‘Banks need to be proactive in their approach to trends and innovations. A reactive stance is no longer enough to remain competitive.’
Swisscom’s Banking Innovation Lab offers banks the opportunity to test innovations and pioneering technologies such as artificial intelligence in a protected space. The proactive and scalable approach allows them to identify trends at an early stage and develop these into specific use and business cases together with industry experts.
January 2025, Text Tanja Dujic & Dr. Holger Harms 4 Min.
Innovations and trends are emerging faster and faster in the digital landscape and can disappear just as quickly. It is becoming increasingly difficult for banks, and Swisscom as their partner, to orient themselves and keep up with the speed. Staying on top of the range of innovations and taking responsible steps to keep pace with developments is an emerging challenge, often requiring a delicate balance. With all these new opportunities, banks have to be careful not to lose sight of the reasons for adopting trends and innovations: namely to ensure their profitability and sustainable growth while boosting customer satisfaction.
In a dynamic market environment, it’s no longer enough to simply react to trends. Future viability requires a proactive approach – the courage to view change as an opportunity, to shape the transformation and to break new ground. Swisscom’s Banking Innovation Lab opens up exactly these opportunities for banks.
Expert know-how from collaboration with leading partners and universities – specifically prepared for your strategic decisions.
In a two-stage process, the first step is to collect and evaluate ideas from different sources. ‘Our Innovation Board brings together specialists from Swisscom Banking units, trend scouting experts from e.foresight and feedback from our customers,’ explains Harms. The next step is to develop the most promising approaches to specific use and business cases and trial them together with banks.
One area of focus at this time is the possibilities offered by generative AI. ‘This technology is not only ideal for digital voice assistants, but also has enormous potential for optimising internal processes,’ says Harms. The key is to identify the right application scenarios for each bank and to develop and operate them using standardised systems and technologies. ‘It’s not about following every trend, but rather pursuing technical and banking ideas that offer real added value.’
To tap into this added value, banks need a protected space in which to experiment – with the support of experienced experts. ‘We create a kind of palette of innovations for our customers and test and refine these ideas to give colour to their individual visions of the future,’ explains Harms.
Especially in the regulated banking sector, trust is crucial. ‘As Swisscom Banking, we offer a unique combination of technical expertise and many years of experience and partnership with banks in a secure environment,’ emphasises Harms. A private cloud, including the Swiss AI Platform, enables secure and compliant processing of even sensitive data.
The Banking Innovation Lab is thus helping banks to play an active role in shaping their digital transformation. It showcases and assesses new technologies and enables banks to make targeted investments when a clear benefit can be seen.
After all, sustainable success is not only measured by the ability to recognise trends – first and foremost, it’s about identifying the right trends and implementing them consistently.
The Banking Innovation Lab offers the ideal platform for this, combining a culture of innovation, knowledge of the challenges facing banks and the muscle to implement innovations.