The transition in banking is already going on for a long time, but it looks like it that the shift is speeding up his pace. Every week, new applications and new digital technologies are popping up to disrupt the world where everyone was used to a few traditional banks who ruled the world. Those banks need to change their businesses as soon as possible if they want to be a part of this world in the future. Research from Accenture shows that the market value of traditional banks will decrease with 35% until 2020. So there is a lot of work that needs to be done and it needs to be done fast.
One thing that those banks should focus on is customer excellence. But this requires that they can easily adapt to the changing needs of customer groups. Personalized banking is becoming more important and to make sure that you are not staying behind as a bank, you need to start using digital devices like analytics, mobility and interaction. Besides that, it will be useful if they start looking outside of their own banks. By collaboration and integration it will be possible to create one platform where customers can check all their personalized information.
Some banks are already trying their best to keep up with the pace, but drastic measures need to be taken sometimes. Take for instance the Commerzbank. They just released their plans about firing 9600 employees in the upcoming years. At this moment their working personnel consists of 45.000 employees, which means that they are going to fire 1/5. And it is all because of their new strategy: they want to digitalize. They are striving to change their processes so that 80% will be automated. Same thing goes for ABN AMRO who are going to fire 1375 employees due to their new ‘Project Simplify.
Those figures may not seem nice to you and it is definitely a sad thing that all those people need to find other jobs but if the banks do not change their processes drastically they might not be able to survive this digitalization.
