The importance of technological skills, user-friendly innovation and competence centers.

According to the recent study developed by IBM, “Six crucial strategies that define digital winners” *, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation are pushing new and unique experiences for customers and employees. Market-leading organizations use these technologies to obtain information about customers’ needs and create an improved experiential impact by redesigning important aspects of their internal activities. The nature of work is evolving with the power of intelligent automation, allowing users to make more informed decisions.

New business models that include digital platforms are therefore critical for organizations. The data shared in the ecosystem are already creating a new and exponential value and are subject to privacy protection and management regulations. We have recently interviewed Giuseppe Mariani, Chief Operating Officer of Intesa (IBM Group) on these and other topics such as innovation, supporting technologies and project teams.

What are the strategic initiatives that are driving the evolutionary path of companies and how is Intesa (IBM Group) approaching transformation in turn?

The current challenges facing companies globally concern a series of issues such as the management of user identity in an increasingly digital market, the management of increasingly agile and faster processes and the comparison with a market that requires simplicity, from the point of view of the User Experience. To address the requests arising from these challenges, technology becomes an enabling driver and therefore the integration of technologies such as artificial intelligence (e.g. predictive and sensorial algorithms) blockchain, smart contracts, Cloud, Data, Analytics and IoT.

Technology inevitably involves people and therefore we are faced with managing change and talking about new paradigms such as that on augmented intelligence. Where the automation of tasks and processes does not arrive, this gap is compensated with creativity, adaptability and flexibility of people who still remain primary resources through adequate initiatives to reconfigure skills and competences.

In this scenario, the collection of users’ needs and requirements becomes fundamental through the analysis of processes, requirements and related systems necessary to provide the best solutions. At Intesa we adopt work and process methods now known as Design Thinking, which we use with various customers to operate with both top down and bottom up approaches to develop “co-operation and co-creation” logics.

The activity that plans and organizes the normal activities of the teams and that includes expert consultants in the area of ​​digital transformation, compliance and governance, communication, infrastructure and governance of all touch points, is called specifically Service Design. At Intesa we created a Competence Center for Service Design, cross-department, that has the objectives of interacting and co-creating with companies before implementing the ideas themselves, reducing costs and development times.

How has the collaborative model of Intesa been redesigned with its customers or partners and how do the new Competence Centers operate?

 The collaborative model was revisited starting from the analysis of “pain points”, the development of “big ideas” up to the planning of the various project streams identified. It makes use of the collaboration of a team of expert consultants and project managers, supported by service managers and specialized figures who operate in Agile mode, according to which the needs and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of the cross-functional teams and customers.

The primary objective is the creation of smarter, agile and dynamic business processes that allow us to make a contribution to companies’ requests.

The new Competence Centers focus on Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Service Design and Compliance. The technologies made available in the first case use automation to make internal processes such as document and data management efficient, improving their use and Customer Experience. They can be applied, for example, in the management of biometric recognition and signature services through chatbots.

In the blockchain sector, we work to integrate technology with existing user-friendly products and services, to improve traceability and trust within the ecosystem. On the subject of compliance, on the other hand, it is a priority to support companies towards full consistency with national and international regulations, starting from the moment of designing the solutions (a typical example is that relating to the protection of privacy by implementing the principles of privacy by design and by default ). Collaboration with companies such as Intesa, Qualified Trust Service Provider and Identity Provider SPID, can help businesses to leverage regulatory obligations by transforming them into business opportunities.

A final fundamental node is the investment also in new spaces; in fact the teams collaborate on the new Intesa’ campus at OGR Tech in Turin and in the IBM Studios in Milan – Italy.

By Chiara Bozzolino – Marketing Campaign Manager, IBM Italia

*Source:“Six crucial strategies that define digital winners”