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Looking For Your Next Role? EVPs Can Help!

Looking For Your Next Role? EVPs Can Help!

Today more than ever, EVPs or employee value proposition is gaining prominence – amongst active job seekers and employees thinking of their next workplace. EVP is an employer’s promise to employees that includes all tangible benefits and softer rewards in return for their commitment. The ‘value promised’ – often a combination of 3 – 5 pithy but potent messages – comes across company websites, internal and external messaging, and the organization’s physical spaces.

Why are EVPs crucial for job seekers?

Most people survey today posit how prospective employees (especially Millennials) rank a company’s culture as high as compensation. Admittedly, EVPs shape company culture. That is why it gets vital for job seekers to scrutinize if a company’s culture resonates with the unique person they are or want to grow into.

Most EVPs speak (directly or indirectly) about people practices – such as performance management, shared values, learning opportunities, growth, and exposure. The second benefit of examining EVPs is that a job seeker can benchmark it against other companies and better imagine how life at a future company will feel.

Let’s take an example to play out how EVPs function

Post-pandemic, the emphasis on employee well-being has grown manifold. Consequently, the topic of work-life balance has come up more than ever. After all, two years of remote work has shown that employees can benefit significantly from the autonomy of working from anywhere.

Learning from this, a few progressive organizations are creating work practices (and investing in remote work hubs) that foster genuine engagement and higher employee satisfaction. The definition of ‘work’ at these companies is shifting from ‘input’ to ‘output.’ This is an example where a cultural practice – ‘work-life’ balance – is organically brought into a value proposition (and more than an HR principle)

Changing Roles? How to leverage EVPs

First, it takes little time between reading an employer’s value proposition and deciding if it will fire up your passion! Beyond your roles and competencies, committing to a company’s mission is a matter of finding a cultural fit. Delivering enthusiastically on KRAs becomes a natural progression when this fit is great.

Said another way, either an EVP perks you up or it doesn’t. So, before you sign on the offer acceptance, consider it well; the ‘middle-ground’ choices don’t work best in the long term.

How does a job seeker bring a critical eye to EVPs?

  • Website – Begin by spending time reading the company’s EVP page.
  • Talk to employees – Discuss with the hiring manager and recruitment teams how the EVP is brought to life in the real world. Best is to talk to the employer branding team, as they are the ones who connect all the pieces together and would be able to explain the value proposition of an organisation better.
  • External sites – Study the social media handles, the organisation’s digital campaigns and the reviews of employees/ex-employees on the employer review sites like Glassdoor, Ambition-Box etc., to gauge the culture and other rewards beyond the paycheck. Keep an open mind while reading the reviews, as some of them can be deliberate, as there’s always two sides of a coin. Ultimately, you’re the best judge.
  • Lastly, check our social network for ex-employees and friends-of-friends and quiz them on their first-hand EVP experiences.

About Maveric-Systems

Since 2000, Maveric Systems has been a niche, domain-led Banking Tech specialist partnering with global banks to solve business challenges through emerging technology. 3000+ tech experts use proven frameworks to empower our customers to navigate a rapidly changing environment, enabling sharper definitions of their goals and measures to achieve them.

Working with global and regional leading banks, Maveric teams are at the forefront of tech adoption. Transparent people strategies are co-created at Maveric from ground-up insights and executed at scale with trademark speed.  Our Employee Value Proposition is exceptional projects, outstanding learning opportunities, exceptional leaders, a distinctive culture of learning and adventure, all of which adds to the bottom line i.e., employees’ accelerated growth.

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Tips To Grow Your Corporate Banking Services

Tips To Grow Your Corporate Banking Services

There is no universally applicable answer to how banks determine radical growth strategies. More questions must be answered before one can fix the much-debated matter.

  • Given the current resources and competitive stacking, which unconventional growth prospects align well?
  • How many current opportunities can be pursued in a reasonable amount of time?
  • What governance structures should be implemented, as well as what organizational approaches?
  • What are talent pools required to pursue these innovations?

Regardless of the prospects that corporate banks pursue, they must invest in the new-age digital capabilities of design thinking, open innovation, advanced data analytics, personalization, and omnichannel customer service.

