With customer-centricity featuring as a core tenet across financial services for quite some time, the trifecta of digital disruption, regulatory change, and non-traditional competitors have created a burning platform for Australian banks to do more than simply put the customer at the centre of their operating model.

Looking through the lenses of openness, agility, and innovative capacity, this joint IDC and DXC InfoBrief identifies top challenges, areas for investment, and overarching principles for Australian banks. Each of these lenses has clear implications for both customers and employees, which will result in increased business and customer benefits.

Re-focusing to external value from internal operations – to outcome-driven services instead of products – requires a considered redefinition of how banks work. Foundational to success in this new era is a re-framing of human-centricity not as a mandate or constraint, but as a value driver. In the days of lockdowns and physical separations, ensuring that customers are treated as people first, and not just a set of accounts, will establish a greater rapport with an improved relationship value.