn myODIGITAL IS FOREVERBy Jamie Armistead, EVP and Head of Digital Channels, Bank of the WestOne of my colleagues is trying to teach his teenage son about the risks of social media by reminding him that "digital is forever." This is obviously sage advice for any teen with a smartphone, but I have found this advice also applies to our work.Let's look at three examples: Build for ForeverWhenever companies are discussing whether or not to move forward with capabilities that would serve clients best, there is inevitably a point where you have to decide if moving forward quickly is the best way to serve customers or if it's better to hold off for a bit to ensure the best user experience in the long-term.While recently discussing the timing for a new online/mobile payments capability project, I had to deliver the disappointing news that we were not content with the customer experience limitations of the proposed solution. We felt that the solution before us wasn't a strong integrated experience and that we needed to pursue different options. This of course meant a longer timeline, which wasn't ideal but ultimately produced a platform that worked seamlessly and provided a better user experience for customers. And, while the desire to get something to market quickly in order to service our clients is well intentioned, this service will ostensibly be offered forever. My argument was, let's not bring an experience to market that down the road we'll wish we had spent the time to build the right way.There will always be healthy tension between business leaders and technology executives, but when you apply the lens of digital being forever, you can often sway the discussion toward more long-term thinking.Invest in ForeverApproximately three years ago, Bank of the West made the deliberate decision to become one of the leading banks in terms of digital capabilities, and I have been very fortunate to help lead that effort. O
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