Eliminating the Pain Point of Traditional Banking
Neri Tollardo, chief strategy officer at Tinkoff, a branchless credit card monoliner since its inception in 2006, now looks more like a tech company with banking and brokerage licenses. It serves more than 20 million customers with a full range of financial and lifestyle services through its digital ecosystem.
According to Tollardo, a key part of their internal ecosystem is Tinkoff Bank, one of the most profitable digital banks in the world and the first financial institution in Europe to launch its own super app. Aided by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), the award-winning super app empowers customers to tap into what’s most relevant to them.
“The app helps customers assess and plan their personal expenses, invest savings, earn loyalty program bonuses, book trips, purchase movie tickets, make restaurant reservations and perform other expense-related tasks in one place,” Tollardo said.
The Tinkoff ecosystem also includes services for businesses, such as Tinkoff Checkout, a one-stop shop for merchants of different sizes to accept payments and use a full range of acquiring services. The solution is customizable and works “like a Lego set, where each company can put together the pieces that best fit their needs,” Tollardo said.
Tinkoff Checkout already serves 100,000 customers and ranks 16th in the Nilson Report’s ranking of the 25 largest acquirers in Europe.
“Our approach is simple. Our goal is to solve the problems of the traditional banking and brokerage industries by providing an unparalleled digital user experience in the market for both individuals and businesses,” Tollardo concluded.
Tinkoff’s success is rooted in its own technology. Top software engineers, data scientists and finance professionals are among the 7,000 employees, more than 80% of whom focus on technology.
Silos must be removed
James Harrison, UK Manager, strabelieves that to build and sustain digital ecosystems, corporate culture must be central.
“Focused transformation, secure business practices, and successful behavior patterns all depend on breaking down silos and striving organizations to foster a culture that values collaboration between people, technology, and industry.
“Too often, the focus is entirely on the technology side of digital transformation rather than the people using the technology and the culture they operate in. Aligning business practices with a positive and open corporate culture , organizations can design people-centric digital ecosystems. In doing so, organizations can create an optimized environment, designed to create lasting positive change, where your people, not technology, are your valuable asset,” said Harrison. .
Harrison believes that a failure to align with employee culture, values and behaviors can create disjointed digital ecosystems. Considering that “a collaborative and people-centric approach can help change the culture to understand, adopt and advance digital ecosystems, transform the way partners and customers perceive the company and help attract and retain talent “, he added.
Ecosystems are based on trust
Emily Heath, SVP, Chief Trust & Security Officer – DocuSign, said, “The rapid emergence of mass digital transformation initiatives means that every organization is dramatically expanding the ecosystem of businesses connecting to it. Everyone has their own set of security requirements, and more often than not, security is only as strong as the weakest part of that ecosystem,”
Recognizing trust ultimately gives businesses a competitive advantage. Heath says there are three golden rules to consider when identifying the strength of trust within an ecosystem:
- Know the security postures of your vendors. This includes the continued sharing of details, including vulnerabilities. This transparency strengthens the bonds of trust within the ecosystem and improves its overall security.
- Know your suppliers by name. Being able to lean on a personal relationship when something goes wrong makes it much easier to collaboratively resolve challenges. Going through adversity builds confidence.
- Combine real-time intelligence tools with the soft skills of relationship building to rank each of your vendors. Spend time educating those who are struggling to deliver and interconnect your suppliers for knowledge sharing when it makes sense.
Heath added: “Ultimately, trust is about people. Designing a strategy that balances trust and security in equal parts is key to achieving safer environments. Although it never completely eliminates risk, trust is about people; depending on what you are doing and who you are doing it. It’s a real competitive differentiator.
