Next Level Innovation Blog

'Innovation in Finance' session II

Live blog report - Customer perspectives on Innovation

I've just attended the session 'Customer perspectives on innovation'. Two business cases were presented: Mr. de Jager (working for Rabobank Netherlands) talking about the future of banking.

He kicks off by saying to us: "In some years, we won't be using money in it's physical form anymore."

Mr. Jager tells us a bit about the numbers of Rabobank. In 1981 there were 700 local and 2400 branch offices. In 2007 there will be 150 local and 1400 branch offices left. I250 million people visited bank offices in 1980, now that's down ot only 4 million.

In the Netherlands 6,2 million people do their banking on the internet. 100.000 people older than 50 years are active on the Rabobank web environment. "People want to be in control over their own accounting and want to be able to do their banking at any time they want", Jager says. "A new generation is evolving that doesn't even know where bank offices are".

It seems like Rabobank is going to evolve more and more to an internet and new media focussed bank. "It's very difficult to be a personal bank, when you don't have physical contact with the client anymore", De Jager tells us. "We're using CRM systems to make the personal approach possible, so the customer will feel like Rabobank knows them."

The most difficult De Jager finds about innovation in banking, is that people in banking still look with the 'old' paradigms to the new devolpments. They know the world is going to change, but it's difficult to start acting that way. "We're moving from the traditional bank-centered perspective to a customer-centered one."

Some interesting innovation examples Jager mentioned Rabobank is working on: mobile banking, iDeal, Minitix.

Interesting discussion on making sure ideas come through..

Interesting discussion in the Innovation Management & Applying innovation session, part of the Innovation in Finance day, hosted by Clive Harris. After Clive explained the theory of applying innovation, there were some burning questions from the audience. "But how do I involve my people, How do I ensure that good ideas are not killed of by the system?"

An interesting discussion followed. Clive gives an example of how IBM approaches this by using a virtual meeting ground where people can add and build on each others ideas. Catalysts are appointed to ensure ideas are turned into solid cases. Executives are responsible for the implementation.

It is a good question though; what can you do to ensure the right ideas get through?  Let me know your ideas!

Innovation in Financial Services

Live blog report - Driving Organic growth through innovation

Peter J. Korsten (Leader IBM Institute for Business Value) and Cormac Petit (Consultant IBM Institute for Business Value) explain to us why innovation in the financial services is essential. Interestingly Peter makes the statement that the Financial sector is not very innovative at the moment. He promises to explain why in the end. :-)

Peter gives an introduction of the IBV, (an IBM think tank) in which consultants conduct worldwide studies to gain insight. He explains that a lot of knowledge shared today, come from the CEO study.

Cormac Petit explains why the time for innovation in banking is now. He expains that the market at the moment is sceptical; it is unsure that past successes will be repeated and continious consolidation is taking place. He gives us two reasons; one because new and unexpected competitors are coming into the market. Two; customers are demanding a higher service and personal customer value. This means traditional banks need to rethink their strategies.

Peter goes through some myths of innovation, concluded from the CEO study. The myths: Innovation is about products, it something secret and needs to be done internally. Final myth: It is also something that can be delegated within the company. He uses hilarious videos to illustrate his points! For instance he shows us two innovative ways he found online for solving the problem of folding t-shirts extremely fast. Talk about an original way to illustrate that you should use all the information that is out there!

He comes back to explain his first statement. He shows us the Business Week Top 100 Innovative companies and explains that only one of the companies in the top 100 was a bank. And finally Cormac surprises us with the fact that we were the first audience worldwide to hear the results of the IBV Financial study. It will be published worldwide in October.

Innovation in Finance - at this moment

I'm currently at the first presentation-series of the 'Innovation in Finance' session. Peter Korsten was talking just now - you see him on the picture here - had a very interesting plea about innovation in financial services. The actual story is being blogged live by my colleague at this moment (so soon to follow).

Live commenting at the Weblog stand

The weblog is really starting to take off here at the Next Level event in High Tech Campus Eindhoven! Many enthousiastic reactions have come back to us from guests that think it is really powerful to have information up instantly after a session. Here is a guest that is commenting on the Healthcare blogpost at the Weblog stand.

Next Level event photo's

The photoalbum for Next Level event is now online. Every day photo's will be taken of the different sessions and will be updated regulary. If you'd like to have your own pictures added, please contact the Blog moderator.

Look at the pictures and feel the atmosphere...

Next Level event Photoalbum

Insurance 2020: Innovating beyond old models

James Bisker Insurance Industry Team Leader in the IBM Institute for Business Value wrote an interesting article. Summary: over the ensuing decades, it is easy to see the potential for robust market activity in the insurance industry. The combination of classic protection products and an increasing number of financial services in an expanding global economy creates a target-rich environment. Traditionally, the task going forward would be to navigate the opportunities while efficiently servicing stakeholders. However, as we approach the end of the first decade of a new century, it is important to increase the scope of our vision and consider what the insurance industry could become. More about this article can be found on our Insurance website.

Podcast: IBM and the Future of Banking

For me Innovation is about the future. For many of us, banking is more of a chore than a pleasure. But the future of banking could be much brighter.

Banks compete increasingly with non-bank retailers and other companies, some are learning to behave like them. New technologies and new ways of doing business will bring big changes to the customer experience. You get more insight on this by listening to the Podcast.