Digital transformation is coming to corporate banking. Corporate banking today is antiquated due to its highly customized and complex product offerings; lack of challengers to drive innovation; and strong barriers to switching for clients. Enterprise clients have lived with a subpar experience for far too long. Now these clients are starting to demand change. They want their banking partner to transform and offer a better experience and greater innovation.

Our annual business and technology leader survey shows that CFOs are prioritizing real-time insights and innovation over cost. CIOs are upgrading their business applications with data- and AI-driven platforms and ecosystems to manage their finances better. Payment software, commerce platforms, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, and other finance and accounting software are all targets for modernization.

In my research, a majority of business and technology leaders identified COVID-19 among the drivers of change in enterprise clients’ expectations and preferences. COVID-19 forced many banks to digitize a number of their processes such as client onboarding. Remote working further drove demand for more sophisticated mobile apps for corporate banking users to enable business continuity.

Corporate Banking Must Challenge The Status Quo 

Corporate banking leaders must strive to keep pace with their clients’ expectations and support them in their digital transformation success. They must transform their digital corporate banking. They need to come up with a strategic vision for corporate banking and build a capabilities roadmap. This vision must include the following four dimensions:

  • Digital experience: Deliver easy, effective, and emotionally engaging experiences. Disruptive digital businesses use technology to design better ways to deliver the outcomes customers value. Digital teams at corporate banks need to have a range of capabilities on their roadmap to boost their digital customer experience.
  • Digital operations: Reconceive products and capabilities to deliver better outcomes. A corporate bank will find itself trapped in a Potemkin village if it only enhances digital experiences by investing in customer-facing capabilities but doesn’t invest in its operations. To provide great end-to-end experiences to corporate clients, invest in modern business apps and capabilities.
  • Digital innovation: Continuously improve and break through at the digital frontier. No matter how you go about it — design thinking, agile development, rapid prototyping, or continuous delivery — you must transform product and experience development by starting small and adapting as you learn with rapid releases.
  • Digital ecosystems: Build platforms and partnerships to accelerate and scale. Corporate banks must develop or tap into the partner ecosystems. The cost of integrating business capabilities with suppliers, distributors, and partners has plummeted with the availability of APIs, internet connections, and digital delivery channels. Ecosystems help banks to focus on their core competencies and determine what they can borrow from others.

Read my report titled “The Digital Transformation Of Corporate Banking” to learn more about this strategic vision and the underlying capabilities roadmap. You’ll also find insights into emerging digital trends and best practices across cash and liquidity management; payables and receivables; reporting and dashboarding; and trade and supply finance.