Digital Transformation Readiness Tool for FIs - LFS has Assessed the Digital Readiness of 13 FIs in 7 Developing Countries Across 3 Continents
Originally, as part of a project financed by KfW in Yemen, LFS developed a Digital Transformation Readiness Tool for Financial Institutions. The tool (now fully commercial) is designed to assess the gaps a Financial Institution has in developing front end customer tools and channels, the process of digitizing its data, and data handling (in the middle office) and digitalizing (back office) processes. To date, the tool has been applied with 13 Financial Institutions, including Investment Banks, Commercial Banks, Micro Finance Banks & Institutions as well as Savings and Credit Cooperatives - this in Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, Georgia, Malawi, Egypt, and Yemen.
The tool covers a total of 132 weighted questions over 10 categories to give a holistic company Digital Readiness Assessment. Areas covered include Project Management, Risk Management, Financial Capacity as well as Digital Transformation Strategy, the (national) DFS ecosystem, and Technology. The tool offers a flexible scoring model to quantify the client’s status quo, making it possible to benchmark an institution’s performance against other Financial Institutions. The tool also has qualitative functionality, so that targeted feedback can be given to the client. The outcome of the assessment is a report that highlights key findings and makes conclusions and recommendations. This is presented to and discussed with the management as well as the respective head of department in charge of the Digital Transformation.
The Financial Institutions we have assessed have varied widely. While some have been mature, have already implemented sophisticated Digital Transformation strategies, are already using digital channels, and are fully integrated with national switches, other clients are at a much earlier stage and predominantly only offer services through the traditional banking channels. While the more advanced Financial Institutions have appreciated nuanced feedback and hints on how and where to improve, those at the early stage of their transformation journey appreciated the identification of quick wins.
We are proud to have supported a range of Financial Institutions on their way to becoming more digital and, thereby, able to offer more efficient and (potentially) cheaper services to their customers while increasing convenience and accessibility and making the entire customer journey better.
We look forward to supporting more Financial Institutions in their Digital Transformation journey in the near future. If you want to learn more about our Digital Transformation Readiness Tool for FIs, please do not hesitate to contact Chris Statham (chris.statham@lfs-advisory.com) or Konstantin Schroeter (konstantin.schroeter@lfs-advisory.com).
