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Tag: BFSI

  • Planview CEO Razat Gaurav plans to double or triple India business in 3-5 years citing biggest opportunity in BFSI

    Planview CEO Razat Gaurav plans to double or triple India business in 3-5 years citing biggest opportunity in BFSI

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    Planview, a Texas-headquartered global enterprise SaaS company, is looking to grow its presence in India and has outlined an investment of $125 million over the next 5 years, with the belief that the country will be a great growth driver for the business globally.

    “We entered the India market only a year ago, so it’s a small percentage in terms of revenue, but growing the fastest in the world. We’re looking to double or triple in 3-5 years,” Global CEO Razat Gaurav told businessline.

    India being a strategic market, the company has more then quadrupled its local team–based out of the Global Capabilities Innovation Center in Bangalore–to almost 500 people in the last 18 months, comprising 33 per cent of the global work force.

    Focused on portfolio and project management solutions, TPG Capital-backed Planview works with 4,500 companies globally across BFSI, manufacturing, retail, pharmaceutical and automotive. Top markets are North America and Europe followed by Asia, with BFSI comprising 15-20 per cent of the global business. Edited excerpts:

    You are expanding India operations. Where are you seeing opportunities?

    We are focussed on two vectors in India–to tap into the talent pool here and second, to go after the customer base and generate revenue opportunities, which we started about a year ago. We’ve worked with Aditya Birla Capital, Apollo Tyres, Dr. Reddy’s, TVS Motors and others. This year we’re looking to more than double that business.

    BFSI is a key sector, both globally and in India. We’re also in the early stages of evaluating our go-to-market motion with government and PSUs, where we see potential for value-add in bringing new governance, mature planning and delivery processes. We also have a lot of global customers that have large GCCs in India such as JP Morgan Chase, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Colgate. So we’re also beginning to work with them and connect the dots with our global relationships. Close to 50 per cent of our BFSI customers in US, Australia, Europe and UK have GCCs in India, so us partnering with and supporting them in India is an important expectation they have from us.

    What trends are you seeing specific to India versus globally?

    In India, different demographics are at different stages of the digital shift. The range of variance is very high and the scale is unprecedented, in some ways. Smartphone adoption is one of the fastest and cheapest, and online payments are becoming more pervasive than even some of the more developed markets. India is a complex and big market.

    Payment platforms are being used as a gateway for customer acquisition and data collection, which is the bigger opportunity by way of economies of scale. The data sourced and its attributes about consumer behaviour, preferences, basket size and transactions are valuable in shaping products and services. We’re seeing this in the US and Europe, where dominant payment platforms are being able to curate data and monetise it with consumer brands and retail organisations. The combination of Aadhar, UPI, online and mobile payments has led the volume of data to explode in the last 5 years. Organisations have more data than they know what to do with. They need to look at data quality and see how to use this volume of data to drive new decisions and customer insights.

    What are the major challenges being faced?

    Talent is definitely at the top. Second is how to prioritise investments in transformation and digitalisation, especially in BFSI because capital and talent resources are limited. Data is also a big challenge, especially for long standing companies, because it resides in hundreds of different systems in their application landscape.

    The final one is regulatory and compliance. Government and agencies are getting stricter and companies are trying to find the balance between innovating digitally, meeting growing compliance expectations, and mitigating risks with infosec and cyber security. The pace and intensity with which regulatory and compliance requirements are evolving is very high, so a lot of the shifts and initiatives being worked upon are simply to comply with new regulations.

    What are some BFSI-specific solutions you’re seeing demand for?

    BFSI companies are grappling with how to continue to manage relationship-oriented traditional physical channels while also moving online through pure D2C models, mobile apps and online interactions. For customer facing BFSI companies, mobile apps and online interactions are a ‘must have’ and no longer a ‘nice-to-have’. Consumers too are not looking to interact purely digitally or in-person, and so BFSI companies need to enable an omni-channel experience, which is being seen as a differentiator versus a purely digital native financial services startup.

    However, the skills, talent and technologies required to power those channels are very different, and that’s why we’re seeing digital investment levels growing exponentially. Companies are hiring more and technology teams are no longer back office IT but very core, strategic and closely integrated with other lines of business–equivalent of R&D teams in pharmaceutical companies. There are massive investments in cyber security, infotech and data privacy, both for regulatory compliance and protection, safeguarding and risk mitigation. Not just here, even in the US and Europe. and it’s a continuous effort. A growing amount of portfolio allocation, about 5-15 per cent of the tech budgets, is towards cyber security.

    Is there a paucity of skilled talent?

    There are a lot of people available but the specific skills and talent required is still a constraint. BFSI companies are competing with digital native and IT companies for the same software engineers.

    Also, a big theme emerging is ‘do more with less’. Indian companies have been good at being lean because of the human power and tech talent available. The traditional thinking was to throw more people at an issue. But they are now realising that it is no longer an option because labour costs have gone up, there is inflation and digital initiatives allow for getting things done faster. So there is a lot of focus on developing in-house competencies and having a network of contractors that they can tap into for supplemental talent.

    Is global conservatism on local data storage policies making life difficult?

    It is posing more constraints. The biggest challenge is that regulations around this are very fluid, and changing and evolving very quickly. We work with global customers, and meeting regulatory data requirements across Europe GDPR, US, India, Singapore and Australia is definitely becoming more challenging. Over time, will have to go beyond country-specific regulations to a more global standard. Conversations around that are starting, but it is going to require participation and collaboration, which makes it complex. Technology is not the underlying issue, it’s getting different countries and regulators on the same page.

