Earnix Blog > Automation

How Speed to Market Defines Today’s Banking Winners

Earnix Team

November 18, 2021

  • Automation
In the famous words of Ferris Bueller, “life moves pretty fast” - nowhere is this more true than when it comes to the ever-changing needs and expectations of today’s consumers. There will always be a market for banking services, but that does not make banks immune from competition and changing market trends. As nimble and innovative banks increasingly penetrate the market, legacy companies are at high risk of becoming obsolete if they don’t take swift action to meet new demands, expectations and regulations. 

Creating a new banking product is an inherently time-heavy process. But some companies can, and do, get this done faster than others. Taking too long to get from the idea stage to deploying a new product is dangerous as it gives other companies the opportunity to cut in front. As such, the speed at which a bank can get new products out to market quickly is becoming a key indicator of success.  

You Snooze You Lose 

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6 months might not seem like a long time, but in today’s fast-paced banking market, it often means missing out on opportunities to grab market share. In order to get faster, banks need to better understand the most common reasons for delays:   
  • Silos - in the typical traditional bank, each department is focused on its own goals with little to no awareness of what is happening in other areas. Poor collaboration between departments becomes the norm. 
  • Processes - in the name of efficiency, large companies create defined processes. In many banks, however, these processes have not been revisited in years. As a result, departments are following cumbersome and unwieldy processes that are no longer fit for purpose. 
  • Technology - banking is a complex industry that, historically, used a range of systems and pricing tools. Many companies haven’t updated these bank pricing software systems in years, and still depend on outdated technology. 
  • Priorities - regulatory concerns, customer relations, and other business issues always fight for “headspace” with introducing new products. In many cases, new product development gets pushed to the back burner while other issues take priority. 
All of the above leads to a lack of agility that hampers the banks' ability to bring new products to market at the speed required by today’s consumers.  

The Role of Technology in Banking Today  

According to McKinsey, the pace of change in the banking industry will speed up significantly over the next few years. For a bank to succeed, they must focus on clarity in terms of strategy, speed and agility when it comes to execution. 

While many older, more established banks are hampered by clunky old systems and are tied to old-school, lengthy, and bureaucratic processes, young, agile and modern banks are swooping in to catch the prize. Regulatory scrutiny is unavoidable and all banks - both old and new - must submit to it, but if old slow technology is also eating up valuable time, banking products can't hit the market at the speed that's demanded by the new generation of tech-savvy consumers. Older banks have no choice but to update their systems or fall too far behind. Even the most innovative teams will not be able to succeed in producing new products at speed and deploy them in the current market if they rely on outdated technology or patchwork fixes for their old legacy systems. 

The only way to reduce long-term costs and increase speed-to-market is to invest in new and efficient technologies.  

New Systems for a Changing Market  

 

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Time to market is so crucial today because consumer demands are changing all the time and banks need to stay relevant. The first step is to recognize the problem and commit to prioritizing the development of new products and their fast introduction to the market. With that commitment and buy-in from management, the rest is easily addressable with technology.  

What’s needed is a technological solution that addresses the main challenges of operational silos, cumbersome processes, and outdated technology. An end-to-end solution, such as Earnix, gives banks the leg-up that is needed to vastly improve work processes and quickly and efficiently bring new products to market without compromising quality or regulatory compliance. 

Breaking Down Silos - when one unified system for pricing is used, collaboration becomes inherent. Departments can see what others are doing at the click of a button and everyone is always up-to-date and aware of how individual work is impacting the process as a whole. 

Streamlining Processes - replacing the jigsaw puzzle of clunky and obsolete systems with one solution that can be used to manage the entire lifecycle of a banking product. From forecasting to testing to deployment to governance, one streamlined process that runs smoothly from start to finish will cut down on both time and money spent. 

Leveraging Advanced Technology - introducing advanced technology like machine learning and artificial intelligence is a game-changer when it comes to new banking products. With this technology, it’s easy to use automation for reacting quickly to changing market conditions, create more personalized packages and stay ahead of the competition.  

The Future is in Your Hands 

The technological tools needed to keep up with current market demands already exist. Rather than undergoing a lengthy and cumbersome upgrade of legacy systems, it is now possible to adopt a modern and agile solution like Earnix, that’s tailored to the needs of today’s banks. With such a system, bringing new products to market and deploying more personalized offerings can be much faster and more efficient. 

 

See how increasing speed to market is easier and quicker than before. Download the eBook.

 
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Earnix Team