NOVEMBER - 20198MY OPINIONINThe Digitalization Is Driven Bottom-UpBanks are seeking to create innovative centres to help them be proactive and stay ahead of competitors. however, for banks that possess a decentralised struture this hasn't been a major challenge. Since branches are accountable for their own customers and profitability, they are very focused on how to meet their customers' needs. They have a good understanding and ideas of today's and future customer needs - this is a major driving force. They are already thinking about the role of the branch in the future. The 'real' challenge for banks , is how to structure the transformation journey--which tasks and decisions should you keep local and which should be made with the help of technology or more centralisation.If you centralise, you ensure efforts aren't duplicated and the infrastructure is efficient. But if you are too centralised, you risk stifling innovation and can be slow to react. The only answer to this dilemma is to be very transparent. You have to create ways of interacting and knowledge sharing. The worst thing you can do is to take away responsibility from people. If you put in a central steering model, you will kill the engagement. From my experience, this is the biggest problem in a lot of companies. As I see it, the engagement is already high, so the challenge is to find the best ways to channel the energy.Technology Hype Versus PragmatismThere are many over-hyped areas within new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain. If you don't understand the complexity of banking, you can think there are easy solutions and these technologies are silver bullets. If only we had a team of artificial intelligence specialists, we could solve all our problems. But this is not how it works, and if that's your expectation, when little materializes, the hype crashes.The challenge here, is to keep the bank focused through this cycle of hype and frustration. With blockchain, the main potential will not be fulfilled by re-tooling existing processes and structures: The problem is often not solved by the technology itself. Instead, emerging technologies like AI and blockchain are a catalyst to challenge existing processes, responsibilities and ways of working. It is beyond the technology. It is a real business transformation question.Relationship Banking Empowered by DigitalizationBy Stephan Erne, Chief Digital Officer, Handelsbanken [STO: SHB-A]Stephan Erne
< Page 7 | Page 9 >