How to Ensure Your Core Technology Is Future-Ready

Build on your core platform to meet the challenge of change

The financial services landscape is constantly changing, but it is the accelerated pace of change that is most challenging to financial institutions. Digital engagement is now at the center of everything, and the name of the game is speed, ease and convenience.

The explosion in data also continues, which drives the potential for useful growth insights, but also raises the risk of fraud and security breaches. And in the middle of all this, the ability to respond to market changes remains critical.

As your financial institution attempts to navigate this changing environment, consider these questions:

• Is your core account processing system currently connecting your financial institution to new and innovative technologies that enable you to effectively compete?
• Can you easily integrate fintech solutions with your account processing system to provide differentiated member experiences and gain speed-to-market advantages?
• Does your account processing system enable real-time processing that supports payments, alerts and analytics?

While at one time account processing solutions primarily served to process daily banking transactions and post updates to accounts, those days are over. Without the table-stakes functionality described above, your financial institution could be at risk of falling behind the many community banks and credit unions that are already operating with modern account processing platforms.

So, your first task is putting the right technology in place – future-ready technology that accelerates and elevates your ability to respond to change, and perhaps even get ahead of what’s next. Fintech partnerships can be an important part of the mix. With a technology ecosystem that easily integrates with third-party innovations, your financial institution can provide in-demand services, keep consumers happy and data secure.

Why it’s important

A modern, future-ready account processing system helps you put the customer first – and by doing so, helps you compete with financial institutions of all sizes.

A modern core is the hub that enables your financial institution to face ever-changing market forces head on. It helps you respond quickly to disruption and meet new expectations by providing a foundation that easily integrates with surround solutions and fintechs. Because it has open architecture, scalability and flexibility – combined with strong fraud and security protection – a future-ready system opens doors to possibilities and innovations that enhance efficiency, accelerate growth and satisfy consumers.

Your account processing technology provides the foundation to create innovative consumer experiences. Capable of far more than processing transactions and posting account updates, a forward-looking, modern account processing system can:

• Provide an open architecture that allows for fast and efficient implementation of applications
• Facilitate new opportunities to drive revenue and create operational efficiencies 
• Enable real-time processing that supports payments, alerts and analytics 

To succeed in a changing market, many financial institutions are using fintech partnerships to launch new services that appeal to the next generation and enable user journeys that prioritize the consumer experience instead of just the banking or payment transaction.

Some financial institutions partner directly with fintechs, which leverage APIs to help introduce new products and services (in account opening, loan applications and payments, for example) to engage their consumers. Others also look to their primary technology provider to help curate fintech partnerships and integrate them directly into the banking technology stack. That integration into back-end technology means financial institutions can more quickly and easily introduce fintech capabilities to help plug product and service gaps, strengthen brands and deliver tailored services to consumers.

How Fiserv supports innovation

Fiserv is always developing new tools that enable our clients to deploy future-ready technology. One initiative, AppMarket from Fiserv, is especially useful in helping financial institutions to enhance their core processing by adding new capabilities right away.

AppMarket from Fiserv is a collaborative online marketplace where clients can explore fintech solutions that are pre-integrated with Fiserv account processing platforms. Using the AppMarket, you can find fintech apps that align with your organization’s business strategies, and meet new and differentiated needs for your accountholders. We’re continually adding new, third-party fintech solutions to AppMarket for your institution to explore.

Ultimately, our AppMarket resource provides a less expensive and less disruptive way to innovate by building new solutions on the foundation of a modern core. But, as we have said, the soundness of that modern foundation – one that can truly support the load of rapid innovation – is paramount.

Partnerships for the future

As financial institutions continue to face stiff competition and increased pressure to meet consumer expectations, they need to constantly scan the horizon for ever-changing consumer needs, as well as industry disruptors that threaten their success. Fintech partnerships offering future-ready technology and services can help financial institutions build on their core processing systems to meet consumer expectations for innovative, differentiated experiences – including those of the coming generation of newly banked consumers.