As financial institutions look to compete more effectively in the current marketplace, they are increasingly using design thinking as part of their process. It’s an approach that helps them develop products able to attract new customers while retaining the loyalty of those already in the fold.
It appears the conservative nature of the financial world is fading as these companies leverage new ideas to help foster success. Let’s take a closer look at how the practice of design thinking is impacting the financial services industry in a positive manner. Perhaps learning some of these skills helps your own tech career or the growth potential of your employer?
The Impact of Design Thinking In FinTech
A Focus on the Financial Services Customer
Ultimately, the main reason financial companies are beginning to use design thinking relates to better serving the customer. Design thinking isn’t only about building attractive logos or other graphic design elements on a website. Instead, it focuses on designing how things work. In the financial industry, this approach involves everything from products to websites to mobile applications.
Innovation is now vital to compete successfully in the modern financial marketplace. Design thinking plays a key role in creating innovative products and tools to let these organizations stand out from their competition. It leverages deep analysis – sometimes using information derived from data scientists – combined with strong intuition to help develop the products, apps, and websites necessary for success.
An Iterative Product Development Process
In the financial services industry, design thinking typically involves an iterative product development process, something not too different from how the Agile methodology works for software development. The key is taking a bottom-up approach that focuses on serving the true needs of the customer. Those ivory tower days of the banking industry are on their way out.
Design teams work closely with data scientists in the development and testing of various product ideas. The data scientists determine whether the products pass the financial muster essential for the company’s profitability, while other team members focus more on designing something that fits with the customer’s needs. As the team works through each iteration, the final product eventually becomes reality.
In the end, taking this approach helps financial services institutions stay ahead of the competition, which now includes different players, like Amazon, known for their customer-focused, innovative product design.
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