The Challenges of Driving Innovation and Disruption

In the financial industry there are a few concepts like trust, history and financial success that are valuable. It is logical then that if you do the right things and play by the rules, you may stay in business for ever. Not anymore!

The Challenges of Driving Innovation and Disruption

In the financial industry there are a few concepts like trust, history and financial success that are valuable. It is logical then that if you do the right things and play by the rules, you may stay in business for ever. Not anymore!
  A lot of good things need to happen to be successful in business for over 130 years. The company we work for has seen it all (wars, crisis, economic depression, space travel, walls coming up, walls coming down), but most importantly it has been successful through all of the changes. So why change now? What’s so different with technology that needs our attention? In the financial industry there are a few concepts like trust, history and financial success that are valuable. It is logical then that if you do the right things and play by the rules, you may stay in business for ever. Not anymore! Customers are demanding more than ever before and are changing the rules of the game forcing companies to adapt or die. We want to share our experience in driving innovation and change in a Fortune 500 company with a global footprint in 10 countries. We started with a team of 1, a few restless leaders in the Corporate office and the realization that we needed change to succeed in the future. What followed over 18 months was what seemed to be an endless loop of research, ideation, presentation and failure. We’ve learned more than we could have imagined on this journey with finally getting the buy-in we needed to start our first local company implementation. This is a story of how an idea, the conviction to evolve our business models and the use technology in a different way may reshape the future of a successful traditional company. Driving innovation and disruption is less about technology and more about business models, understanding your customer’s needs and dealing with a successful establishment and a conservative culture. Author: Juan Manuel Vega Follow: @juanmanuelvega