SPECIALIST INSIGHT
3 . Why was there a need to build a mobile banking app and what strategic objectives did the app fulfil ?
We have a very purpose-built digital strategy . We were one of the first Italian banks to provide Internet banking . We already had a mobile banking application , but we felt we could better respond to digital disruptors and the proliferation of Open Banking by improving our mobile offering , which , we realised , would put us in a stronger position .
VATION BANCA
with blockchain . I think this mix of technical innovation and staying connected to the local ecosystem has helped us stay relevant over the past century . It ' s our mantra that true growth takes place when you help the community around you to evolve : their growth is our growth and vice versa .
But like all incumbents , we ’ re faced with a new set of challenges posed by digital-first challenger banks and the emergence of Open Banking , as well as competition with other , larger traditional banks . This led us to be more responsive to the needs of the market and accelerate our digital roadmap . However , we serve a very large , traditional customer base , with most consumers not being digital natives . We try to take this into account whenever we develop new products and services as we want our solutions to be accessible to as many people as possible .
2 . What does your day-to-day look like at Credem Banca ?
– which covers everything from mobile banking , self-service cash desks and our contact centre applications – to overseeing software development and maintenance .
I lead the bank ’ s ‘ touchpoints ’ team , who are a mixture of in-house developers , engineers and third-party contractors all working on several different projects at once . I also oversee our new ‘ digital factory ’ – an agile team of people from different departments working together to improve efficiency , maintain quality and release products faster .
We used to release new upgrades to our mobile channel once or twice a year . However , we knew we had to be more agile and accelerate that level of innovation . So , we set ourselves a goal to release new upgrades every month – which we have maintained to this day . We have modernised our approach by leveraging new cloud technologies , platforms and operating systems to support software development and rapid deployment . However , we never lost sight of the fact that we needed to ensure digital experiences that would meet the needs of our customers . While omnichannel can be a buzzword , physical branches still play an important role in any bank ’ s digital strategy for catering to customers .
4 . How did Applause utilise real people to make the app universally accessible ?
A by-product of increased focus on digital is the need for rigorous feature and usability testing . We needed to understand how people of different age groups and technical abilities , using different devices , would interact with the application . There were also many nuances that we knew our
My role is split between ensuring the delivery of services across all our digital channels
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