mas advisory is focused on information technology services and its intersection with the banking and insurance industries.
This positioning reflects the personal professional background of the partners and associated partners, who have extensive experience in these fields, not only as consultants, but also as line managers, members of Advisory Boards, Boards of Directors and as startup entrepreneurs.
How to recognize the impact of paradigm changes and take advantage of them? The position of the classical technology service provider is being disrupted by the rapid evolution of information technology itself and by new entrants, such as BigTechs and FinTechs, with new business models and who have little legacy, yet more agility.
The established service provider’s portfolio is mainly composed of platform migrations, integrating applications and outsourcing solutions, which is becoming more of a commodity and exposed to mere price competition. Their challenge today is typically twofold:
What is your “raison d’être” in the new paradigm? Avoiding a lengthy strategy process and overlooking all the hype, we choose the path of effectivity. By addressing the following typical key questions, we can rapidly identify the essentials:
A successful approach to the revised “raison d’être” requires a balanced and reciprocal combination of the perspectives outlined above.
Expersoft ist ein führender internationaler SW-Hersteller im Bereich Wealth Management, mit heute über 650 Installationen in 35 Ländern mit Sitz in Zug.
Das Haupt-Kundensegment beststand aus grösseren Unabhängigen Vermögensverwaltern (UVV). Die Herausforderung, welche mas gestellt wurde, war ein Offering für das Segment der ca. 2’000 kleineren UVVs in der Schweiz zu entwickeln, das kostenmässig den Möglichkeiten der Zielkunden entspricht.
Die aus dem Merge von HPE und CSC entstandene DXC Technology ist eine Fortune 500 Firma und einer der weltweit grössen IT-Dienstleister. Im Bereich Financial Services Schweiz zählt die Berner Kantonalbank (BEKB) zu ihren wichtigsten Kunden. 2010 übernahm die HPE das Kernbankensystem IBIS3G der BEKB mit dem Ziel, dieses als zukunftsfähiges offenes System am Markt zu etablieren.
Die Aufgabe von mas advisory bestand darin, die Rahmenbedingungen zur Erreichung dieser Zielsetzung in einem sehr kompetitiven Markt zu erarbeiten.
Die Centris AG ist die führende IT-Dienstleisterin im Bereich des Aufbaus und Betriebs von Branchenlösungen für Kranken- und Unfallversicherer in der Schweiz. Für ihre Kunden und ihre 7’000 Sachbearbeiter(innen) betreibt sie zentral in Solothurn die Swiss Health Platform zur Verwaltung eines Prämienvolumens von über 5 Milliarden Franken.
mas advisory wurde vom Verwaltungsrat und vom CEO der Centris beauftragt, die strategische Nachhaltigkeit der Centris sicherzustellen. Als 100%ige Tochter einer Stiftung sah sich die Centris in ihrer Weiterentwicklung stark limitiert, was ihre Konkurrenzfähigkeit auf die Dauer entscheidend gefährdet hätte.
The established order in financial services is increasingly under pressure as customer behavior is increasingly driven by usability and benefits of the services rather than by loyalty to the incumbent institutions.
Banking and insurance services will be needed for the foreseeable future. Yet the way they are consumed, as well as the organizations delivering these services (Apple Pay, peer-to-peer lending, embedded finance, … only to name a few) undergo continuous change.
Increasing regulatory requirements and decreasing margins, as well as disruptors such as BigTechs, FinTechs and InsurTechs, further challenge the institutions at their core. This demands that traditional financial institutions swiftly enhance their flexibility and speed to adaptation, both in terms of process and technology maturity, as well as in business, cultural and governance perspectives, in order to remain competitive, secure the client and revenue base, while simultaneously reducing costs.
The speed of change is difficult to foresee. Analogous to other industries, it is however fair to anticipate an exponential evolution of the disruption. The challenge is to be prepared; the art is to find the right path between being a laggard and a pioneer.
All roads lead to Rome, but there is one compulsory pass.
While IT has been crucial for banks and insurance institutes for decades, in the light of increasing possibilities and complexity, of the breaking-up of the value chains, the emergence of a vast ecosystem of solutions and ever more providers both in technology and financial services, mastering the new paradigm at a strategic level is obligatory.
While outsourcing most of the IT is common practice for financial institutions up to now, we strongly believe that institutions rapidly must rapidly acquire new skills in technology strategy and management as a new imperative core competence, driven by the business and no longer left to the back-office. This is the compulsory pass.
Analogous to the automotive industry, a consistent focus needs to be put on technology enabled product design that pursues different possible sourcing and assembly strategies. Make or buy is the key topic when considering the differentiation on the market. We accompany our clients in this new approach and transformation, which entails a new attitude and culture towards partnerships, accepting coopetition as the new normal.