Success does not come with a hurried approach of driving too many initiatives simultaneously but from a clear understanding of which capabilities can generate the most value quickly, often in consultation with niche banking technology experts, such as Maveric Systems.

Growth Cycle For Corporate Banking

Growth Tips for Corporate Banking Services

Expand Value Offerings across the customer journey

For most consumers, dealing with a bank is merely a means to an end, such as securing a safe retirement, expanding a business, or purchasing a property. However, most banks prefer to focus primarily on discrete, bank-centric moments in the customer’s broader journey, such as providing a mortgage, while the customer’s more significant objective is purchasing a home. Banks need to focus on substantial value more than just the bank-related portion of the total experience. Banks can expand by engaging customers at other phases of their decision-making process.

Grow beyond the core into adjacent ecosystems

A tight emphasis on core adjacencies disregards the broader role a bank can play for its clients. By expanding their ecosystems beyond the conventional core, banks can leverage their existing customer base and operational skills, enhance customer interaction, and collect data that will provide a more comprehensive perspective of their customers’ requirements. As a strategy for expansion, banks have historically depended on educating clients about appropriate goods. This strategy involved adding additional banking products in the past, and there are better approaches than this one.

 Explore Community Marketing

As banks differ in size and capability, commercial development in the banking industry will vary from market to market. Small banks may have only one or two branch offices, while large commercial banks may have thousands of branches around the country. Regardless of a bank’s scale, each branch must develop locally-tailored marketing tactics to serve its immediate community. Consumers bank at locations where they feel safe and at ease. This necessitates tellers and account reps who are bilingual in English and any other prominent language in the community. By requiring branch managers to consider the local community’s requirements, the bank can attract a more significant proportion of its target market.

Premium Services

This is an excellent method for increasing bank deposits, as premier services are designed to attract clients with high net worth. Customers with a high net worth frequently have unique wants and expectations. Private bankers who can locate the optimal solutions to meet comprehensive financial conditions typically provide superior service. Client confidence is increased when a select group of private bankers individually handles all transactions and account reviews.

Conclusion

Even though it may be a difficult time to be in the financial services industry, there are numerous prospects for business expansion. The long-established products and services of the past, distributed via physical distribution networks using conventional sales and marketing approaches, are no longer suitable for their intended purpose. By embracing digital-first strategies and personalized solutions, legacy FIs can break free from legacy systems or decades-old procedures.

The possibilities mentioned above can be tapped through digitalization, which promises, among other benefits, increased convenience, enhanced client experiences, lower overhead, and a quicker time-to-market.

About Maveric

Starting in 2000, Maveric Systems is a niche, domain-led Banking Tech specialist partnering with global banks to solve business challenges through emerging technology. 3000+ tech experts use proven frameworks to empower our customers to navigate a rapidly changing environment, enabling sharper definitions of their goals and measures to achieve them.

Across retail, corporate & wealth management, Maveric accelerates digital transformation through native banking domain expertise, a customer-intimacy-led delivery model, and a vibrant leadership supported by a culture of ownership.

With centers of excellence for Data, Digital, Core Banking, and Quality Engineering, Maveric teams work in 15 countries with regional delivery capabilities in Bangalore, Chennai, Dubai, London, Poland, Riyadh, and Singapore.

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4 Digital Transformation Trends in Corporate Banking for 2022

4 Digital Transformation Trends in Corporate Banking for 2022

The recent global crisis spotlighted retail banking, but similar forces are at work in the corporate banking sector. Out of sight often means out of mind. However, the jolt for corporate banks overly reliant on paperwork and branch dependencies is real.

For corporate banks, the need of the hour is to pivot to new mindsets and create partnerships in the fast-evolving ecosystem influenced by pure-play B2B ecosystems (Paysme, Tinkoff, Stripe) and BigTechs (Amazon). It will be essential to bounce back from pandemic aftershocks and transit to banking models that are experiential, sustainable, and inclusive.

2022 Corporate Banking Landscape.

Complicating the turbulence are hardly new factors – stringency in regulation, shifting millennial client needs, digital revolution, and globalization. Unsurprisingly, Bill Gates spoke of banks as dinosaurs almost three decades ago.

