Infrastructure: foundation of a successful customer experience

Hans Tesselaar at BIAN discusses the fundamental role of digital infrastructure in the application of emerging technologies

 

In McKinsey’s survey findings released earlier this year, only 1% of leaders believed that their company’s AI integration was “mature”, with the technology woven into workflows and delivering significant results. Perhaps more concerningly for consumers, 90% of corporations currently lack the resilience to neutralise AI-driven security risks.  

 

Across industries, AI has heightened innovation and increased customer expectation, but organisations are struggling to keep up. Especially applicable in the financial sector, where the growing number of neobanks and fintechs drive intense competition, businesses must remould their foundations, moving from an outdated technology stack to a flexible, user-friendly infrastructure.

 

 

The shadow of legacy tech

Legacy technology is still prevalent across industries, with a study conducted earlier this year revealing that two-thirds of organisations believe outdated solutions are a challenge to their innovation efforts. Banking, in particular, faces a significant hurdle; with 70% of IT budgets spent on maintaining old-fashioned infrastructure.

 

Despite the lack of efficiency, with data often siloed and unable to drive next steps personalised to an organisation’s needs, reluctance to transform approach is common. Reasons for this include the AI skills gap, making it difficult to hire expert employees to support, and the cyber-security issues making headlines, creating a culture of wary curiosity about sizeable shifts.

 

For a successful transformation, stakeholders and workers alike must be prepared to commit long-term to building AI solutions into workflows, setting a clear innovation strategy, and consistently updating the experience for customers to align with their expectations.

 

 

Banking on AI

With the awareness that organisations are embracing AI to mould customer journeys, 61% of consumers now expect a more hyper-personalised service. For companies whose remit sits in the financial sector, the standard is even higher, finding themselves held to strict regulations, elevated customer expectations, and heightened stakeholder scrutiny.

 

Consumer stress is intrinsically linked to their finances, reduced by the predictability and user-friendliness of their bank. Providing this service will be simpler with AI’s help, from offering tailored product recommendations to enabling easy access to support, through chatbots, outside of regular hours. With this focused alignment to improve the customer journey, organisations can remain competitive in an industry increasingly defined by emerging technologies.

     

 

An example for industries: coreless banking 

To develop the required interoperability for the successful and consistent integration of technology, organisations must start at the foundation. In banking, to future-proof flexibility, the adoption of a coreless model is key.

 

At the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN), our not-for-profit standards body, we introduced the Coreless Banking concept in 2019. We wanted to provide our members and the industry with a solid foundation, capable of shifting to fit up-to-date requirements, from new legislation to ever-changing customer expectations. Instead of a tech stack built atop outdated infrastructure, this framework allows financial institutions to add or swap components, driven by APIs and open standards.

 

 

IT infrastructure

As industries build AI into workflows, providing a more personalised service, expectations will continue to increase. To encourage loyalty among consumers, and modernise efficiently, organisations should begin their journey towards innovation by taking a closer look at the foundation of their tech stack.

 

The first step to future-proofing the integration of emerging technologies is to begin a long-term innovation programme. For financial institutions, building an adaptable ecosystem, driven by open standards and APIs, will enable companies to give themselves a head start towards remaining competitive and compliant. 

 

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Hans Tesselaar is Executive Director of BIAN

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and Korrawin