Portals, platforms and ecosystems in corporate banking

Background—portals, platforms and ecosystems

Considering the environment of an omnipresent urge to digitalize and a prolonged phase of low interest rates, banks face a dynamic market environment. In this context, they perceive digital solutions—above all portals, platforms and ecosystems—as particularly critical for success. This article is one of a three-part series that deals with the content, observed market behavior and banks’ strategic options with respect to those three topics.

In the first article of this series, we begin with defining the terms portal, platform and ecosystem and distinguishing them clearly. We show that despite the close interconnection of these concepts, their clear differentiation is essential for achieving a profound understanding.

In the second article, we carry out a structured analysis of the range of different digital solutions for corporate customer business. Here we focus on the German-speaking area (Germany, Austria and Switzerland).

A look at the market reveals that at present, portals are extremely widespread. Platforms and ecosystems, on the other hand, are virtually non-existent on the market—presumably also because many institutions still lack a clear idea of possible options for action or concrete procedures. This is where this third article in the series ties in, which concludes by summarizing concrete recommendations for developing portals, platforms and ecosystems for banks.

Recommendations: Developing portals, platforms and ecosystems

Below we give our recommendations for developing portals, platforms and ecosystems. We focus both on central success factors that banks need to keep in mind when implementing such digital solutions as well as on concrete process models and design examples. We base our recommendations on zeb project experience gained through cooperation with various banks of different sizes and sectors. They are intended as an orientation for implementing portals, platforms and ecosystems and should be designed individually against the background of the respective in-house objective and the initial situation (e.g. customer base, technical possibilities or financial resources).

Recommendations for portals More about the topic

Recommendations for platforms More about the topic

Recommendations for ecosystems More about the topic

Conclusion and outlook—portals, platforms and ecosystems in corporate banking

Portals, platforms and ecosystems are increasingly important in corporate banking. A specialized, high-performance offering can represent a significant competitive advantage and open up opportunities for new, additional sources of income. This makes it even more important that institutions do not simply add these terms to their strategic agenda in wait-and-see fashion, but implement them in a prompt and decisive fashion to be able to offer effective solutions to their customers. Institutions should therefore not waste time in writing comprehensive concepts that are long awaiting implementation, but rather proceed “hands-on”, develop an MVP and refine it together with their customers. Only this approach allows to develop and establish a system on the market that genuinely serves customers’ needs!