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Retail Banking Industry Business Reference Architecture

Capability maps, value streams, and strategy maps for retail banking organizations.

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  • Banking leadership requires a unified and validated view of retail banking business capabilities that help CIOs and bank leadership accelerate the strategy design process and that aligns initiatives, investments, and strategy.
  • The business and IT often focus on a project, ignoring the holistic impact and value of an overarching value stream and business capability view.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Using an industry-specific business reference architecture is central, and has many benefits, to organizational priorities. It’s critical to understanding, modeling, and communicating the operating environment and the direction of the organization, but more significantly, to enabling measurable top-line organizational outcomes and the unlocking of direct value.

Impact and Result

  • Demonstrate the value of IT’s role in supporting your banking organization’s capabilities while highlighting the importance of proper alignment between organizational and IT strategies.
  • Apply reference architecture techniques such as strategy maps, value streams, and capability maps to design usable and accurate blueprints of your retail banking operations.
  • Assess your initiatives and priorities to determine if you are investing in the right capabilities. Conduct capability assessments to identify opportunities and to prioritize projects.

Retail Banking Industry Business Reference Architecture Research & Tools

1. Retail Banking Industry Business Reference Architecture – A deck to help accelerate the strategy design process.

Leverage a validated view of the retail banking organizations' business capabilities to realize measurable top-line business outcomes and unlock direct value.

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Retail Banking Industry Business Reference Architecture

Business Capability Maps, Value Streams, and Strategy Maps for the Retail Banking Industry

Analyst Perspective

In the age of disruption, IT must end misalignment and enable value realization.

An industry business reference architecture helps accelerate your strategy design process and enhances IT’s ability to align people, process, and technology with key business priorities.

The retail banking industry is being driven by increasing levels of competition. Often, the competition is being enabled by new technologies that are creating new product and service offerings. To remain competitive, modern banks need to transform many of their core products and services along with how they are delivered.

The end result is that technology is getting closer to the customers. Often specialized technologies are at the center of the industry’s changes. IT departments are dealing with more vendors, new delivery models, and growing complexity. The reference architecture is a powerful stakeholder alignment and communication tool.

Photo of David Tomljenovic, MBA LL.M CIM, Head of Financial Service Industry Research, Info-Tech Research Group.

David Tomljenovic, MBA LLM CIM
Head of Financial Service Industry Research
Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

Your Challenge
  • The pace of change within the retail banking sector is accelerating. New product and customer journeys are causing major changes to occur in your organization.
  • The number of vendors is likely increasing. They are also increasingly being delivered through cloud-based services that must be incorporated into your existing infrastructure and processes.
  • The business is also increasingly dependent on IT to enable its core activities. Stakeholder management and satisfaction are increasingly important to your overall success.
Common Obstacles

You don’t know where or how to begin or how to engage the right people, model the business, and drive the value of business architecture.

The business and IT often speak in their own languages without a holistic and integrated view of mission, strategies, goals, processes, and projects.

Business and IT often focus on a project, ignoring the holistic value of an overarching value stream and business capability view.

Info-Tech’s Approach
  • Build your organization’s capability map by defining the organization’s value stream and validating the industry reference architecture.
  • Use business capabilities to define strategic focus by defining the organization’s key capabilities and developing a prioritized strategy map.
  • Assess key capabilities for planning priorities through a review of business processes, information, applications, and technology support of key capabilities.
  • Adopt capability-based strategy planning by ongoing identification and road mapping of capability gaps.

Info-Tech Insight

Using an industry-specific reference architecture is central, and has many benefits, to organizational priorities. It’s critical not only to understanding, modeling, and communicating the operating environment and the direction of the organization but also, more significantly, to enabling measurable top-line organizational outcomes and the unlocking of direct value.

Reference Architecture Framework

Overarching Insight

Using an industry-specific reference architecture is central and has many benefits to organizational priorities. It's critical to understanding, modeling, and communicating the operating environment and the direction of the enterprise, and more significantly, to enabling measurable top-line business outcomes and the unlocking of direct value.

Determine your organizational priority.

Many organizational priorities are dependent on an understanding of how the organization creates value and the organization's capabilities and processes.

Examine organizational opportunities through the lens of business, information/data, applications & technology.

Your understanding of your organization's business capabilities, processes (rules & logic), information/data, and architecture will identify organizational opportunities to create value through reduced costs or increased revenues and services.

Follow Info-Tech's methodology to enable organizational outcomes and unlock direct value.

Your approach indicates the scope of your modernization initiatives.

