Taking banks through their digital transformation and engaging with them to give them a better understanding of what the Cloud can provide is key in today’s environment. Banks want to digitise and learn about the Cloud’s true power. “We think that the Cloud’s biggest plus point is not to do with storage and hosting. It is more to do with leveraging the computing and AI/ML power within the Cloud to do things totally differently. To look at things from a different angle, and to find solutions that we have not considered before now,” said Thomas Fuchs, FSR, FSI at Google, Switzerland.

He explained that the rapid growth of Google in Switzerland is due to it being able to attract talent from all over the world for development and coding. The work environment and the high standard of living in Google are strong pulls. It means that the firm can also bring in thought leaders from different business units worldwide to talk to customers in Switzerland to hear what the market needs and help inform strategy.

Differentiators with Cloud
Fuchs explained that computing power per se is not what makes the Cloud stand out. “Having the willingness to solve unique challenges and develop a solution that fits the problem, rather than trying to make a given problem fix a solution, makes a difference. We look at things from a customer’s point of view and put ourselves in our customers’ shoes. This matters a lot; this is how we innovate and develop,” he said.

“We identify the problem and then refine that in a design-led workshop, using our AL/ML and our infrastructure to design a solution to the unique problem. We tailor the solution to the exact need using solutions in a Lego build format - the only limit, as with Lego, is imagination!” he added.

He explained that the process usually starts with two non-technical workshops to broadly identify a use case, problems, and stumbling blocks, then focus on bringing in all kinds of expertise within the team. “People from IT, business, and operations all have input. But we also insist on having the end user within that team as well- that is the crucial part of any solution because if the end result does not meet the end user’s needs and is not easy to use, then adoption rates will be poor,” he said.

Keeping the momentum up and getting the project done is also a key facet of the approach. Generally, the aim is to create something tangible in three months. With banks, we get the adviser engaged with the business process to introduce new behaviours and ways of workings so that each side can understand what the end result should look like. We also want to understand the end customer so that we know what we are doing and why and so that we do not diverge from the task at hand,” said Fuchs.

A good example is an adviser front-end that monitors a phone call or other communication. It picks up on keywords, provides accurate real-time information about the customer, provides relevant information, and creates follow-up actions. It also writes transcripts, emails, etc., all during the call. An email goes out at the end of the call with all the material and the contracts attached. “That makes the adviser’s life so easy, and the input as to what was needed came from the advisers, not the tech; because we knew what they wanted, we could leverage tech to fit,” said Fuchs.

“With the right partners, everything is possible,” he concluded.

This article is a write-up from The Wealth Mosaic’s Swiss WealthTech Live Event 2022 to launch the Swiss WealthTech Landscape Report 2022. You can access the full report here.