Banking Tailored to Client Needs

Aylon Spinner, Head of Technology Strategy and Architecture, CIB, Standard Bank Group

I started as a developer, after which I got into the IT architecture space to gain the knowledge and access into different technology systemsto help organisations enable their business strategy.

I have worked in a various industries including telecommunications and the multi-media world. Working with one of South Africa’s top telecommunications company, I was involved in digitising Fibre To The Home (FTTH) and implementing their E-sim functionalitythrough theirdigital channels. I also have experience working for one of Africa’s leading entertainment broadcasting companies where I was responsible for the payment integration. And, later, worked for one of Africa's top retail companies within their tech and innovation hub.

In 2021I joinedthe Standard Bank Group in Corporate and Investment Banking, focusing on business transformation.

What are some of the prevailing challenges and trends clients face in the IT industry today? What technologies or practices do you use to streamline your strategies and processes?

One of the main challenges is caused by the turbulenteconomic times that we are currently living in.I believe looking at the global economy currently, wemaylikely head into a recession, causing companies to pull back from increased investment and hiring. Without the necessary resources, companies will find it difficult to automate the processes that they urgently need and, at the same time, will need toreducecosts to offset potential losses.

Another challenge companies are currentlyfacing is talent retention. Our advanced technological skills are being massively impacted by the current ‘brain drain’which has gained momentum in the number of in-demand skills leaving the country to look for better opportunities abroad.

"Emerging technological trends like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning provide organizations with customer-centric data, which is becoming increasingly crucial in enabling us to improve and develop new products and services focusing on our client’s needs."

Furthermore, I am of the view that remote work poses challenges as it pertains to collaboration, acerbated by the current energy crisis in SA. We risk losinglosing profits duethe lack of electricity which impacts thedeliverables and the quality of work of staff working from home, especially as we maintain a hybrid way of working.

Emerging technological trends like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning provide organisations with customer-centric data, which is becoming increasingly crucial in enabling us to improve and develop new products and services focusing on our client’s needs. We look at data availability and assistour clients with better decision-makingby focusing on what they want. Implementing and utilizing AI and ML in the right way also makes a lot of difference.

Cybersecurity is another big trend that is crucial for the survival of organisations to protect data, revenue, and the uptime of services and applications. Many organisations are also incorporating cybersecurity training for their employees. Since people have become complacent with a normal password, cybersecurity training is going to help in the increasing adoption of multi-factor authentication, securing people’s digital IDs within organizations both personal and client facing.

Cloud migration and performance optimizationstrategies are being used by organisations to achieve better performance and reduce costs by any means. This increases cloud migration, assists with better security, lowers costs, andaccelerates the time to market compared to the traditional ways of managed services. We also need to keep a strong focus on continuous monitoring to make sure that what is developed is fit for purpose and otherwise refined or removed and, most importantly, to detect compliance and risk issues that may arise.

We use technologies like AI and ML to help us predictour clients’ specific needs, like the purchase of a product or service. Client retention is a high priority for most organisations and this can be attained by proactively anticipating their needs and marketing to them accordingly.  Staying client-centric is a priority for us when solving for client queries.

What advice would you share with your peers or budding industry leaders on how they can better position themselves to deal with challenges effectively?

We need to be able to handle skill shortages, since the availability and affordability of talent in the workforce is a problem. Prioritising employees is important, as without them, technology doesn’t matter. The great resignationtrend is one of the main catalysts for the lack of retention, increasing our reliance on managed service providers and their footprints to supplement our permanent IT teams. This ultimately also impactsthe retention of our intellectual property.Retainingour employees makes our organisation the ideal place to work.

Organisations also need to start centralising their tech capabilitiesto be a platform-focused organisations, promoting simplification and cutting costs gradually. The key to success is incorporatingthe reusability of resources, which can be used across capabilities and offerings within the platform.

Artificial Intelligence

Machine Learning

AI

Retail

Entertainment

Marketing