EpisodeSix: Winning Strategies to Deliver Digital Banking Customer Journeys
By Ian KerrThe global pandemic has undoubtedly catalysed the drive to digitisation in Financial Services. There was an increasing trend to move to digital banking already, the pandemic has accelerated this by perhaps a decade, and across all age groups. Traditional banks were already being challenged to step up, under pressure from neobanks whose slick user experiences delivered through mobile offerings raised customer expectations. Simultaneously, the way that payments are made and transactions are settled is also changing fast. The emergence of crypto-currencies as a mechanism to store and transfer value also needs to be taken in to consideration by mainstream banks who are typically constrained by legacy applications that were never designed for this type of customer interaction and transaction processing. There is a real and pressing need for banks to support digital customer payment journeys using technology that capitalises on the capabilities and data bound into legacy applications but insulates their deficiencies. This is where Episode Six’s Tritium platform brings unrivalled value to help banks innovate digital solutions. Our modern, cloud native platform delivers valuable key capabilities: A multi-asset class ledger and digital wallet management that enables the transfer of value through a range of mechanisms – true multi- fiat currency, crypto currency and other tokens such as loyalty and reward points Market leading configurable products, with a user-driven design tool so business users can easily customise product attributes from their laptop such as FX margins, fee structures, risk profiles and compliance safeguards all in real time without waiting for lengthy development cycles This functionality is all accessible through an API framework for integration with mobile apps, web portals and adjacent space applications and networks such as card rails, payment gateways, KYC/AML and FX and liquidity providers. The E6 implementation approach, in the Cloud or on-premise, delivers unmatched speed to market and ongoing innovation via a high degree of configurability. Legacy applications have been the beating heart of banks for many years, decades in some cases, and there is a reticence to make changes that could have ripple effects across the organisation in terms of cost and risk. E6 Tritium delivers a modernised, digital banking customer experience working co-operatively with legacy applications without unnecessary operational disruption. Banks can embark on digital transformation in timeframes that are not possible in evolving existing technology or starting projects from scratch. There is a compelling business case waiting to be unlocked through innovation, competitive differentiation, customer retention, growth and acquisition. In fact, there is an urgent need for financial institutions to upgrade existing payments infrastructure to meet changing consumer expectations and regulatory requirements. There is a lot at stake here, too: $250 billion worth of payments revenue could move to nonfinancial institutions by 2030 if banks cannot keep up, according to IDC’s estimates. Mainstream banks can compete more effectively against neobank challengers, with risk mitigated by adopting leading, proven technology. Financial services propositions are developing faster than ever before, any delay in moving forward leaves money on the table.
Ian Kerr Ian Kerr is the Director of Business Development for Episode Six. Ian has over 30 years’ experience in financial technology in a range of organisations starting with NCR and including IBM, payments and banking solutions providers. Prior to joining Episode Six, Kerr was the CEO at Bolero, a Software as a Service platform for global trade where he led new initiatives in digitisation, Supply Chain Finance and logistics. Earlier in his career, Kerr was the COO at a payments gateway company and led a payments focused testing solutions division at Clear2Pay.