Banks are increasingly embracing innovations that enable them to further optimize end-customer services. Software as a Service (SaaS) is an opportunity for banks to do so. Michel Breeuwer of Mambu and Don Ginsel of Holland FinTech speak about the many advantages of SaaS.
“The legacy systems used by many traditional banks are not always working inherently with other systems. With Software as a Service this is not the case”, says Don Ginsel director of Holland Fintech. Since 2014 this platform provides access to knowledge, a network, investments and talent. “We connect people and organizations in the financial value chain, enabling consumers and businesses to benefit from innovation and development. Additionally, we closely monitor the innovations within Software as a Service. The bank, in this case the client, will be provided with the software. The installation will be managed by the provider while upgrades and future enhancements are automatic and streamlined. All in all, the client experiences no burden at all.”
Customer-centric
Michel Breeuwer is General Manager Benelux at Mambu, a company that offers a cloud-native Saas core banking platform. “We provide the ‘chassis’, where the bank is able to add on additional systems and components through seamless integrations in order to meet the customer’s needs. This way, the bank no longer has to worry about maintaining the system. As a result, customer centricity becomes the focus. A case that underlines this is New10, initiated by ABN AMRO. By making use of SaaS, they were able to set up a new bank in a very short period of time.”
“Fintech is rather interesting due to the rise of API’s, continues Ginsel. “Application Programming Interface is a software interface that allows two applications to communicate. This enables software solutions to connect seamlessly.”
Breeuwer carries on: “As New10’s solution is also API-first, it was easily combined with other components, and their own architecture.”
Ginsel adds on: “APIs offer the flexibility that is needed to work with various parties while incorporating the latest technologies into the product. Banks are therefore able to focus entirely on the customer. They communicate with them on the front end through an application, use analytics in order to identify their needs and ultimately present a tailored solution.”
Scalability and fine-tuning
“Mambu collaborates with large and hyper-scalable cloud providers, such as AWS, Google and Microsoft,” says Breeuwer. “Scalability is effortless and comes with a lower investment risk. Therefore, running tests in the market is very fast. SaaS enables businesses to fine-tune the banking experiences for their end users, such as with a specific proposition for a select customer segment. SaaS enables businesses to fine-tune their proposition, for example a specific proposition for a select customer segment. Once that is up and running they can expand the proposition to a new group. This means that banks can operate in a much leaner way, shortening the time to market and making results more measurable.”
Ginsel concludes: “Banks are also able to test a SaaS solution so they can draw conclusions based on their findings before making a final purchase decision.”
The future is in the cloud
Banking and financial services are rapidly moving towards SaaS solutions. This is due to increasing expectations of consumers and the possibilities offered by the cloud, including reduced costs, faster time to market and scalable growth. And the fact that nowadays, life without digital banking is nearly unimaginable.
