How ‘digital’ and ‘innovation’ have become the buzzwords

June 12, 2018 – The average person working in the financial industry in Uganda must hear the words ‘digital’ and ‘innovation’ more than five times a day. These terms have become buzz words, and are consistently dropped into PowerPoint presentations, and meetings.
This is not without reason. Every bank is now trying to figure out how to turn these two words into reality in their business. Yet, many have only seen a varying degree of success.
Digital innovation is, after all, one of the ways that all banks will seek growth. It is about being fit for the future, and being agile enough to respond to the needs of our customers – not just today - but also in the future. It is about making processes faster and more reliable, and getting closer to customers.
Some may argue that the banking industry’s quest to becoming digital and innovative is a matter of necessity to catch up with non-traditional players in the fintech space, who are increasingly becoming serious competitors in what was a traditional banking business space.
Many financial institutions’ approach to digital innovation is about transferring an existing process or service onto a self-service channel of sorts, without redesigning the offering or service.
This approach often doesn’t deal with, or improve, the underlying weaknesses in systems and often results in channels that customers are not willing to use. Many times, improving the user experience, or the simplicity and reliability, of the channel is often overlooked.
As Barclays Africa, we have an ambition to double our share of banking revenue across the continent - from 6 per cent to 12 per cent. An enabling capability that will help us achieve this, is to evolve into being a digitally-led bank.
Being ‘digitally-led’ doesn’t necessarily refer to building a digital bank. It is about digitising our enterprise, end-to-end, to improve the customer experience.
We aim to do away with legacy approaches, get closer to the customer, and become more agile in all areas, including decision making. We are passionate about our use of technology and the digital possibilities of the 21st Century. This will help us to achieve our growth ambitions.
We recognise there are challenges to overcome, one being the legacy systems. This is a challenge that all banks have to grapple with. These systems tend to have little flexibility and room for innovation, as well as interoperability with other ecosystems. When we negotiated a separation agreement from Barclays PLC, the terms of that agreement included a £765 million contribution towards us becoming a standalone, proudly African bank.
While we cannot disclose actual figures, we can say a fair share of that amount will go towards new technology investments, which includes replacing the old with new, fit for future tech.
We recognise that our customers’ needs are changing, and we are investing in digital platforms to offer more convenience. Our business operations are changing in line with our customers’ demands. We are responding to our customer’s needs.
As we seek to be a banking group Africa can be proud of, we are exploring ways to build world-leading new capabilities – bringing the best thinking, skills, design and digital capabilities to create a differentiated business.
Many institutions fail to innovate successfully simply because of their lack of speed and agility. Digital innovation is about quick and short cycles, as well as constantly improving the customer experience.
By the time slow institutions bring something to market or fruition, the market has already moved on, rendering obsolete their proud, but not-up-to-date, innovations.
We recognise these challenges, and are actively working towards mitigating them, to better the lives of all our stakeholders: from customers to communities, from staff to shareholders.
That is why we are building a bank that is not only fit for the future, but also for the customer of the future. A bank that is digitally-led, entrepreneurial, and driven by the needs of the customer.

Mr Katende is the head of customer experience
at Barclays Bank of Uganda Limited.