Stokvels go high tech

Window of opportunity

“There are countless ways to turn technology innovation into a competitive advantage. Our stokvel solution, for example, makes it possible to leverage the power of collective bargaining so that members can get benefits they have been missing out on,” said Alberto Fasana, managing director, Africa for financial solutions company, FIS Institutional & Wholesale,

Alberto Fasano, managing director: Africa, FIS Institutional & Wholesale

Brian Anderson, head of sales and business development, Africa at FIS Institutional & Wholesale, continued, “Customer requirements have changed. The lag between modernisation (changing or adapting legacy systems) and building something completely new to meet current market requirements is what causes the window of opportunity for new, agile technologies. If we recognise that data is power and structured data is more powerful, then trending data is transformational. Anticipating what your customer needs are before they have even made a selection is one of the greatest benefits of data.”

FIS will offer this member record-keeping system in a secure hosted environment, which will be available to the treasurers elected by these societies. The stokvel platform will electronically record each member’s portion of the cash balance and ultimately, each member’s right to claim their savings.

Target for disruptors

Delegates heard that the speed of change is crucial to the survival of financial services. “If change outside your business is happening faster than it is within your business, you’re losing,” warned Stephen van Coller, CE of corporate and investment banking for Barclays Africa.

Any business which has substantial margins is a target for disruptors, he continued. “Google has over 1.000 employees whose sole job is to find businesses with big margins and figure out how to disrupt those markets. But this phenomenon is nothing new – 20 years ago we all shopped at the greengrocer, then came along supermarkets which disrupted the greengrocer’s margins by supply chain scale and now make small margins on food; their margins come from other sources like interest earned by making suppliers wait for their money,” he said.

Sling and arrows

“Modernisation is disruptive and uneven, but it cannot be stopped because it becomes part of the organisation,” explained Andrew Merrifield, a former modernisation programme manager for a large pensions administrator. “Accept that there are slings and arrows in the process. The business should be clear about what it wants to achieve through modernisation or the process will not be effective,” he said.

Financial services companies were advised to begin by making a decision about the business they want to be in. “You’re often innovating the wrong business. Be smart. Use your knowledge and then think how technology can support your vision,” said Merrifield.