Four Core Must-Haves To Enable Digital Banking

What does it take to become an "Everyday Bank" that is a customer’s trusted partner before, during and after a transaction?

Core As Enabler -- Not Inhibitor

Some financial services companies are already on the path to making their core platforms an enabler, rather than an inhibitor, of their Everyday Bank vision:

• BBVA's transformation has enabled it to create new digital products such as Wizzo -- a new, efficient way of making peer-to-peer payments either online or by mobile wallet. The bank also acquired Simple, an online banking platform. BBVA has introduced new digital approaches into its traditional core business platform by establishing social media and online channels as key customer contact points and moving part of its architecture into a private cloud.
• A large American financial institution is developing a new source of revenue by monetizing its vast pools of transaction data. It amasses customer data for small and mid-sized firms and applies sophisticated analytics to provide these firms with insights on their customers' demographics and their buying interests.
• After significantly upgrading its core banking platform, Poland's mBank deployed new predictive analytic models, enabling it to introduce peer-to-peer payments, personal financial management tools, gamification and other personalized services that enhance customers' experience.

What will the path to digital core banking look like? Obtaining the digital core banking capabilities listed above will, in some cases, require redesign or replacement of existing core banking platforms. In other instances, the transformation may occur gradually.

Banks have several options for starting the journey; here are the most common:

• Omni-channel platform: Providing consistent core banking capabilities across channels, orchestrated to deliver a superior customer experience
• Data as the Core: Developing predictive models and real-time analytics that enable better storage and analysis of massive data to be used across reporting, commercial and operational layers
• Customer Digital Ecosystem: Expanding the customer database to collect, analyze and use data about customer experiences, and share that data internally and externally
• Digital Core Banking: Building new digital functions that enable core banking to be more granular so that it can reinforce service reusability; and to improve online real-time capabilities and provide greater automation
• Digital Modernization to Cloud: Developing a just-in-time transactional factory to enable cloud modernization

Financial institutions won't become Everyday Banks with decades-old cores. Those that cling to the status quo risk being viewed more like utilities that conduct financial transactions. If you really want to deliver an enhanced experience to meet the daily needs of customers, the time to start the journey is now.

Chris Williams is Managing Director, Accenture Core Banking Services, North America Lead; Luis Martin Gonzalez is Managing Director, Accenture Core Banking Services.