    Published on June 1, 2024

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  • What You Should Know About BFSI in 2023 and Beyond

    What You Should Know About BFSI in 2023 and Beyond

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Very little is clear as we look at the economy in the coming year. Inflation is high, interest rates are heading north, and many fear a recession is coming in 2023. Amidst this uncertainty, there has also been a wave of innovation throughout the banking, financial services and insurance industry (BFSI) — a wave that has only been accelerated by the pandemic and expedited shift to digital and immersive customer solutions.

    Where does the world of BFSI stand in 2023 after years of both tumult and change? We must first take stock of the BFSI landscape in order to decide the strategies and tactics we need to apply in 2023. I won’t pretend to have a crystal ball to tell the future, but after spending my entire career in the industry, I feel safe to make a few predictions about what the year might hold. These are the four trends all BFSI professionals need to be prepared to tackle in 2023:

    Related: This Software can Play an Incremental Role In BFSI Sector

    1. Collections are back

    As the government-mandated moratoriums instated during the pandemic come to an end and we enter a recession, collections will be a huge element of our work in the BFSI sector in 2023. What can we do to prepare ourselves and our customers for this reality?

    We do not want to come barging down doors, demanding collections. We must be mindful and acknowledge there is a journey to the process to avoid burning bridges with our customers. We should prepare for remediation and plan to create unique payment plans that are personalized to the customer. In doing so, we avoid breakage and keep our customers in our house. It’s like asking for couples therapy rather than an outright divorce — if we can figure out a plan together, we are much more likely to maintain our relationship and create loyalty through that remediation.

    Acquisition is far more expensive than retention; if we lose customers left and right in collection, then we are setting ourselves up for much more work (and lost revenue) down the line. Fifty-two percent of consumers switched providers in the last year, largely due to poor customer service, and we do not want to add to that statistic in the collections process. If we can be creative in our remediation tactics, we can likely save the customer, which will not only save money but also create long-term loyalty.

    2. Open banking is an essential tool

    Open banking has been one of the most important changes to hit the world of BFSI since it came into play. It creates one home for all of our assets, offering greater mobility to the consumer and the opportunity for companies to innovate new and exciting financial services.

    For example, customers can now apply for a mortgage without compiling a novel’s worth of paperwork; they can simply give their lender permission to access their accounts and look at their finances. Companies, on the other hand, can now assemble a clear financial picture of a customer’s assets and liabilities by tapping into data from multiple banks.

    Open banking has created greater ease and portability for customers and bankers alike. But as new products, services and capabilities are created in response to this development, we will see an increasingly competitive marketplace. Customers can switch from bank to bank at any time with ease, and, as we know, they are not afraid to do so. This flexibility and access available to consumers both today and increasingly so tomorrow will challenge their existing institutions to provide best-in-class terms and experiences across a vast landscape of services and capabilities. Institutions that acquired and built their customer relationships with a wedge of limited but valuable products will be challenged as providers of a full suite of solutions vie for access to these customers whose asset portability has never been simpler.

    To keep up, banks must prioritize satisfying customer demand to pay any way they want and transform how they engage with their customers to become more personalized. Furthermore, banks should work to align their strategies with the innovation, policies and regulatory changes coming our way. Open banking will be an essential tool for banks and customers alike, attracting customers seeking greater mobility and personalization in their financial services.

    Related: Cyber Security and Its Importance For the BFSI sector

    3. Insurance will be digitized

    Insurance has long been behind other industries when it comes to digitization, and though they began the process in 2020, it was quickly put on pause during the pandemic. Insurance companies need to have a radical leapfrog effect and paradigm shift in strategy, transforming their companies to become digital-first.

    As it stands now, insurance companies have no streamlined customer view. I’ve had my home, auto and flood insurance, among others, with the same company for over ten years, and yet they do not have one unified customer view of my account, nor do they have the digital assets to engage with me. So much so, that when I tried to log onto my car insurance app, it said I was not a customer.

    As we enter the new year, it will be essential for insurance companies to digitize their work and create more personalized engagement with their consumers. Consumers are more loyal when they have personalized services. If you don’t offer personalization, it will be very challenging to have any stickiness in the insurance vertical. Customers will be quick to try new companies because they have no relationship with their current provider, and thus it is no skin off their back to jump ship. This dynamic was played out in the mobile carrier market as it became easier to move providers and take your number with you.

    4. Emerging payments must be reassessed

    Many have said we’re in an emerging payments freeze with crypto, BNPL and P2P, but in reality, we’re merely in a consolidation. The leaves are starting to turn yellow and fall, but the trees are not barren. The world of emerging payments and crypto is on pause, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Now is our opportunity to look at emerging payments and ask, “What do we want to happen in this space? And how can we use the next year or two to build the right tools for emerging payments that the rest of the BFSI industry can leverage?”

    It is an opportunity, just as the start of fall beckons a new school year with fresh notebooks and sharpened pencils, to hone our products, build the right capabilities and then get back out there. Real-world and practical solutions to consumers and institutions will emerge or wilt on the vine, based on applicability. Institutions that build frictionless, embedded and native solutions for their customers to interact with will see share gains coming out of this.

    Related: These #4 Trends Hold The Key For Disruption of the BFSI Sector

    We are financial partners

    Now more than ever, the power is in the hands of the consumer. Banks can no longer coast by merely providing an account and a credit card. Consumers will be out the door before the end of the business day without personalized engagement to support their lifestyle and financial aspirations. A modern bank is a life and planning partner, and as we enter 2023 and all of the uncertainty it holds, our customers will expect to be supported via a wide array of financial services that take advantage of the data at our fingertips and the innovation banging down our doors.

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    Mamta Rodrigues

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