Agile approach demanded for online banking

Beverley Head
Tuesday, 31 May 2011 18:32

Business IT - Technology

Only an Agile approach to systems development will cut it in the fast paced world of internet banking according to the head of UBank, NAB's online division which has now racked up almost 200,000 customers for its online only accounts, generating almost $10 billion worth of deposits.

According to UBank general manager Alex Twigg there is a school of thought emerging in online businesses that there is a need for 'continuous deployment' in order to remain competitive and that was also the case in banking.

'That rapid change is driving testing and learning without the hideous processes of waterfall,' said Mr Twigg in a presentation at Cebit in Sydney. He said he had adopted Agile development techniques a decade ago which were better suited to rapid responses to changing customer or market demands.

'Flickr deploys new code ten times a day. How does a world of quarterly releases compete with that?' he asked.

Mr Twigg said he was not concerned about the competitive threats from 'big monolithic' rivals such as Commonwealth Bank, but 'I do worry about Google and Apple' He said that a company like Google which had more than '5,000 Googlets' (ideas) floating around could easily see some ideas morph into a competitor.

Also, the advent of peer to peer lending platforms such as Smava, Frooble, Lending Club and Loanio could also develop into a challenge for banks.

'We're in a world of incredibly fast change where you've lost control of the customer' said Mr Twigg. He said that the speed and ability to change was what would drive competitive advantage.

 

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