Digital BaobabBringing Digital Ideas to Life

What is Digital Baobab We are a digital strategy and business consulting provider who believes that ‘strategy is execution’. We assist banks, payment companies, mobile operators and other organisations to develop the right digital products for their customers. We help organisations think and act like lean FinTech startups, to build up the optimal internal capabilities necessary to ensure that they bring successful products to market in this digital age.

What we do At Digital Baobab we evangelise innovation, product development and market execution to enable financial services and mobile operator clients to successfully develop and bring to market the ideas that will drive the future of their industries. We do this in two ways. F i r s t l y , w e bring lean FinTech discipline to internal product innovation and development functions. Then we apply product marketing techniques developed in the high-tech sector in order to craft the compelling consumer propositions for those products necessary to stimulate market demand.

How we work Through our sister company Mobile Money Consulting we have been advising clients in the banking, payments, mobile and technology sectors at a strategic level for a number of years. Sitting down with senior management we plot a course for their business and how it needs to be positioned to take full advantage impending market developments over the coming years.

During this experience it became clear that even though an organisation might be positioned correctly at a strategic level, execution of that strategy is often the biggest barrier to success. We felt that there was a need across the financial services and mobile to assist these organisations by focusing on digital strategy execution and ensuring that they develop the right digital products for their markets. This need has

become more pronounced with the emergence of startup FinTechs whose agile and lean methods threaten to disintermediate incumbent organisations from their clients.

So we launched Digital Baobab. Digital Baobab takes strategy advisory a step further by focusing on its execution. We embed ourselves deep within the client’s product development function to ensure initially that it is optimally structured for innovation and delivery. If required we provide a review and refresh of market strategy. We then focus on putting in place the right processes to enable the client to firstly develop the products the market wants and subsequently to successfully bring that product to market. We do this by applying the lean start up innovation, product development and high-tech product m a r k e t i n g m e t h o d o l o g i e s t h a t h a v e underpinned success in the FinTech sector.

Innovating like a FinTech Startup FinTech startups the world over utilise agile and lean innovation and product development methods. This allows them build the right products for their markets at a low cost and as quickly as possible. The move to open APIs in financial services,

due to both regulatory and market pressures, allows FinTechs to innovate off the back of core banking systems without the burden such legacy technology places on those who own it.

It is the innovation that naturally exists at the core of every Fintech startup that larger organisations are so keen to emulate. In setting out on the path to FinTech innovation, banks have three choices. For those business lines where revenues might be disrupted, should they Build, Partner or Buy? It is the age-old conundrum that has vexed software-acquiring CIOs over the years, and it applies equally to today’s open-API business models.

Banks looking to innovate internally (build) tend to form innovation teams that sit apart from the rest of the organisation and are subject to lighter touch governance. To innovate at the speed of a nimble FinTech, these organisations need to mimic startup product development practices. They need to replace waterfall with agile, their business analysts with product managers, build MVPs in order to learn by failing fast, and to embrace disciplines like product marketing.

But for some large organisations this can be seen as difficult to achieve internally. The overhead of legacy banking systems and a risk averse corporate culture hinders any attempt to innovate either quickly or at low cost. Many see partnerships (partner) or acquisition (buy) as the way forward. All of these are valid strategies to employ under a future open-API banking ecosystem. But they are strategies banks need to embark upon today, and not just when their API business transformation programs have been completed. You can find out more about how we can assist you in this process by visiting the Insights page on the Digital Baobab site

Lean Product Development The lean startup approach to product development allows organisations to build the right products for their markets quickly and cost effectively by eliciting customer as early as possible. It emphasises continuous improvement through validated learning, allowing product teams to learn fast and, if necessary, to fail fast. Market assumptions, or hypothesis, are continually tested using Minimal Viable Products (MVPs).

