In a virtual signing event symbolic of the technologically powered new normal, Standard Bank has unveiled an extended agreement with global customer engagement expert Salesforce to deliver positive digital experiences to its clients.
Standard Bank Group Chief Executive, Sim Tshabalala, said the collaboration with Salesforce – together with the complementary cloud capabilities of Microsoft and Amazon Web Services – will power the Standard Bank Group Digital Platform.
“Our extended agreement with Salesforce is a major step towards transforming the Standard Bank Group into a client-centred platform business that delivers a range of individualized, instantly available solutions, services and opportunities, enabled by modern digital technologies and delivered in whatever way a client prefers. Our goal is to use our data capabilities to build deeper, better and more enduring relationships with our clients,” said Tshabalala.
He explained that this expanded range of services will be provided directly by Standard Bank Group across its markets, but also in partnerships with others through the networks of relationships known as ecosystems. The Standard Bank Group platform will be at the centre of the ecosystem that provides services and solutions to support life and business events to its clients.
The capabilities of Salesforce will enable Standard Bank Group to build partnerships with vendors and service providers to co-create customized solutions for its clients. They will also enable the group’s clients to use the Standard Bank Group platform to create solutions for themselves, and to do so in partnership with the group and its service providers and vendors.
“Another way of saying it is that we don’t want to be the shop, we want to be the mall. We want to provide both our own services and the services of our partners in the Standard Bank Group ecosystem,” he said.
Tshabalala explained that becoming a platform provider converges well with Standard Bank’s long-established purpose, vision and values to drive Africa’s growth and deliver exceptional client experiences and superior value.
He said that the established financial services industry faced an existential threat from new competitors. “In order to defend our markets and to grow new ones, we have to become a platform provider. And to do that, we have partnered with Salesforce, and also with, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services”.
Gavin Patterson, President and Chief Revenue Officer, Salesforce, said: “Recent events have accelerated the digital transformation of all aspects of our society and a digital customer strategy is now imperative to the very survival of a business,”
“With the Salesforce Customer 360 platform Standard Bank will be able to build a single source of truth across the entire customer journey and respond quickly to changing customer needs.”
