Are you set up to benefit from innovation as you create, manage, and monitor products in today’s heavily regulated environment?

You need a simple framework that can help you keep track of products, build trust, and keep your house in order.

Compliance with emerging regulations, such as ESG and FEC, and streamlined product governance needs modern processes that involve the right stakeholders at the right time, and the technology that simplifies and clarifies product evolution.

Picking the right partner for this journey is important
As a leading global management consulting firm spanning governance, risk, compliance, and digital innovation Protiviti helps organisations define the frameworks and processes for the effective management and governance of their product portfolios.

To integrate technology and process, Protiviti partners with Kore – the first dedicated SaaS solution for end-to-end product lifecycle management in financial services.

To understand the challenges that companies face in this area and the transformative potential of embracing a digital approach, Peter Berger, Associate Director of Protiviti, had a conversation with Owen Strijland, Managing Director of Protiviti, and Sabrina Del Prete, CEO at Kore.

Challenging the status quo
“Product governance requirements vary, depending on market, service, and several other factors,” said Owen. “Unfortunately, many financial organisations still build and monitor the corporate history of their products and services across a mix of spreadsheets, emails, and other sources. In such an environment, it is very cumbersome to innovate. And it is a nightmare to comply with regulations to report on what products were developed, who they were sold to, and in which jurisdictions.”

“The paradox is that despite innovating in areas like digital payments and crypto, many organisations are preparing documents, collecting information, and evidencing reviews and approvals manually. The sheer complexity of this task gives business leaders the perception that it is costing them too much time,” he said. “Then risk managers and compliance officers cannot exercise their oversight role effectively because they spend their time gathering data, instead of helping the business focus on what matters most.”

Financial firms need a smart, efficient way to store and access information on their products, providing regulatory oversight throughout the organisation, which a solution like Kore can deliver.

“Imagine a streamlined ecosystem where different departments can work together effortlessly,” she explained. “The Kore platform allows data to flow seamlessly, enabling collaboration in a controlled environment and speeding up internal operations.”

“Front-line staff gain confidence, too, as they are working with accurate, up-to-date information,” she concluded. “And automation means lower costs and a faster time-to-market, leading to higher value delivered for customers.”

Technology twinned with process is a powerful combination
Yet it is important to note just technology is not enough. It must be considered in the context of governance, processes, and a comprehensive data strategy.

“The first step is to design robust processes to support product innovation, diversification, and compliance,” said Owen. “Protiviti’s assists in implementing the right workflows and governance, organising the data, and devising a scalable data strategy.”

“The way you organise product data and the events and decisions that relate to them is vitally important,” said Sabrina. “Technology without a clear data model is like a body with no head. Kore is a taxonomy-driven solution, designed by practitioners and data scientists working together. That is where the real magic is.”

Setting the right foundations for success
Customer-centric innovation in financial products is a prerequisite for growth. But innovation and fairness in financial services require effective product governance. Without it, you can easily end up with disgruntled customers, compliance issues, substantial fines, or all three.

Overcoming this challenge depends on making the right investment in strategy and process design to assure outcomes, and in the right technology to ensure you can meet product governance requirements – today and in the future.

“To transform the way that they engage with their clients, financial organisations need to first transform the way that they engage with products,” said Sabrina. “Additionally, demonstrating effective compliance in fast-changing regulatory environment, where information is fragmented, and there is a heavy reliance on manual processes, can feel like a hopeless task. It is clear that the product governance challenge demands a digital solution.”

Read the original article here.