Simon Paris, Head of Global Banking, talking about the key takeaways of the International SAP Banking Conference, and challenges facing banking industry.
http://youtu.be/zYv3CT9XILg
After an evening of relaxation and conversation at the Honourable Artillery Company, with its six acres of beautiful gardens set in the heart of London, attendees at the International SAP Conference for Banking reconvened at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel for a day of discussion and discovery.
The day began and ended by addressing the changing technological basis of banking, and the trends SAP is leading: Hans Tesselaar, Executive Director of the Banking Industry Architecture Network, delivered the opening keynote on the need for standardisation in banking technology to allow banks to become truly agile. And, for the final presentation, Bobby Carney of Citibank joined Sanjay Chikarmane of SAP to close the event with an introduction to corporate payments using a secure cloud solution.
The cloud was one of several enabling technologies discussed at the Conference, all of which are now poised to change the face of banking. Innovations in mobile were showcased, from one of Africa’s largest and oldest banks to one of Europe’s newest and smallest: look out for a wrap-up of mobile at the SAP Banking Conference on Banking View.
Other sessions addressed the importance of customer-centric banking – from presenting a single face to customers through aligning core processes to relationship-based pricing – options which comes from being able to investigate, analyse and understand the mass of data generated by a relationship. As one round table discussion highlighted, disruptive approaches such as SAP HANA’s in-memory processing are making formerly impossible analysis possible.
Alongside the organised discussions in the round table sessions, attendees also had the chance to meet on the exhibition floor and over lunch, to ensure that there were plenty of opportunities for networking between SAP staff, customers and partners. “That’s the ambition,” said Simon Paris, Head of Global Banking, “That the conversations that were initiated or accelerated today are presented as concluded projects next year. That would be a thing to celebrate.”