These are the methods used by Fintech startups as they attempt to disrupt industry incumbents. But the good news is that these methodologies can also be embraced by larger organisations, and not just their specialist innovation units. Whole divisions or even companies can be reorganised cross-functionally around being lean allowing these organisations to compete with those that would disrupt them.

Product Marketing Building the right product for your market via lean methods is one half of the product development equation. Successfully bringing it to market is the other. Once a digital product is built it is often handed over to the marketing and sales departments whose job it is then to position and sell it. Yet the market need, product features and target customers were identified by the product team during the product development process.

What is needed is someone who understands the product in depth yet can also speak the language of marketing. And this someone is known as a ‘Product Marketer’ – and they sit within the product team, not sales and marketing. This approach has worked well in high-tech industry. If it is employed successfully in financial services, it can help keep you one step ahead of the digital disruptors.

Digital Baobab

How we can help – Financial Services Financial services face a headwind of digital, technological and regulatory change. As the open-API economy becomes standard, new FinTechs are attempting to gain a foothold in the industry, threatening to disrupt existing revenue streams and

disintermediate organisations from their customers. However, the move to this open-API ecosystem brings with it opportunities for financial services incumbents. At Digital Baobab we can help you:

• navigate the maze of disruptive API-focused regulations such as PSD2

• develop your API strategies as part of your Digital Transformation program

• structure you internally to enable you to innovate like FinTechs

• bring  digital products to market quicker by introducing lean product development methods

• develop compelling consumer propositions for the products you deliver

• identify potential FinTechs for either partnering or acquisition 

Digital Baobab

How we can help – FinTechs The move to open APIs across financial services brings with it a world of opportunity to innovate and disrupt. Yet to launch and achieve scale can require more than developing the right product. At Digital Baobab we can help you:

• navigate the maze of disruptive API-focused regulations such as PSD2

• advise you on security and compliance standards for financial services

• enable you with industry specific knowledge for banking, payments and insurance

• identify the right financial services partner to help you scale your business

• assist you in the regulatory and strategic implications in the wake of Brexit

• help you in registering in alternative European locations in the wake of Brexit

How we can help – Technology Vendors Enabling your clients to bring successful digital products to market should be an essential part of your B2B2C offering. It is an attractive proposition at both CTO and CIO levels making your platform more attractive to your buyer.

What is B2B2C Selling? Many technology vendors rightly focus the majority of their sales efforts on the ‘B2B’ part of the process. However, in this age of digital disruption, organisations are looking for a technology partner that can also help them sell to their own customers. In particular, they often require assistance with their product strategy, product development and product marketing. Many vendors will often lack the bandwidth or capability to assist a client directly with this consumer focus. For these vendors it can make more sense to partner.

How can Digital Baobab help? By partnering with Digital Baobab we can equip you with the necessary strategic and B2B2C capabilities ensuring your client has the best chance of succeeding when launching  their digital products. Having this added service will make your platform more attractive vis-à-vis that of your competitors. Most importantly, as the client pays for the services, it is free for you to use. Contact us today to find out more in how Digital Baobab can assist you.

Get in contact with Digital Baobab today:

Digital Baobab

e: killian.clifford@digitalbaobab.com w: digitalbaobab.com t: +44 7763118702 a: 166 Croxted Road, London SE21 8NW Digital Baobab - a Mobile Money Consulting company

How we can help – Mobile Operators Many operators are looking to build on their MFS assets to develop their financial services and mCommerce offerings. Bringing a new digital product to market can be daunting, as the mixed results with MFS have shown us. However the chances of success can be optimised by introducing basic lean startup discipline and a high-tech approach to product marketing.

At Digital Baobab we can:

• advise you on the right  digital product strategy for your market

• ensure right structures, skills and processes are in place to enable you to bring it to market

• build up core competencies within product management and product marketing

• audit your current d igi ta l product set , benchmarking against global best practice

• help execute your initial mCommerce strategy (sourcing content, partner engagement, consumer propositions, app strategy).