Business models need to evolve and change to meet new demand. During certain phases changes are incremental but at times a step change is required. Missing such moment in time may well mean the end of the business or the company.
Many organizations have difficulties to see the need for a step change. It is easier to focus on daily problems and find reasons for increasing difficulties in being successful. To step back and trigger fundamental changes is hard, requires guts and in some ways against human nature. People fear to lose something now and rather defer (eg reasons to not do) the opportunities to win in the future. Big change feels risky, staying and repeating what was successful before seems safer.
The caterpillar in the picture above had a great life so far. But in order to move on it is required to change the form and learn new capabilities. This is not about becoming a bigger or faster caterpillar or to add a few cool extensions – it is about fundamentally changing the nature and form. It requires fundamental changes to the way success is measured. As a butterfly would for not score high on the caterpillar KPIs – the opposite is also true.
For banks, this means to leave the world of brick and mortar ages and the management structures introduced by Taylor. New banking business models need to take advantage of the internet, create banking products which are digital in their core and embedded into the network. This does not automatically mean that everything becomes self-service – it means that humans involved need to add value and apply their authorised special abilities like creativity or empathy. It is the machines which follow predefined instructions and learns from patterns – humans complement this by finding creative solutions to problems based on empathy and emotions.
FINthinkers 