Leveraging relentless technological change for growth
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Ferris Bueller’s advice is more relevant than ever for today’s technology leaders. In our Reimagine Banking series, we highlighted technology as the foundation for progress. Now, the pace of change has accelerated, and there’s no pause button.
Technology has moved from the back office to the center of growth, resilience, and reputation. The challenge is not whether modernization happens, but how quickly banks can act to stay competitive.
What technology leaders face in a world of continuous change
The most pressing challenge – and opportunity – facing banks today is the continuing acceleration of technological change. New platforms, capabilities, and threats emerge at a pace that would have been unthinkable just a decade ago. The gap between those who adapt and those who hesitate widens with every innovation cycle.
This environment amplifies a set of persistent pain points:
- Accelerating pace of change: The velocity of new technologies, shifting regulations, and evolving customer expectations is only increasing. Banks must be able to adapt rapidly or risk irrelevance.
- Legacy systems: Inflexible and costly to maintain, legacy cores slow down innovation and make it difficult to respond to market shifts. In many cases these systems are draining budgets and frustrating customers.
- Customer data fragmentation: Siloed data limits actionable insights, personalization, and compliance.
- Integration complexity: Disconnected systems and point-to-point integrations hinder the launch of new capabilities and partnerships.
- Scalability challenges: Traditional architectures struggle to support growth, spikes in demand, or new digital channels.
- Unpredictable and rising costs: Technology spending is increasingly difficult to forecast and justify, especially as the cost of maintaining outdated systems rises
These challenges mark critical moments that determine whether a bank leads, follows, or falls behind.
Modernization that turns relentless change into growth
Banks recognize that to keep up with the accelerating pace of change, they must modernize. Research from industry experts confirms that digital banking and customer experience are at the top of the investment agenda, with digital deposit account opening and consumer banking digital channels as leading priorities.
Yet, the investment required to overhaul legacy systems can seem daunting. For years, banks have been asked to cut costs and “do more with less.” Now, modernization is no longer optional – it is a market and financial imperative. The cost of maintaining outdated systems is becoming harder to justify, especially as the speed of change accelerates and competitors leap ahead.
- Cloud transformation
Banks are moving away from expensive, rigid infrastructure, adopting cloud-first, hybrid, or banking-as-a-service models. Accenture reports that cloud migration is delivering 20–25% cost savings for leading institutions, while providing the flexibility to adapt as technology evolves1.
- AI and automation
Artificial intelligence and automation are delivering cost reductions of up to 25% and operational efficiency gains of 50%, enabling banks to reinvest in innovation and customer experience and to keep pace with the rapid evolution of digital banking2.
- Flexible, scalable platforms
Modern architectures empower banks to scale rapidly, launch new products efficiently, and integrate seamlessly with partners and fintechs, ensuring they are not left behind as the industry transforms3.
Turning technology pain points into strategic opportunities
For those who view it as an opportunity rather than a threat, the accelerating pace of change can be used to continually sharpen their competitive edge while widening their competitive moat. The key lies in taking action:
- Accelerating pace of change:
Build a culture and infrastructure that embraces continuous modernization. Prioritize adaptability and rapid adoption of new technologies to stay ahead of the curve.
- Legacy systems:
Upgrading core platforms increases flexibility, reduces operational drag, and positions banks to respond swiftly to market shifts.
- Data fragmentation:
Consolidating data assets enables actionable insights, supports tailored customer engagement, and strengthens compliance.
- Integration complexity:
Embracing open APIs and modular design streamlines integration, accelerates innovation, and expands the bank’s ecosystem.
- Scalability and cost transparency:
Leveraging cloud and automation delivers adaptable solutions with clear, predictable costs – transforming technology from a cost center into a source of competitive advantage.
The technology leader’s agenda
To adapt, evolve and thrive in an era of perpetual change, banks need more than technical expertise, they need strategic vision and market-leading execution skills across the entire organization. Here’s how technology leaders can turn disruption to their advantage:
Champion continuous renewal:
Recognize that modernization isn’t a one-time, one and done, project, it’s a mindset. Advocate for ongoing investment in composable platforms and practices that deliver agility, scalability, and innovation-readiness. Embed modernization into every activity. Seek out alternatives to risky rip and replace approaches.
- Drive efficiency and value:
Technology should deliver tangible, meaningful business outcomes fast. Harness cloud, AI, and automation to optimize costs and elevate operational performance. Ensure every technology initiative has a clear link to a business-oriented ROI, including customer experience improvements, not just cost reduction.
- Enable ecosystem collaboration:
Innovation accelerates when partners are included. Build open, interoperable API-driven systems that foster partnerships and ecosystem growth. Invest in architecture that supports openness and creates a foundation for growth while ensuring that the bank remains in control and is secure.
- Measure strategic impact:
IT isn’t just mission critical, it’s more important than that. Evaluate technology’s contribution to customer experience, resilience, and profitability – not just IT metrics. Enable real-time decision making by leveraging agile, dynamic dashboards that integrate operational and strategic metrics.
- Foster a culture of agility:
It starts and ends with people – they are the key to success. Encourage experimentation, learning, and rapid adoption of new technologies to stay ahead of the accelerating curve. Use cross-functional inception sessions and innovation sprints to turn prototypes into real-world products, fast.
Every technology initiative should reinforce the bank’s mission: enabling secure, resilient, and innovative banking for customers and stakeholders – no matter how fast the world changes. Leaders who champion renewal, measure impact and foster agility will turn change to opportunity.
Technology is changing fast, and that momentum is creating new opportunities for banks to grow. Those that update their systems, move to the cloud, use automation, and focus on delivering real value will turn today’s challenges into tomorrow’s wins. The pace isn’t slowing, hence now is the time to act.
References:
1Accenture (2022). Cloud Migration and Banking Transformation Report.
2Accenture (2022). AI and Automation in Financial Services Study.
3Bain & Company (2023). Automation and Efficiency in Banking Operations.
