Innovation in financial services: Ulysses Partners allies with Innovation 360

Innovation is the linchpin to staying relevant in turbulent markets, but many enterprises, not-for-profit organizations, and governmental agencies still struggle to implement consistent, structured innovation programs.

Over the past number of months, we have all learned a lot about ourselves in how we have responded to unplanned external events. For one thing, our digital capabilities had to come to the fore due to the increasing need and level of acceptance of digital and virtual interaction with customers. This put their relative experience across business lines and geographies in the crosshairs – did we do enough?  

In some cases, organizations found the whole pandemic experience challenging, while it was easier than expected in other instances. Innovation 360 Group research suggests that many organizations increased their innovation capabilities during the pandemic – but will they maintain and grow on that momentum?

We are pleased to announce that Ulysses Partners has allied with Innovation 360 Group, an international growth and innovation management firm, to help US banks and other financial services players accelerate their growth and innovation agendas.

Like many industries, financial services (“FS”) organizations (which includes banks, insurance companies, wealth & asset managers) have been through a challenging time and are now emerging into the post-pandemic world. COVID-19 has exacerbated issues that they have dealt with for some time, including the nature and quality of customer experience, the need to increase efficiency, and accelerate the move to digitization, omnichannel, and others. 

As a result, their positioning, skills, and tools for an enhanced digital reality have come under scrutiny. The crisis has also made them revisit considerations such as the utility of physical branches and how they deal with whole categories of customers.

Magnus Penker, Founder of Innovation 360 Group, adds:

“Change is constant and relentless. And, we expect change in the next 90 years to equal what the world has experienced over the last 10,000 years. At the current churn rate, about half of the S&P companies in place today will be replaced in the next ten years.”

As we move forward, it is likely that customers and other stakeholders across many industries, including FS, will be more receptive to change in how we engage with them and what we offer than they have been in the past. In addition, it seems that FS providers are now more accepting and aware of the need to improve the pace of change. Driving this is the new emerging reality, where some conditions have changed radically while others have been more incremental.  

Many industries, including the financial sector, need to develop well-conceived and strategically aligned innovation agendas that consider evolving needs, understanding markets better, and identifying and harvesting opportunities. In addition, increasing the effectiveness of execution, being more open to change and input, and fostering improved and powerful collaborations will be critical as organizations move towards improving how they embrace change. 

“Companies that master the delicate balance between cutting costs to survive today and investing to grow tomorrow do well after a downturn”
- Harvard Business Review, 2010

What if you could embrace this opportunity by combining 21st-century tools with industry expertise to deliver products and services that exceed your customers’ expectations? Combatting uncertainty demands innovative approaches, and as we move forward, the financial services industry has a unique opportunity to transform itself. The inflection point created by the pandemic is an opportunity not to be missed.

Innovation 360 Group and Ulysses Partners are excited by the prospects for practical innovation that a “new normal” offers, and energized to bring our world-class capabilities to US financial services clients. 

Together, the two firms will help banks, credit unions, insurers, and others to innovate more effectively, identifying opportunities for new products, services, efficiencies, and partnerships. In doing so, we will leverage world-class innovation practices and data, combined with deep financial services and fintech sector experience and insight.

About Innovation 360 Group AB

Founded in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in the US, Canada, and Australia, the Innovation360 Group guides organizations in sharpening their innovation capabilities and re-imagining their value propositions. It speeds up global go-to-market projects through innovative strategy and organizational development. Their research-intensive innovation assessments and metrics are derived from their proprietary innovation database, the Innosurvey®. Their methodology includes research in the innovation area, evidence-based analysis, and recommendations on concrete execution plans for increased innovation capability, profit, and growth. An overview of this proprietary process has been published in the five-volume Innovation360’s Complete Guide to Business Innovation.