The world is getting harder to understand because it is changing faster and in ways that are hard to predict. I left Bank of America to return to IBM about 8 years ago, and since that time the questions that I have been asked to tackle have gradually changed from questions about how to build things to questions about what to build. As an architect I am still focused on banking channels, but I have morphed into a technologist engaged in business model innovation. Now, I spend a lot of time thinking about how banks can gain a competitive advantage by exploiting technologies to better engage customers.
This blog is a place for me to organize my thoughts about…
- Understanding the financial services industry and how it is changing
- Understanding technology trends and how they impact financial services and systems of engagement
- Positioning firms for success in financial services
- Envisioning the next systems of engagement for financial services
- Creating strategy, a strategy process, and how it all fits together
- Learning and innovating quickly (which takes us back to #1).
Or, in other words, figuring out better ways to figure out what to build.
I write each post in my blog to be useful to myself and others as a reference. My blog posts are based on my years of learning having read hundreds of books, worked for a leading US bank, co-founding a start-up, and built IBM products. Most recently at IBM, I have visited banks in about 30 countries to talk about the business drivers and technical challenges of providing integrated banking user experiences to retail and corporate customers.
I have published my blog because I hope to connect with others doing similar work. Figuring things out is always more fun and more productive when we do it together.
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