The awakening interest of “the (quickly implemented) idea”

February 12, 2019

By Magnus Jonasson

Working in retail banking managing feedback from customers has been a quite obvious part of making our services and products better. However, even though I have only been in retail banking for a decade now, in that short time I have noticed a considerably escalating organizational attention not only to pick up the feedback from the coworkers and our customers on already launched solutions, but also to constantly audit us and our clients in terms of possible input that might be evaluated and quickly transformed into competitive and entirely new solutions.

Using the googles of Chesbrough (The era of open innovation, 2016) I might even claim that retail banking is forced into an open innovation research/development process – there is simply not enough ideas generated within the proper organizations to keep up with the competition. Nor is there enough time not to open up the innovative processes for our customers to actually take part in it while it happens. There is, however, a quite heavy legislative factor putting a certain limit (it seems) on how open, and how speedy that open-ish innovation process might actually be. And, it seems like our retail banks are simultaneously (with those more open innovation processes) moving more and more towards acquisition as a strategy to keep up with the fierce competition.

Customers are at the same time very well aware of what competitors can deliver. They are very well aware of existing and smart interface solutions and integrations online and offline – and they do expect smart solutions to be integrated/implemented rapidly “now when there is a solution to it”…

 

And concerning the biggest challenge facing society within the next five years…

If question is asked this openly I would say the biggest challenge will be redefining the assumption of civilians generating an income based on their work/employment, that is now being challenged by technological solutions which primary goal is to reduce “manpower” through artificial intelligence and automation – in stores, in services, in communications well in every way possible. Because manpower drives costs.

 

Less people will be needed, and technology will generate services and products at decreasing costs, and somehow welfare redistribution must therefore be keyed out based on new principles – perhaps on that of a “consumer” instead of that of “a worker”.