Yes. Agility and Innovation go hand-in-hand!
Of course, banks must direct their innovation energies towards finding ways to leverage existing resources fully before investing a single dollar in new ones. Efforts need to be made to identify latent customer desires and learn from cross-vertical best practices - An excellent example is that of the music industry. MP3 invasion was becoming a download phenomenon. Rather than fight it, which would have been in vain anyway, Apple recognized an opportunity in the strong consumer demand for “playlist music” and went after it. Apple showed the world how innovation and agility can win the day. The iPod became an instrument that allowed consumers to easily and legally access their choice of music using iTunes, and in this way, connected service providers with end users. The rest, as they say, is history. Clearly, agility is about fitting rather than fighting.
Banks are no different and face similar pressures from regulators expecting greater conformance, customers demanding better performance and rivals looking to wean away their customers and their employees. It is probably more prudent for them to find innovative ways to fit into the ever changing environment rather than fight the elements.
Another facet which demands banks’ attention is firmly keeping long-term aspirations in mind. Banks must pack their products, services, channels and other offerings with lasting differentiation. They must be inherently robust so that their core proposition remains valid despite changes in market needs or regulations and flexible so that they can be innovated upon from time to time.
Taking this thought process forward I have authored a paper “The 10 Innovative Ways to Achieve Greater Agility in 2010”, which will be published in the next issue of FinacleConnect.
