Disruptive Technologies – Challenge? No, Opportunity!

I was in New York City  last week and got – once again – energized by the vibes of this dynamic city. An American friend of mine provided me with my first Uber experience.
Of course you have heard about this mega successful business concept that is so revolutionary and disruptive for the taxi and transport business. The experience was both, very convenient and inexpensive. The cars were clean, the drivers friendly and the fares more than competitive.  All customer interaction took place on the Uber app on the mobile phone.
The following day I did sign up for my own Uber account.

Here comes the next surprise: it did not take  even half a minute to establish the account and to confirm the email address.
I was immediately “ready to go”. Time to market, almost zero.
Well, why am I talking about Uber, you might wonder.
Take a minute or two and think about who is the Uber equivalent and who is the cab driver equivalent in the financial industry?
I know the comparison may appear slightly unfair but how long does it currently take to open a bank account, to purchase even a simple insurance or to apply for a credit card?
Think about how you could innovate and help your customers innovate reach the next level. It might not be something as big as Uber. However, why don’t you help clients and prospects to move from CAPEX to OPEX? To replace expensive upfront investments by cloud based SaaS consumption? Whether for regulatory risk reporting, for fee and commission management, or for the assessment of IT risks. Can you help to free up funding for innovation through significant efficiency and cost gains? If so, I am not concerned about your business. You will continue to be successful. If not, you, like others, may become again and again a victim of budget cuts and you and your customer might miss the window of opportunity to innovate.
I wish you, your teams and families a successful end of the year rally and enough time to reflect what will drive your success in 2016 and beyond.
If you need a sparring partner to join you in that type of reflection, I am only an instant phone call away.