Accelerating the financial services transformation agenda during changing times

COVID has forced us to adjust fundamental aspects of our lives with little warning and against a background of anxiety and uncertainty. As the end of 2020 nearing, marketing and sales teams are aligning efforts to increase their pipeline and find more sales-ready leads to start off the new-year in a stronger way. Brands are getting impacted in their top line positively by relooking at their product portfolio and optimizing pricing and promotions especially in the upcoming festive season which will see attractive pricing, cashbacks and consumer financing schemes. The impact of remote working on modern architecture has been far greater than merely redefining the ways that language, messaging, diagrams, and concepts are packaged and communicated. Moreover, approximately 50% homemakers started using OTT platforms and online platforms for leisurely learning activities like cooking, gardening, yoga etc.

Agility has already forced the transformation to happen. ‘Just in time’ architecture cultivated by new ways of working has already been adopted by the architects and continues to be embraced. Their role as facilitator and influencer has already evolved. Now it is time for soft skills to be redefined. The pandemic has (once again) highlighted the importance of a diligent and careful approach when architecting for cloud-based systems. It is preferable to embrace a host of models, patterns, and services rather than focusing solely on the public cloud. A highly scalable, dynamic, and extensible architecture – largely based on the same principles, no matter if ‘on-prem’, hybrid, or using its public version – is ideal.

Going forward, data will be generated on a whole new scale and will consequently require enhanced business intelligence and analytics. Beyond the super-computing power provided by the cloud, there is a need to address current data architecture concerns. Integrate siloed systems and normalize data access; while maintaining a focus on security and privacy, redesign data architectures to allow moderated and controlled data mining.

There is an important shift we have seen during the changing times including Brand loyalty is on test with homemakers open to trying and opting for different brands. When we look at the retail industry has undergone a significant change in recent years. With the rapid rise in online stores and mobile shopping, the high street has seen a decline in footfall, and the lifetime customer loyalty many brick-and-mortar stores were accustomed to is no longer a given. Retailers have to work harder and focus more on delivering a wow experience at every touch point to retain customers and keep them loyal to their brand. Supply chain disruptions due to lockdowns meant lesser availability of preferred brands and homemakers were forced to try newer options. 35% homemakers have permanently shifted to newer brands in at least one of the grocery categories, indicating an increasing openness to try new brands.

With the present situation where there is global slowdown, managing overheads and risks has become significantly important for businesses across the spectrum. An outsource economy has been an active one over the years. However, with the crisis, there are several companies looking to cut overheads and deal mostly with external service providers that can offer many more value driven solutions at a reasonable cost. Additionally, with the thrust on ‘Vocal for Local’ and the dynamic technology start-up ecosystem in India that has a rich pool of efficient tech service providers, can be leveraged to gain maximum and effective quality output within a time and cost constraint – something that needs to be explored.