In times of shrinking lending margins, increased cyber security breaches, tech-savvy customers, and the fast-and-furious inroads of Fintechs, corporate banks must leverage big data and scale their advanced analytics capabilities. We are past the tipping point; 2022 is the turnaround year.

  1. Customer experience is now business of experience: Consider this August 2021 report. 97% think banking apps as a customer service tool must have a place in corporate banking. 66% say yes for chatbots and virtual assistants, and 72% for mobile wallets. The dire need for corporate banks to simplify their business processes using intelligent automation is brought home by a sobering stat: 1 in 5 millennials plan to bypass corporate work and start enterprises. Be it the digital-first mindset, mobile-friendly attitude, their businesses having international components, or the information-hungry behavior; corporate banks must pivot from banking to the business of experience. After all, commercial clients using digital services for their personal needs know how vital seamless and experiential journeys are. Given the heightened intolerance levels, it is a plot that corporate banks cannot get wrong. Here’s the evidence: An October 2020 survey showed that in the previous 12 months (coinciding with the pandemic’s peak), 16% of SMEs switched banks against the industry average of 10%.
  2. From traditional supply-chain finance to ecosystem platforms and B2B super apps. Marketplace ecosystems enable geographic expansion and create new business models and sources of finance. With a Banking-as-a-service platform (open banking), leading organizations (Citi, DBS, for instance) are leveraging APIs to open data and services to third parties. For example, BBVA revamped its supply chain finance solution, allowing third parties to retrieve business user balances and transactions in a market standard format. Unlike stand-alone operating banks relying only on the internet with limited solutions (supplier finance and distributor finance), ecosystem platforms bring in broader market players (membership banks, trust companies, and multiple corporates). The shift is in technology (blockchain included) and business models (trading platforms, client brokerage, and IT solutions services). The People’s Bank of China recently coordinated a new platform to leverage blockchain technology. The outcomes? Improved capital efficiency and surge in the financing, not to mention the scope of future innovations.
  3. Back to Basics with Open Banking: Be it achieving operational excellence, customizing product proposition, or leveraging data and analytics, corporate banks in 2022 will adopt a ‘back-to-school’ approach. Scrutinize manual processes and then understand customer expectations by looking at the tools and products they use; corporate banks can then move to test the stability and security of their services (front-office and back-office ones). Why is this important? Because as open banking lifts off, the revenue opportunities ($9.6 Bn, 2022) and the SMEs that will adopt it (71%) are simply unmissable. Even so, open banking allows better tracking of business performances and simplifies accounting, payroll, and auditing.

What about the other drivers? For one, boosting operational excellence (including sales force enablement and process digitization) will improve cost structures and customer experience. Secondly, customizing product propositions will facilitate sector-specific solutions, and leveraging data and analytics across pricing, selling, retention, and prospecting will augment corporate banks’ revenues.

  1. Accessing Automation: As OCR technology enables corporate banking to beat legacy systems and paper-based documentation, automation’s role in 2022 will only grow. Simplifying applications, automated underwriting, dynamic documenting, e-signing, and paperless transactions will be the various transition points to a bank’s touchless process. A recent study by Dun & Bradstreet reports that 36% of businesses had already begun to automate specific tasks.

Pre-automated techniques from the front office, central processing, and authorizations must transit to AI-automated processes. Per March 2021 KPMG CEO Outlook Pulse Survey, 74% of business leaders report that digitization of their operations and formulation of the next-generation operating model has picked up from 50% (as reported in August 2020).

Conclusion

As corporate banks take on multi-headed challenges – upended trade finances, risk in cash-flow crunches, complying to newer sustainability standards, and meeting head-on the growing threat of B2B super apps – their solutions would encompass data mining, incorporating analytics in processes, and adopting ‘as-a-Service’ models.

2022 as a year will test incumbent banks for their transformative mindsets. At stake are resiliency and relevancy.

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Ten critical soft skills to accelerate your next IT career

Ten critical soft skills to accelerate your next IT career

Information Technology as a career discipline requires innate technical knowledge to excel at one’s job, but that may not be enough to succeed and go to the next level. It has long been accepted that the combination of the right software proficiencies and interpersonal abilities ensures promotion year after year. This makes soft skills equally essential for growth, especially in the upper echelons of the hierarchy. Skill bundling which essentially brings to light the need to ensure everyone has competency in more than one skill is a critical evaluation hiring parameter today. Thanks to the pandemic, the game has undergone an upgrade, becoming a little more complicated considering the nature of how we work has changed beyond belief.