Build your organization's capability map by defining the organization's value stream and validating the industry reference architecture.

Use business capabilities to define strategic focus by defining the organization's key capabilities and developing a prioritized strategy map.

Assess key capabilities for planning priorities through a review of business processes, information, applications, and technology support of key capabilities.

Sustain capability-based strategy planning through ongoing identification and roadmapping of capability gaps.


Industry Context

Pinwheel diagram of value in the industry context. At the center is 'Value (Revenue, Margin, Assets)' surrounded by a cycle of '1. Build', '2. Define', '3. Assess & Prioritize' and '4. Sustain'. Surround that are categories 'Business', 'Information/Data', 'Applications', and 'Technology'. On the wings of the pinwheel are 'Governance & Risk', 'Business Context', 'Business Strategy', 'IT Strategy', 'Innovation', 'IT Budget', 'Digital Transformation', 'Core Application Rationalization & Modernization', 'IT Service Mgmt', 'Requirements', 'Data', and 'Org Design/ Operating Model'. The entire pinwheel exists within the 'Industry Context'.

Industry Overview: Retail Banking

'Value Streams' of Retail Banking: 'Attract Customers', 'Supply Loans and Mortgages and Credit Cards', 'Provide Core Banking Services', 'Offer Card Services', 'Grow Investments and Manage Wealth'.

The Retail Banking industry is rapidly evolving. It is being influenced and reshaped by many factors. Customer bases are aging, and younger, tech-savvy customers are becoming more important to the business. Non-traditional competitors and fintech competitors are using highly mature, digitally native products and delivery channels to compete with incumbents.

As a result, Retail Banking is changing rapidly, as is the technology required to compete effectively. IT has become an integral part of survival and success, and IT needs to align with the business to assure it can support business needs.

Figure above: Value Chain for the Retail Banking

Business Value Realization

Business value defines the success criteria of an organization as manifested through organizational goals and outcomes, and it is interpreted from four perspectives:

  • Profit generation: The revenue generated from a business capability with a product that is enabled with modern technologies.
  • Cost reduction: The cost reduction when performing business capabilities with a product that is enabled with modern technologies.
  • Service enablement: The productivity and efficiency gains of internal business operations from products and capabilities enhanced with modern technologies.
  • Customer and market reach: The improved reach and insights of the business in existing or new markets.

Business Value Matrix

Business Value Matrix with four quadrants defined by an x-axis between 'Improved capabilities' and 'Financial benefit' and a y-axis between 'Inward' and 'Outward'. The four quadrants are 'Profit Generation (outward, financial benefit)', 'Cost reduction (inward, financial benefit)', 'Service enablement (inward, improved capabilities)', and 'Customer and market reach (outward, improved capabilities)'.

Value, goals, and outcomes cannot be achieved without business capabilities

Break down your business goals into strategic and achievable initiatives focused on specific value streams and business capabilities.

Example table for determining business capabilities. The first column is 'Business Goals & Outcomes' listing four Business Goals, two of which are color-coded similarly. The second column is 'Business Initiatives' with Initiatives 1 through 10, each color-coded to match the business goal they help to achieve. The third and fourth columns are 'Level 1 / Level 2 Business Capabilities' with capabilities grouped by 'Value Stream', each of which are color-coded to business goals and the business initiatives that create or improve them.

Retail Banking business capability map

Business capability map defined…

In business architecture, the primary view of an organization is known as a business capability map.

A business capability defines what a business does to enable value creation, rather than how. Business capabilities:

  • Represent stable business functions.
  • Are unique and independent of each other.
  • Typically will have a defined business outcome.

A business capability map provides details that help the business architecture practitioner direct attention to a specific area of the business for further assessment.

Retail business capability map with the retail banking value chain as column headers, 'Attract Customers', 'Supply Loans and Mortgages and Credit Cards', 'Provide Core Banking Services', 'Offer Card Services', 'Grow Investments and Manage Wealth', and row headers 'Defining', 'Shared', and 'Enabling'. Some Level 1 capabilities contain multiple Level 2 capabilities.

