;)
It is difficult to fathom how much has occurred since my last post, but the world has entered a deeper state of uncertainty since then. Banks and other financial institutions sit at the heart of global responses to threats, thus strengthening the position of my last post where we discussed M&A but most importantly, Security.
In as little as four weeks, sudden threats of retaliatory nature, like DDoS attacks, have risen, putting Banks on high alert. Two weeks ago, the European Central Bank issued a warning to shore up defensive measures putting all Western institutions at risk of increased cyber-attacks. Quisitive will remain at the forefront of security with our customers and are prepared to assist with any vulnerability recognized through such unprecedented times.
Top Banking Trends of 2022
- Cybersecurity Risk Mitigation
- Fintech Mergers and Acquisitions
- Cost Cutting and Optimization
- Data Analysis and Organization Insights Activation
Today, I will expand on the movements of Cost Cutting and Optimization, Data Analysis, and Organization Insights Activation. Quisitive aims to engage and influence technologies that tell a cohesive story for innovation and overall positive change. These two trends continue to grow in general importance as prices go up and the competitive market increases its demands.
Cost Cutting and Optimization
Amid high M&A activity and an ongoing need to simplify core technologies, banks are looking to firms like Quisitive to bring in-depth experience and capability to help drive modernization. Due to these core technology estates being so vast, multiple efforts consisting of various teams are taking on this initiative while focusing on the themes of cost-cutting and optimization.
We often hear, “How can we maintain or increase performance while also becoming more lean and agile?” At Quisitive, we focus on composability and interoperability to observe the core technology systems across the paradigm of people, process, and technology. We succeed by establishing and then executing plans that design the exemplary architecture — including PaaS technologies to achieve a more modular state — and transforming the bank away from operating in a siloed manner and more towards managing horizontally. This process of working as a connected system results in cost-cutting and optimization.
Quisitive partners closely with Microsoft to kickstart the cloud transformation journey for our customers. By way of funded offerings, our team of experts will work with you to determine the appropriate path to take in your journey. These engagements can be as small as focusing on one category of workload/application or as big as concentrating on your entire estate. Through this process, customers have aligned to their appropriate starting point with critical milestones outlined along the way. Having a baseline that includes people, process, technology and KPIs provides all levels of the organization the ability to know when and how the journey will be executed, paving the path for an eventual starting point.
Through our experience, cost-cutting and optimizing core technologies will be a priority for mid-size banks. These are the banks fighting for a position to be the next Giant. A large part of that means staying up with trends and ensuring operational efficiency, especially through the course of M&A. These banks cannot afford to have as much environmental sprawl, and budgets are less friendly towards workloads that cause excessive overhead or have reached a point where they should be deprecated.
In partnership with Microsoft, Quisitive has the skills and experience to establish a plan and start you down this path of optimization.
Data Analysis and Organization Insights Activation
In our experience, customers continue to struggle from sprawled environments. Many customers approach us, stating, “We have every data platform and product under the sun of the last 15 years,” and are eager to consolidate those footprints into a more modern solution. In addition, we rarely experience customers who have tapped into the potential of the stockpiles of data and information they own.
As a result, Quisitive recognizes the potential gains customers can realize in this space which is why data will continue to be a bank’s internal currency for driving insights into strategy and its future. Mid-size banks especially need to keep a constant eye on operational efficiency, which results in better consumer interactions and satisfaction. The entire organization is impacted, but here are some critical areas where our customers have started:
- Financial fraud prevention by way of predictive modeling, coupled with our Security practice (Part 1 of Blog)
- Increased operational efficiency by way of combining disparate data and introducing automation
- Loan Management Process by way of customer insights and modeling impacting the customer through their entire customer lifecycle
- Branch operations by way of time series forecasting and operational insights, especially in light of more and more customer interactions happening remotely
Quisitive has been hard at work, gathering experience and building on our capabilities in the area of Data and Analytics more than any other. With an already mature model for onboarding our customers onto Synapse and/or Data Bricks-driven platforms, our recent acquisition of Catapult Systems took our collaborative practice to the next level. Leveraging a proven engagement model, we help clients design, deploy, and maintain statistical and machine learning models that lead to measurable, positive business outcomes while being secure and responsible and minimizing risk. The ability to deliver such an end-to-end experience is a unique differentiator in the Microsoft partner ecosystem, and we expect it will drive a deeper customer relationship in the future.
Conclusion
There is much to be excited about as we further venture into 2022. The world has experienced a tremendous amount of change over the past several years, and the banking industry will continue to see increased threats. The global banking industry is up against never-before-seen disruptors from pushes towards decentralization, the payment services revolution, inflation, and more. It will be interesting to observe the impact of rising interest rates, but within these variables at play, the priorities identified in this two-part series will remain critical.
Looking to optimize costs and improve your data practices? Contact Quisitive today.