Restructuring the job market

The events of 2020 forced us to reimagine the working culture and had swift and lasting effects on our workplaces. An abrupt shift to remote working became prevalent across numerous industries, resulting in changes in how we function as individuals and as teams. Employees found themselves adapting and bringing social capabilities like flexibility, and collaboration to the forefront.

Analytical and creative thinking, out-of-the-box ideas, design and consumer-centric mindset, business acumen, and agility are some of the marks on the measuring scale one must pass in a professional setting. Incidentally, these are also set to be the top 10 focus areas of those in employment in contrast to the more technical skills which were in-focus in 2019 according to the World Economic Forum’s 2020 report on Future of Jobs.

So, how do you ensure that you are in tandem with what talent acquisition personnel are seeking and be a part of a thriving IT firm?

Here are 10 soft skills now called the ‘Power Skills’ that will help you bag your dream job and move up the corporate ladder.

  • Adaptability – Being malleable is a crucial component for career growth as the age old saying goes ‘It is better to bend than break’. Being open to learning new things, taking on new tasks, and making modifications to suit workplace transitions will go a long way. The pandemic brought to light the severe uncertainty with which businesses operate. Therefore, agility and adaptability are a highly regarded soft skill in practically all organisations, especially today. So much so that it dictates work patterns through the Agile 2.0 model adopted by most IT organisations.
  • Collaboration – With Agile mode of functioning and remote access to teammates, collaboration has become even more necessary for IT professionals to fulfil a business task. To be a future leader, one must be able to work with everyone, despite differing perspectives. Special preference is also given to individuals if they carry the right attitude in dealing with ambiguity and supporting the entire team to focus on a common goal.Since firms have adopted WFH in the pandemic, a highly collaborative working between the development, testing, DevOps, and business teams makes success a shared goal. Increased interactions beyond work also make it easier to band together in times of crises, which in turn ensures high yield.
  • The X Factor of Creativity – Given the highly demanding world we live in today, IT professionals are required to look ahead, anticipate challenges, and develop solutions for the future. This kind of foresight needs a lot of imagination and creativity. A popular myth is that some people are inherently creative, and some aren’t. While it is true that some people may have a naturally artistic bent of mind, creativity can be acquired through exercising different ways of thinking. Akin to any other talent, it requires consistent hard work and practice. To expand your creativity spectrum, it is advisable to hone your hobbies beyond the scope of technical requirements to broaden your capability of being ingenuitive.
  • Risk Taking appetite and resourcefulness – IT professionals need to have an appetite for risk taking. IT employers prefer risk taking and a mind-set for building their future leaders. Being resourceful in IT on the face value may seem like you must know how to discover technology, software, and new products that enhance your productivity at work, but it is clearly more than that. IT personnel who are willing to stay ahead and informed through various subscriptions and competitions (such as ethical hacking), can prove to be an asset to the organisation. Getting monotonous and redundant will hinder your growth, hence keep an eye for new learning and strive to stay abreast on acquiring new knowledge.
  • Emotional intelligence / quotient – EI / EQ is a critical soft skill for leadership and is becoming most sought after in hiring across industries. It is essential in developing high-performing teams, especially with today’s focus on company culture and teamwork. We are wary of the traumatic impact of Covid on our lives, thus highlighting the need for emotional intelligence and empathy towards each other. In a WFH setting, you certainly need to practice emotional intelligence to ensure effective teamwork.
  • Communication – Today, nearly every IT role requires communication skills. With the high number of emails, proposals, and design documents that an IT professional sends out, clear communication is crucial. With the quantum of work and responsibilities, ineffective and incoherent communication is bound to have a negative impact on your projects. Today, communication is beyond face to face, thus mastering effective communication regardless of the medium is now more important than ever. With tools like Skype, Slack, Flock in addition to internal platforms, have aided IT professionals to map workflow and daily tasks with their teams effortlessly.
  • Analytical abilities – An IT professional is essentially a problem solver. The knack of being able to anticipate challenges/issues before they occur and feel motivated to learn about different technologies becomes crucial to be able to survive in a competitive environment. In the IT industry, you are not only expected to be able to detect and fix technological problems using analytical skills, but also problems that may arise in your team. As an IT professional, being data-minded helps in finding actionable solutions and identifying insights.
  • Curiosity – IT professionals who exhibit an inquisitive streak have a distinct advantage as they come across as eager learners and have an insatiable yearning for knowledge. Curiosity about the inner workings of technologies as well as people, will get you a long way in your career and life. Reading research papers, solving assessments, and seeking answers will not just broaden your perspective but also contribute to your holistic growth.
  • Perseverance – Giving up on the task at hand at the first sign of conflict, doesn’t bode well in any situation, especially in your workplace. As technology is ever evolving, there is a new challenge on the horizon every day, and perseverance is a must-have skill for keeping up with the pace of the dynamic industry.
  • Presentation Skills – With information at hand, it is equally important to know how to put it across to your team. As an IT professional, you will be required to present your ideas and projects comprehensively. To convey your thoughts in a cohesive manner, being comfortable with your team should be of paramount importance. It is possible to acquire that confidence by simple public speaking exercises and narrowing down your points to a crystal clarity.

