This article is the fifth and last in a series of five under the main title “How Ready Are Swiss Banks to Become Organisations of the Future?”. In this chapter, we answer questions relating to organisational structures, agile ways of working, and dynamic capability management.
As organisational agility has become a central concept in the industry. It has taken on many nuanced meanings across organisations. But for those who take it seriously, the core remains constant: a way of adapting to be close to clients’ needs and meet the challenges of today's marketplace. This includes everything from ways of working, organisational structures, and procedures, like budgeting and decision-making to closer integration of IT and IT-adjacent capabilities into operative and strategic processes.
The goal is to create an organisation capable of successfully navigating and thriving in the current environment of tech-driven disruption, increased market complexity, a highly demanding clientele, and an intensifying competition for talent.
The objective of our study is to determine the status of this concept in the Swiss banking industry. How far along are individual banks and the sector in adopting the foundational aspects of organisational agility? Lastly, what are the factors that set a bank on that path to industry leadership in this space?
We set out to answer these questions through the lenses of organisational structures, agile ways of working, and dynamic capability management.
Overall, our observations have allowed us to categorise Swiss banks within the following matrix, defined by the axes of delivery power and organisational development. The data show a clear correlation between banks’ self-reported delivery power and the current organisational development stage, and hence indicate the importance of the organisational setup for achieving success.
The majority of the investigated banks are somewhere at the border between traditionalists and future leaders. Whilst most of them have started to implement initiatives, which will put them in a more advanced organisational development stage, there is still a huge potential for Swiss banks.
Moving to the “future leaders” area means staying relevant and attractive for current and future employees, being more flexible and agile, and hence allowing the organisation to be closer to market developments and to their clients.
On the other dimension – delivery power – most banks consider certain departments of the bank as efficient and effective, but as an entire organisation, there is still a lot of room for improvement to increase the delivery power even more.
What makes a future leader? The study shows that organisational flexibility, talent acquisition and retention, determined capability management, and commitment by leadership are all decisive factors. Through our work, we have been able to define the best practices that can set a bank up for future leadership and help avoid pitfalls and roadblocks, such as the lure of tradition or the perils of halfhearted engagement.
We would like to share our best practices with you and help you on your way to becoming a future leader. Contact us and benefit from our expertise and years of experience.