Glossary of Key Concepts

A business reference architecture consists of a set of models to provide clarity and actionable insight and value. Typical techniques and terms used in developing these models are:

Term/Concept Definition
Industry Value Chain A high-level analysis of how the industry creates value for the consumer as an overall end-to-end process.
Business Capability Map The primary visual representation of the organization’s key capabilities. This model forms the basis of strategic planning discussions.
Industry Value Streams The specific set of activities an industry player undertakes to create and capture value for and from the end consumer.
Strategic Objectives A set of standard strategic objectives that most industry players will feature in their corporate plans.
Industry Strategy Map A visualization of the alignment between the organization’s strategic direction and its key capabilities.
Capability Assessments Based on people, process, information, and technology, a heat-mapping effort that analyzes the strength of each key capability.
Capability An ability that an organization, person, or system possesses. Capabilities are typically expressed in general and high-level terms and typically require a combination of organization, people, processes, and technology to achieve.
(Source: The Open Group, 2009)

Tools and templates to compile and communicate your reference architecture work

Title card for this blueprint.
  • The Retail Banking Industry Business Reference Architecture Template is a place for you to collect all of the activity outputs and outcomes you’ve completed for use in next steps.

Download the Retail Banking Industry Reference Architecture Template

Info-Tech’s methodology for Reference Architecture

1. Build Your Organization’s Capability Map 2. Use Business Capabilities to Define Strategic Focus 3. Assess Key Capabilities for Planning Priorities 4. Adopt Capability Based Strategy Planning
Phase Steps

1.1 Define the Organization’s Value Stream

1.2 Develop a Business Capability Map

2.1 Define the Organizations Key Capabilities

2.2 Develop a Strategy Map

3.1 Business Process Review

3.2 Information Assessment

3.3 Technology Opportunity Identification

4.1 Consolidate and Prioritize Capability Gaps

Phase Outcomes
  • Defined and validated value streams specific to your organization
  • A validated Level 1 business capability map
  • Decomposed Level 2 capabilities
  • Identification of Level 1 cost advantage creators
  • Identification of Level 1 competitive advantage creators
  • Defined future-state capabilities
  • Identification of capability process enablement
  • Identification of capability data support
  • Identification of capability application and technology support
  • Prioritization of key capability gaps

Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

DIY Toolkit

Guided Implementation

Workshop

Consulting

"Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

Guided Implementation

A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

A typical GI is between 6 to 9 calls over the course of 1 to 4 months.

What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Call #1: Introduce Info-Tech’s industry reference architecture methodology. Call #2: Define and create value streams.

Call #3: Model Level 1 business capability maps.

Call #4: Map value streams to business capabilities.

Call #5: Model Level 2 business capability maps.

Call #6: Create a strategy map.

Call #7: Introduce Info-Tech's capability assessment framework.

Call #8: Review capability assessment map(s).

Call #9: Discuss and review prioritization of key capability gaps and plan next steps.


Phase 1

Build Your Organization’s Capability Map

Phase 1

1.1 Define the Organization’s Value Stream

1.2 Develop a Business Capability Map

Phase 2

2.1 Define the Organization’s Key Capabilities

2.2 Develop a Strategy Map

Phase 3

3.1 Business Process Review

3.2 Information Assessment

3.3 Technology Opportunity Identification

Phase 4

4.1 Consolidate and Prioritize Capability Gaps

This phase will walk you through the following activities:

  • Identify and assemble key stakeholders
  • Determine how the organization creates value
  • Define and validate value streams
  • Determine which business capabilities support value streams
  • Accelerate the process with an industry reference architecture
  • Validate the business capability map
  • Establish Level 2 capability decomposition priorities
  • Decompose Level 2 capabilities

This phase involves the following participants:

  • Enterprise/Business Architect
  • Business Analysts
  • Business Unit Leads
  • CIO
  • Department Executive and Senior Managers

Step 1.1

Define the Organization’s Value Stream

Activities
  • 1.1.1 Identify and assemble key stakeholders
  • 1.1.2 Determine how the organization creates value
  • 1.1.3 Define and validate value streams

This step involves the following participants:

  • Enterprise/Business Architect
  • Business Analysts
  • Business Unit Leads
  • CIO
  • Department Executive and Senior Managers

Outcomes of this step

  • Defined and validated value streams specific to your organization

1.1.1 Identify and assemble key stakeholders

1-3 hours

Input: List of who is accountable for key business areas and decisions, Organizational chart, List of who has decision-making authority

Output: A list of the key stakeholders, Prioritized list of decision-making support needs, Reference Architecture Template

Materials: Whiteboard/Flip Charts, Reference Architecture Template

Participants: Enterprise/Business Architect, Business Analysts, Business Unit Leads, CIO, Department Executive and Senior Managers

Build an accurate depiction of the business.

