This Week in Consulting
Friday, March 9th, 2018
Design Thinking in Financial Services
THIS WEEK’S MUST READ
“The banking sector is going through a period of disruption, but this is not the end of the industry. Instead, this disruption marks the genesis of the banking sector’s new DNA: a combination of changes in business models, agile execution, and Design Thinking.”
There is broad concern in the banking industry that an important share of revenues and the traditional ways of doing business are at risk due to the emergence of fintech startups that are challenging the established players. In the current economic environment, banks are looking to adapt and evolve their business models to meet these challenges and opportunities. Design Thinking is a useful tool that can help banks in their endeavors. This Week’s Must Read features an insight piece from Oliver Wyman, in which the consultants discuss how Design Thinking can be applied to the financial services sector, offer a case study of a Design Thinking project, and identify how the process can be leveraged to capture additional profit pool.
Read the full article “Design Thinking: The New DNA Of The Financial Sector”, written by Dieter Staib, Sam Taylor, Iñigo Ania from Oliver Wyman and Josemaria Siota, Thomas Klueter from IESE Business School.
INDUSTRY NEWS & INSIGHTS
- Accenture Opens Innovation Hub in Zurich to Help Clients with Their Digital Transformation Agendas: Accenture will open an innovation hub in Zurich that aims to bring together specialized transformation capabilities from Accenture Studios in collaborative workspaces designed to foster co-creation with clients. | P2 Accenture Newsroom
- Catalyst Development kicks off acquisition campaign with Knadel deal: Catalyst Development, a UK-based financial markets consultancy, has acquired management consultancy Knadel. Catalyst were advised on the deal by M&A firm Livingstone’s Business Services sector team. | Knadel Press Release
- Willis Towers Watson Partners with Workplace Fabric to Launch Freespace:Willis Towers Watson has partnered with Workplace Fabric to put together a new digital real estate solution. Freespace, a new space finding and workspace optimisation solution, is aimed at helping clients to locate new offices around the world, or get the most out of existing environments. | PR Newswire
- European Fintech Market Investment Increases as Market Matures: European fintech investment was robust over 2017, totalling around $4.7 billion. The region continues to mature, with funding focused on growth of current stock, although Angel / Seed investing grew slightly in the later quarters of the year. | KPMG Fintech Pulse Report
TRENDS
Attention – TWIC Readers!
To better serve the demands of our audience and to facilitate insights exchange, we decided to reinvent the format of this newsletter and dedicate each future issue to a unique topic. This will be a great opportunity to showcase your thought leadership and exchange information and ideas. Below you will find our planned themes for the coming months, please take a look and direct any articles you wish be featured to info@consultingquest.com
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
- Design Thinking for Bank Executives: Design thinking is effective for banks because it helps to shake things up and open minds to problems solving, exploration of opportunities that can transform and change the business of banks, and helps to reshape the bank’s culture. | Tery Spataro, CCG Catalyst
- Transforming life insurance with design thinking: Design Thinking can be a fresh approach that provides a jolt for life insurers to keep pace with a new breed of customers and attackers, because it allows transformation that spans functional lines and changes the way people think and act. Incumbent life insurers are now called upon to take action and make the much-needed change happen. | Jochen Kühn, Ildiko Ring, Maximilian Straub, Markus Berger-de Leon, Mckinsey
- The Financial Industry Needs to Start Planning for the Next 50 Years, Not the Next Five: Innovation in financial services will happen in part through the diffusion of new revenue models and technologies, combining entrepreneurial ideas with institutional and operational expertise. What’s needed is a concerted effort to invest in design thinking systems, and support for diverse and inclusive cultures that bring together people with divergent perspectives. | Nadeem Shaikh, Harvard Business Review
- Blockcain as a Design Thinking 2.0 Tool: Design thinking is not just about brainstorming; it’s also about figuring out what to brainstorm about. Using blockchain thinking, business leaders can learn to take an “intellectual” approach to brainstorming about their business. | Burkhard Blechschmidt, Digitally Cognizant Blog
Interested in Submitting?
If you are interested in submitting an article, an event or an ad, contact us at info@consultingquest.com
EVENTS
CONSULTANT CORNER
- Positioning Yourself As The Expert — How To Develop A Consulting Voice That Clients Will Listen To: Check out this interview with Ron Carucc, a seasoned consultant and passionate leader, where he talked about the ideal size of a successful consulting firm and the effective ways to implement changes in your work so that you are attracting only the most ideal clients. | Michael Zipursky, Consulting Success
- How Can Independent Consultants Win More Quality Projects?: One of the difficult challenges of being an independent consultant is managing the balance between servicing your current clientele without negatively impacting your ability to generate new clients. See how this can be solved. | Consulting Quest
CONSULTING CAREER
- Unspoken Truths of Top Tier Consulting: When you first start consulting, it can seem like a sort of corporate utopia. It may take a few months after joining a firm for the new job halo to wear off, at which time you may realise there are a range of things everyone in the job discovers with time, but which aren’t openly spoken about. | Tom Spencer
- 9 Consultant Skills They Don’t Teach You In Business School: Each day, consultants enjoy the privilege of working alongside the best minds on defining issues and cutting-edge methods. Best of all, consulting firms pay a premium for talent. | Nathalie Kleinschmit, Fast Company
CONSULTING JOBS
Hélène Laffitte is the CEO of Consulting Quest, a Global Performance-Driven Consulting Platform and author of “Smart Consulting Sourcing”, a step by step guide to getting the best ROI from your consulting. With a blend of experience in Procurement and Consulting, Hélène is passionate about helping Companies create more value through Consulting.
