The Digital Bank: Empowering the workforce
Banking professionals have access to a whole host of modern productivity tools to enable them to work more effectively. We hear from Peter Hazou about the opportunities available to banks and their employees.
Microsoft has a vision for what the workplace should look and operate like today, and it centers around embracing digital innovation to maximize the efficiencies, capabilities and processes of all employees. “As is the case in most industries, banking professionals are used to working in groups, across organizations and individually, and this requires a whole host of devices and collaboration tools to allow them to communicate effectively and get the information they need to accomplish their daily tasks and projects – that’s the crux of what we’re trying to enable,” says Peter Hazou, Business Development Director, Worldwide Banking at Microsoft.
The key to this vision is giving employees the tools they need to understand what is required of them on a daily basis so that they may get on with their tasks without any barriers standing in their way. That means giving them full access to all the information they require and allowing them to communicate with their colleagues and customers, regardless of where they are.
According to Hazou, the technologies to enable this are all available today.
“Imagine someone at home at the start of their day,” he says. “Before they even leave for the office or head off to their first meeting, they can go onto their home computer, tablet or smartphone, see what the agenda is for the next few hours and prepare themselves by accessing everything they need to know. Using Office Delve, Microsoft Social Engagement and machine learning capabilities in Cortana, they are able to surface relevant information about what’s going on in the market as well as with their customers.”
Once in the office, Hazou explains that the next step could involve working with peers to respond to market conditions and begin constructing feedback to customers. “Using tools such as Office 365, you can collaborate with your social/peer group, share information and ideas, and work together simultaneously on documents, providing feedback in real time,” he says.
Combining insight with collaboration, productivity, communication and line-of-business tools, bankers also have an opportunity to transform the customer experience. Bringing together Microsoft Dynamics CRM and tools within Office 365, employees can pull up full customer profiles to engage in more meaningful interactions. Conversations can either take place in person or virtually via tools such as Skype for Business. Regardless of whether they are interacting with customers remotely or in the same room, they have access to all the relevant information they need at their fingertips.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? The problem is that for many businesses these scenarios may as well be science fiction.
“Banks have a great deal of legacy software to contend with,” explains Hazou. “Although many see the value of these modern technologies, the reality is that many workers are still tied heavily to the office and remain greatly reliant on paper-based processes.”
Even those who do have the technologies in place don’t necessarily feel comfortable using them. “The extraordinary amount of security and compliance protocols in this industry means that banks struggle to know what’s safe or unsafe to use – and that can be very limiting,” says Hazou. “In their effort to keep data as secure as possible, many choose not to turn on tools such as Skype for Business – they lock them down. What they don’t realize, though, is that with the Microsoft platform we can log, limit and control information.”
Despite the challenges standing in their way, businesses are taking steps today to modernize their processes. And for those still considering the transition, Hazou recommends breaking the journey down into three manageable phases.
“The first step is to carry out a personae analysis, which involves understanding how various roles function, what certain workers already use to carry out their jobs today and what they will need in future,” says Hazou.
Then, it’s a case of looking at which workloads are going to be the easiest to modernize. “Consider trying out Office 365 or Skype for Business to manage smaller workloads. Start small and build up,” Hazou adds. “As time goes on, you will feel more comfortable modernizing larger workloads, such as e-mail workflow, business intelligence, risk management, data analytics, and so on. Take a gradual adoption and consumption approach, rather than rushing to digitize everything all at once.”
Over the coming months and years, Hazou believes that attitudes will change as more and more organizations realize the benefits of becoming truly digital workplaces. “As more employees – and customers – call for access to the types of tools they’re already used to having in their personal lives, the move will become inevitable,” he says. “Change is already happening, but it’s mainly occurring at the edge and endpoints. The truth of the matter is that people are becoming more and more productive in their personal lives and they expect the same types of experiences when they get to work; that’s a wave that can’t be ignored.”
