In the past couple of years, we have seen a real transformation in the banking space, driven largely by IT. Digital transformation projects appear to be gaining traction after years of wheel-spinning — major banks and insurers are getting their digital acts
together.
So, what is in store in digital technologies in 2024?
1. Accelerated digital transformation and cloudadoption
Building on early success and business ROI realized through digital transformation, the path forward is to achieve greater revenue growth through clear roadmaps that leverage digital technologies to fulfil long-term visions.
This poses a two-pronged challenge:
(1) as much value as possible must be squeezed from the digitisation of legacy systems without disrupting business operations,
(2) new technologies must be simultaneously deployed to build the technological foundation on which an organisation will rely for future growth.
Given the overarching and ambitious goals of effective digital transformation strategies, operational artificial intelligence-enabled decisioning platforms have never been more important.
2. Greater emphasis on ‘data in motion’
Information can take different forms, depending on operating conditions. Data can be at rest (in a database), in use (by active applications), or in motion-constantly streaming in real-time from one point to another over the internet or private business
network via mobile services, shared applications, digital requests, instant payments, IOT events, and more.
As the name implies, data in motion is a moving target, changing at the speed of the internet; this makes it inherently more difficult to control, manage, and protect. It demands the ability to securely stream, analyse, and act on information the instant
it is generated and received.
Major banks and insurers shaping their customer experience and digital transformation strategies need to make data in motion a high priority, it requires a massively scalable platform to orchestrate millions of simultaneous data streams from an array of
sources, front-end customer experiences, and corporate back-end operations in real-time. They will then be able to make accurate, personalised, and instantaneous customer decisions based on the most current information available.
3. API-driven open ecosystems
Open ecosystems are not new in the digital transformation realm. They are a proven, efficient, modular way of fostering information-based partnerships, both internally – in support of enterprise systems of collaboration across organisational functions –
and externally to accelerate innovation through co-creation with thirdt party partners.
In 2024, the market will begin to see the emergence of open ecosystems based on enterprise decisioning platforms and related digital technologies, using APIs and artificial intelligence to unify processing across multiple organisations, culminating in an
integrated customer experience.
These will not only facilitate the rapid creation of new information-based products and services; they will allow for cross-enterprise and cross-ecosystem business processes and decisioning solutions that can be developed and deployed in a fraction of the
time required by traditional approaches.
Through digitisation and providing a more flexible, API-driven way of managing decision strategies and business operations, companies’ digital transformation strategies can flourish; open ecosystems will unleash innovation, lead to the creation of new dynamic
B2B opportunities focused on accelerating customer value, and ultimately more profitable decisions across the enterprise.
4. Business composability
Business composability poses a massive opportunity for companies seeking successful digital transformation and trying to drive innovation; it helps to achieve business competitiveness through agility derived through digitization of legacy systems and enhanced
digital technologies. In concert with an API-driven paradigm, business composability puts complex business innovation into the hands of business stakeholders, enabling a digital collaboration that drives differentiation at a digital pace.
Premised on an established software engineering design pattern, composability leverages modular ‘components’ or ‘building blocks’ that can be shared, combined, and recombined, to enable assembly of a network of complex business capabilities that meet and
can be rapidly adjusted to market changes. Non-technical employees across the enterprise can easily define functional capabilities and quickly assemble their own services, intuitively create their own processes and event handlers, conduct what-if scenario
analysis, and review the detailed visualisations they produce, accelerating digital transformation and improving customer experiences without impacting IT resources.
A complete, end-to-end set of composable capabilities can address and accelerate a wide spectrum of use cases across the customer lifecycle in a transparent, explainable, and governed manner.
5. Unlocking the power of artificial intelligence
For years, businesses have been trying to extend the focus of artificial intelligence and machine learning beyond a set of development tools and digital technologies for building models. They have been endeavouring to transparently operationalise AI and
machine learning in live business processes as part of a concerted digital transformation effort.
In 2024, there will be great strides in ensuring artificial intelligence is no longer an isolated venture; it will be a ubiquitous, essential ingredient in decision automation and governance, while offering full transparency and auditability.
In this mainstream embedded capability, digitisation and artificial intelligence will empower businesses to leverage computers for what they excel at — processing, analysing, and managing data, and doing so in a manner that heightens the customer experiences
while remaining explainable, ethical, and increasingly efficient. Responsible AI will be the byword.
6. Hyper-personalization at scale
The end goal of digital transformation and all the trends mentioned above is to create compelling customer experiences that bring value to businesses and consumers. In a B2C context, differentiation and loyalty stem from the ability to deliver compelling,
hyper-personalised customer experiences and tailored offerings at scale, whichrequires the foundational plumbing for data in motion, which drives artificial intelligence-powered insights.
This, in turn, makes the goals of digital transformation – better decision making, more efficient business processes, and smarter real-time interactions, experiences, and individualized product offerings – attainable.
Hyper-personalization is the next inflection point in digital value creation: employing digital technologies to meet consumers in their moment of need with individualised value expressed through experiences, journeys, and offerings. In 2024, the most forward-looking
financial institutions around the world will make this their competitive advantage.