Just How Complex Is It to Transform a Bank?

Contributor:

Geoffrey K. Weiss
Director of Channel Solutions and Transformational Planning
Banking and Credit Services
CSC

I spend a lot of my time meeting with banking executives all over the world, and based on my recent conversations, transformation is clearly back on the agenda.  So why aren’t banks taking the next step?

What I hear from many banking leaders is that they’re concerned they don’t have the time and resources to devote to a large-scale transformation program. There seems to be a lot of confusion about what’s really involved, how long it takes and how the program should be implemented.

The first step in helping them understand the answers to these types of questions is to understand what transformation is.  I spend time with these leaders helping them identify how they want to integrate market and customer needs, how they expect this integration to improve or differentiate the organizations’ interactions with their customers, and most importantly how a structured transformational approach will position the organization for successful introduction of change.

Though all banks face many common challenges, they have different business priorities driving their competitive differentiation or value proposition. That means banking transformation should be tied to specific strategic objectives such as growth, profitability or customer retention.  The value of embarking on a transformational plan spans beyond specific business priorities as well, including:

• Identifying gaps in strategy and its execution and outlining a structured plan for remediating these gaps across multiple dimensions of the business operating model
• Establishing a set of tools during the change journey, allowing the organization to recognize and act on events that require directional changes
• Increasing the odds of implementing a portfolio of projects through completion and recognizing the desired benefits.

Yes, it is a complex undertaking, but in no way impossible. I’ve seen organizations make some truly transformational changes, and their secret boiled down to following well-established business and IT methodologies and learning from successful transformation programs in the real world.

With that in mind, I invite you to read The Leader's Guide to Banking Transformation, which draws from the experiences of a wide range of banks and financial services firms.

I'd like to hear your perspective. What are your thoughts about banking transformation? Post and share your thoughts and feedback below.