As banks mobilise and smarten up, customer plays become central: SAP

The FSI Innovation Day 2019 event gathered over 20 of SG’s banking elite for an afternoon of insights and knowledge sharing.

Technology solutions provider SAP organised a four-session roundtable with some of Singapore’s banking experts last 15 October at Carlton Hotel Singapore. FSI Innovation Day 2019 is organised by SAP as a way for banks and insurers to discuss how they can create intelligent enterprises that can respond to disruptive market realities brought about by technology.

In his opening remarks, Bambang Moerwanto, Regional Vice President and Head of Financial Services Industry at SAP Asia Pacific & Japan, mentioned people may be less aware of SAP’s involvement in the financial services industry as they were better known by extensive clientele in the FMCG, large oil and manufacturing sector and despite the fact that 18,000 financial services institutions globally run on SAP.

He expressed that this event looks to shed light on how banks and new digital players need to address the changing customer personas in the experience economy so that they can navigate the changing landscape.

Opening the first session, Michael Araneta, Head of Research & Advisory for Asia Pacific at IDC Financial Insights, stressed the importance of regaining customer trust in banking and ensuring customer satisfaction in every interaction, noting how fintechs who were once seen by incumbents as “enemies” are now regarded as collaborators.

“15 years ago all banks were looking at greeting customers on their birthday (thinking this would build loyalty). Then, compliance took over focus and we forgot about creating ‘moments of truth’. Now, this conversation is back, customer-centricity, for instance, tracking customer state of mind, level of agitation or comfort, and dealing with them appropriately,” explained Araneta who was at ease with how banking is the third most trusted industry in Singapore.

He also described an “omni-experience” platform that could manage data, actions and insights but warned listeners about the possible drawback of providing informed consent as a customer and sharing data with third parties if a bank decides to outsource such platform.

In view of changing consumer behaviour which has sent banks scrambling to build platforms that could enhance customer engagement, Davor Ebling, Chief Technology Officer of the first neo-bank in US, Moven, argued that “most banks offer PFM, but not engagement.”

“Banks know virtually everything about you but do nothing except wish you happy birthday. (Token gesture.) Our chatbots help you make better financial decisions in day-to-day life,” he added, describing how customers can check Moven’s services routinely as if done after meals, claiming the nickname “toothpaste” app, which for a time not so long ago required someone to visit an actual physical branch.

Before converging into a panel, the session by Willem Nel, Financial Services, Digital Solutions Lead, SAP Asia, revolved around “Becoming the Intelligent Enterprise for Banking” as he cited how the fintech boom and the customers’ need to “experience above all else” is forcing banks to upgrade their armoury of digital tools.

In a separate interview, Moerwanto aimed to address some of the incredulities on dealing with SAP.

“SAP provides an integrated but modular solution for FSI addressing various organisation’s functions from front, middle and back office which was developed on the latest in-memory technology. Digital transformation has no clear start and end point, as it is more like cycle of continuous improvement; hence, it is important for financial services institutions and new digital players to choose the right technology which could be re-assembled easily and at the same time, tightly integrated as this will give you flexibility to innovate, to redefine new business models, and improve process efficiency at the same time. In addition, as the power of ecosystem & platform play an important role in defining the future of banking, SAP is proud to be the only software solutions provider to officially publish its APIs publicly as the company is promoting collaboration with customers, partners and cross industry ecosystem,” the executive added.

SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software, with 93% of banks in the Forbes 2000 using a SAP system. The company has been in Southeast Asia since the 1980s with headquarters in Singapore.