Like famous author Daniel Goleman once said, ‘ ’In a high-IQ job pool, soft skills like discipline, drive and empathy mark those who emerge as outstanding’’. Thus, as the definition of modern workplaces is constantly changing, merely acquainting, and learning the technical aspects of your IT job is not enough. Identifying and honing soft skills too will increase your productivity, build lifetime professional relationships, and help you thrive at your job. These 10 critical soft skills can accelerate your next IT career.

Originally published on TimesJobs

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Digital Transformation in Corporate Banking

Digital Transformation in Corporate Banking

Today, more than ever, people value the ability to transact and carry out tasks from the comfort of their homes or on the move otherwise referred to as ‘anytime anywhere’ banking. Corporate banking is in the cusp of revolutionizing its identity with significant layers of digital transformation.

This blog reflects existing roadblocks of digital transformation in corporate banking, the focus areas and the limitless benefits associated.

Existing roadblocks in digital transformation for Corporate Banking

The pace of digital transformation in corporate banking is slower in comparison to retail banking. Many existing dilemmas reside within this segment which causes a hindrance towards effective digital transformation.

  • Monitoring and management: Portfolios and positions in corporate banking need consistent monitoring and management, which might be challenging to do digitally. Corporate bank customers go beyond looking for banks that provide financial services; they often want partners to help them manage their businesses properly.
  • More at Stake: The relationships in corporate banking require more commitment from the customer and bank, which can be challenging to achieve. Since the stakes are higher, the risks also increase their reluctance to foray into digital transformation in corporate banking.
  • Complex to Implement: Retail processes are more straightforward and more linear to understand, making it easier to adopt digital transformation processes without a hassle. The services in retail banking are also very productized, making them easy to navigate. On the other hand, corporate banking might mean that a large corporation has many accounts across geographies, currencies, and banks, complicating it.
  • Corporate banking is relationship-driven: As opposed to retail banking, corporate banking is developed by relationships that might have taken several years to build in some cases. Many of these relationships were from in-person meetings and interactions using paper documents. It has been challenging carrying over and using digital transformation in corporate banking for these relationships.

The four ways of digital transformation in corporate banking

While there are existing roadblocks in digital transformation, corporate banks can still manage to transform digitally which can yield them accelerate business growth. We have listed for ways

Predictive insights through Big data and Analytics for improving sales pipeline

Banks have access to a lot more information than other companies in other industries. They collect data through onboarding, account openings, and the several transactions carried out. Meaningful insights can be drawn out from such data for boosting sales and marketing effectiveness. For example, Big-data and analytics can play a significant role in personalizing customer engagements. This means, banks can recommend appropriate products suitable for a particular customer. Similarly, service improvements can be initiated using sentiment analytics.

Digitize commercial routines to improve front-office efficiency and effectiveness

In corporate banking, relationship managers usually spend lower than 30% of their time in client-facing activities. Banks have tried using many front-office initiatives to no avail; the introduction of digital transformation in corporate banking can help solve this problem better. Process digitization can give the relationship managers more free hand to have more time to interface with clients and even use some digital channels for further communication.

