scale more easily. Traditional banks’ legacy architectures make continuous evolution more difficult, as upgrading hardware is often both time-consuming and expensive. In contrast, cloud technology, often used by neobanks, is far nimbler, with the concept of growth an inbuilt characteristic. Keeping pace with the customer Customer-centricity should be the ultimate priority for any bank, whatever the economic climate. It is no longer enough to be able to access banking amenities from your sofa, they need to be available 24/7 and easier to navigate than ever before. People say that television killed our attention span, but the pandemic finished off our patience. The good news is that, in the UK, banks have already invested in the cloud infrastructure to stay ahead of customer expectations. For example, Yorkshire Building Society knew that to maintain strong customer relationships it needed to move away from manual processes and allow employees to be more efficient. A shift to the cloud has enabled the organisation to become 90% paperless with staff spending less time searching for information on spreadsheets and more time accelerating customer service. This change has seen the Commercial Lending Department reduce the amount of time it takes to produce offer letters and facility agreements for customers by 75%. Similarly, Santander UK has been able to use cloud computing and digital tools to stay ahead of customer expectations. Technology investment has enabled faster loan origination and decisioning, ultimately improving the overall customer experience. This speed of service will be critical as banks scale up to better support customers over the coming downturn. However, it is not too late for those who have not yet embarked on the digital journey. Cloud solutions can be seamlessly implemented within a short period of time; start now and you and your customers will soon reap the rewards. “Over the COVID lockdowns, business lending in the EU increased by an average of 5.3% with banks struggling to keep pace with the steep increase in demand.” “A shift to the cloud has enabled the organisation to become 90% paperless with staff spending less time searching for information on spreadsheets and more time accelerating customer service.” “This change has seen the Commercial Lending Department reduce the amount of time it takes to produce offer letters and facility agreements for customers by 75% ” Finance Monthly. Bank i ng & F i nanc i a l Se r v i ce s 31
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