The future of partnerships and ecosystems

For over 200 years, the building society sector has utilised the power of partnership and community to achieve financial growth. As a mutually owned organisation, Mutual Vision is no different; the understanding that innovation and collaboration as a true path to success is embedded deep in our core values as a business.

In our post-pandemic world, we are now seeing that partnership between businesses and the value that a shared ecosystem brings is not just a great benefit, but a necessity to survive in the ever-changing financial services industry. Banking and building societies’ customers are accessing financial services differently than before the pandemic. According to a white paper published by the BSA, the use of financial apps and mobile banking services increased by “72% in 2020 and 80% of consumers saying they prefer to bank digitally”. This is a trend that is only going to accelerate as demand from consumers increases. As the market becomes saturated with newer specialist banks that provide ever more diverse functionality and innovative solutions, building societies must jump on board, or risk being left behind.

Over the past few years, whether it’s at the Building Societies Conference or our own Community Day events, you will often hear us talk about “disruption” and what that means for the future of the building society sector. We remember that building societies were the original “disruptors”, through shared values of collaboration and community, building societies developed a unique strategy of collaboration and partnership to create a radical business model that has long stood the test of time. We believe that to secure the future success of the mutual sector, we must again employ these same values of collaboration as a path to innovation, which is what we have endeavoured to do with our current partnership with Mambu.

We recognise the need for continued innovation that not only provides value but is also scalable and affordable. In our recent partnership with Mambu, we are able to do just this. Combining our expertise in delivering effective core banking solutions with Mambu’s world-class cloud native core banking engine has allowed us to not only meet the growing needs of our customers but also deliver a level of functionality that we haven’t seen in our sector.

However, maintaining agility in delivering this technology and prioritising customer satisfaction is essential in ensuring longevity as we move into the future. Organisations must ensure that they have strong operational capabilities and resiliencies in place as they plan to grow their service offerings.

It is also important to consider that when a business decides to co-create a partner ecosystem with another business, they must ensure that the digital transformation becomes embedded on a cultural as well as technological level. This allows for a collaborative environment within the business that fosters innovation and retains and attracts the talent needed to deliver the desired outcomes. Achieving success through our own partnership with Mambu, as well as our wider ecosystem of technology partners, has been in large part to our commitment as a business in fostering and maintaining an open and cooperative company culture. This approach extends beyond our team to our enduring relationships with our technology partners and Mambu, as through experience we have learned that collaborating with businesses that share our core values has been a major factor in the success of our partnerships.

Find out more

We’re always open to new collaborations and partnerships with innovative technology providers. For more information about how Mutual Vision can help transform your business and help you along your journey to digital transformation, email our Chief Product Officer, Mike Fisher at mfisher@mutualvision.co.uk.