Many front-office software solutions allow these relationship managers to organize their activities and complete administrative tasks quicker. This way, they can meet up with colleagues and prepare themselves for client interactions based on their profiles.

Enhance connectivity with clients and cost-to-sere by using true multichannel banking

Corporate banking models only consider relationship managers as the only vital sales channel and often neglect multi-channel support. This goes back to the relationship-driven nature of corporate banking and the management method. Banks can use digital transformation in corporate banking to use multi-channel banking methods. Some others have started experimenting with more unique coverage models and multi-channel offers for corporate entities.

Digital technologies allow some customers to engage with the bank and perform some activities online, such as capturing information which could even be through mobile devices. Only the complex questions are routed to the relationship manager. These multi-channel methods also allow the banks to reduce their costs to serve customer segments that do not generate as much revenue and justify costs in the relationship manager model.

Automating processes from beginning to end through quick process digitization

End-to-end processes are formulated to reduce complexity and make a customer’s journey faster, smoother and stress-free. Digital transformation in corporate banking regarding the client onboarding process can reduce the time taken from about two weeks to less than 48 hours. Apart from faster processing of procedures, there is also a considerable decrease in error and cost reduction.

Many banks have employed automation and lean methodology processes such as continuous improvement and reducing waste to foster better end-to-end processes. This way, banks can implement digitization technologies through short stints compared to multi-year or multi-month projects, which take too long for results to show. By using digital transformation processes, you can start seeing significant results in weeks.

A Success Story

Build-out-the-bank program for Allica

Download this case study

Top focus points of digital transformation in Corporate Banking

While developing tools for digital transformation in corporate banking, consider these areas as it is one of the most important to customers:

  • Risk management: Consider intuitive tools to help customers keep track of the constantly changing risks in credit, interest rates, operations, regulatory compliance, currency, and information security.
  • Liquidity management: Develop methods by which customers can easily manage funds for financing, investment, and operations.
  • Cash management: Look at easy-to-use solutions that make buying, lending, collections, letters of credit, payments, information reporting, investing, and foreign exchange easier.
  • Data management: Develop tools that foster partnerships and collaboration with creditors, technology service providers, chief financial officer, investors, and banks.

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What can digitization offer to Corporate Banks?

  • Competition Edge: New technologies will continuously develop, which will lead to an increase in specialized skills. Digitization isn’t a one-and-done process. It ensures you are ready for the next technology wave, and you can position yourself to cater to customers and offer new solutions. Allowing employees to develop these skills will sustain the bank’s growth and keep you ahead of competitors.
  • Time to market: Digital transformation in corporate banking gives far less time for the banks to release products to the public. Because of the continuous integration and continuous deployment processes, banks can reduce their testing time and release products to their customers quicker.
  • Customer Experience: Today, people are looking for services that make their lives easier more than ever. Digital methods focus on providing the best customer experience to stay competitive. Companies that focus on the customer’s journey increased speed and agility in insights, customer adoption of digital customers, and agility in transformations will be the authority.
  • Process Simplification: Digital transformation methods have shortened the steps and processes for businesses to connect with their clients. Technology has made it easier for people to connect and banks leveraging that advantage for their digitization brings their workforce and whole architecture together.
  • Cost Savings: From managing physical documents to scheduling and making it for in-person meetings, digital transformation in corporate banking considerably cuts down your costs.

How can Maveric help in digital transformation for Corporate Banking?

Maveric is a solution-led banking transformation provider for retail banking, corporate banking and wealth management. As an award winning transformation partner for many leading corporate banks, we can bring our contextual solutions, frameworks and proven accelerators to plan and execute your digital transformation goals. Our extensive banking domain coverage, contextual solutions, insights-led engagement and high velocity execution has enabled us to be a partner of choice for digital transformation.

Conclusion

Digital transformation is an unavoidable topic in corporate banking. Agility and flexibility of banks to respond faster to their customers will be the key to success. Furthermore, superior customer experience with insights led ecosystem will be the ultimate goal through exponential digital transformation.

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