As the world continues its emergence from the pandemic, banks must adapt to new customer expectations and touchpoints. There should also be a measure of introspection. Customers have changed, regulations have changed, and the technology goalposts have certainly changed.
Agile and secure technology infrastructure is not just an enabler of new banking services. It is now an integral part of how a bank interacts with its customers and clients. Many in the industry are looking inwards and finding their platforms wanting. 55% of younger bankers believe their technology doesn’t match the 24/7 needs of their customers.
Incumbents and traditional banks still hold their lead when it comes to primary relationships with consumers. Yet new players are gaining ground, and with every passing year add to their claims of legitimacy. 37% of those aged 18 to 34 are now using a neobank as their primary account.
These customers rely on a rapid, agile, and innovative service from their bank, and are increasingly finding that service among neobanks and new players. To maintain their advantage, incumbents must look at next-generation systems to drive them forwards.
Yet it isn’t as simple as plugging in a new platform and pressing the start button. A new Pismo whitepaper outlines how more than just the technology needs to be changed to take advantage of new opportunities.
Penned by Vishal Dalal, Pismo’s CEO for North America, Europe, and Asia, it explores the key advantages of new platforms, and what milestones institutions must hit to truly take advantage of them.
Hitting MACH speed
On the leading edge of this brave new world of technology are microservices-based, API-ready, cloud-native, and headless (MACH) systems. They organise their business logic in granular and loosely couple services. These are able to deploy independently to create a myriad range of new services and products on the fly.
These modern platforms are intended to allow product owners and business owners to stitch together end-to-end offerings using external partners, internal systems, publicly available data, and open-source software.
Switching to a system utilising these techniques is something that has piqued the interest of many executives in the sector. 66% of banks believe innovative platforms like these can increase revenue and reduce costs.
For the banks that have migrated to such architectures, the results represent a step change from what their former technology stacks provided. Yet that change may come as a surprise to some of the “old guard”.
A new way of thinking
Some challenges they face include a steeper learning curve and a requirement for greater engagement with the system. To stitch together APIs in unique ways and create innovative products, leaders and developers must prepare to think differently.
Similarly, keeping these systems running at maximum capacity requires greater technical expertise from users and a willingness to explore the platform and tinker with it. Moving fast and breaking things isn’t just a mantra for start-ups, it’s a mindset that can benefit even the largest institutions.
After all, writes Dalal, you wouldn’t buy a Formula One car and then only use it to go shopping on the weekends, would you?
Want to read more? Download our whitepaper now!
