How well a bank can innovate is inextricably tied to the technology that it already has. One way banks are innovating is by working with external partners, and fintechs in particular. While Celent believes that while this point-to-point collaboration has benefits, a many-to-many way of collaborating must have even greater benefits, leading to the advent of platformification. But what opportunities and challenges does platformification present?

Banks recognise that they have to innovate. But often the very reason that they have to innovate — their back office technology — is also what limits their ability to innovate. This has led to an increasing number of banks looking outside and partnering with external providers. However, these tend to be on a one-to-one basis, restricting the innovation to narrow solutions. What then if you could collaborate with multiple partners and their technology? This is the promise and potential for platformification.