  1. It is important to make sure the right stakeholders participate in this exercise. The exercise of identifying capabilities for an organization is very introspective and requires deep analysis.
  2. Consider:
    1. Who are the decision makers and key influencers?
    2. Who will impact the business capability work? Who has a vested interest in the success or failure of the outcome?
    3. Who has the skills and competencies necessary to help you be successful?
  3. Avoid:
    1. Don’t focus on the organizational structure and hierarchy. Often stakeholder groups don’t fit the traditional structure.
    2. Don’t ignore subject-matter experts on either the business or IT side. You will need to consider both.

Download the Reference Architecture Template

Define the organization’s value streams

  • Value streams connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities. They enable an organization to create and capture value in the market place by engaging in a set of interconnected activities. Those activities are dependent on the specific industry segment an organization operates within. Value streams can extend beyond the organization into the supporting ecosystem, whereas business processes are contained within and the organization has complete control over them.
  • There are two types of value streams: core value streams and support value streams. Core value streams are mostly externally facing: they deliver value to either an external or internal customer and they tie to the customer perspective of the strategy map. Support value streams are internally facing and provide the foundational support for an organization to operate.
  • An effective method for ensuring all value streams have been considered is to understand that there can be different end-value receivers. Info-Tech recommends identifying and organizing the value streams with customers and partners as end-value receivers.

Outline for determining value streams, starting with 'Industry Value Chain', then 'Value Receivers': 'Customers' and 'Partners', then 'Value Streams' with 'Capabilities'.

Value stream descriptions for Retail Banking

Value
Streams
Attract Customers Supply Loans and Mortgages and Credit Cards Provide Core Banking Services Offer Card Services Grow Investments and Manage Wealth
  • Retail banks design new products to fill gaps in their product portfolios by analyzing the market for changing customer needs and new competitor offerings or pricing.
  • Pricing a product correctly through analysis and rate setting is a delicate balance and fundamental to a bank’s success.
  • Product performance in the marketplace is determined before launch through prototyping and testing.
  • Selecting lending criteria helps banks decide on the segment of customer they should take on and the degree of risk they are willing to accept.
  • A quick turnaround on the application and adjudication process is key to ensuring that customers are satisfied with the product.
  • Servicing includes the day-to-day interactions with customers for onboarding, payments, adjustments, and offboarding through multiple banking channels.
  • Customer retention and growing share of wallet are crucial capabilities in servicing that directly impact the growth and profitability of retail banks.
  • Card servicing involves quick turnarounds on card delivery and acceptance at a large number of merchants.
  • Accurate billing and customizable spending alerts are crucial in ensuring that the customer understands their spending habits.
  • Customer retention can be increased through effective wealth management and additional services that will increase the number of products owned by a customer.
  • Additional revenue can be generated through effective investment advice and investment portfolio management.

Determine how the organization creates value

Begin the process by identifying and locating the business mission and vision statements.

Ways to identify and locate 'Business Mission' and 'Business Vision' statements: 'Corporate Websites', 'Business Strategy Documents', and 'Business Executives'.

What is Business Context?

“The business context encompasses an understanding of the factors impacting the business from various perspectives, including how decisions are made and what the business is ultimately trying to achieve. The business context is used by IT to identify key implications for the execution of its strategic initiatives.” (Source: Business Wire, 2018)

1.1.2 Determine how the organization creates value

1-3 hours

The first step of delivering value is defining how it will happen.

  1. Use the organization’s industry segment to start a discussion on how value is created for customers. Working back from the moment value is realized by the customer, consider the sequential steps required to deliver value in your industry segment.
  2. Consider:
    1. Who are your customers?
    2. What tasks are your customers looking to accomplish?
    3. How does your organization’s set of products and services help customers accomplish that?
    4. What are the benefits the organization delivers to customers?
  3. Don't boil the ocean. Focus on your industry segment and how you deliver value to your partners and customers specifically.

Download the Reference Architecture Template

Retail Banking Industry Business Reference Architecture preview picture

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

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Guided Implementation 1: Build your organization’s capability map
  • Call 1: Introduce Info-Tech’s industry reference architecture methodology.

Guided Implementation 2: Use business capabilities to define strategic focus
  • Call 1: Define and create value streams.
  • Call 2: Model Level 1 business capability maps.
  • Call 3: Map value streams to business capabilities.
  • Call 4: Model Level 2 business capability maps.

Guided Implementation 3: Assess key capabilities for planning priorities
  • Call 1: Create a strategy map.
  • Call 2: Introduce Info-Tech's capability assessment framework.

Guided Implementation 4: Adopt capability-based strategy planning
  • Call 1: Review capability assessment map(s).
  • Call 2: Discuss and review prioritization of key capability gaps and plan next steps.

Author

David Tomljenovic

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