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How collaboration underpins the digital vision of BNP Paribas Wealth Management

BNP Paribas Wealth Management's client experience program has helped catalyze a profound transformation not only for the projects undertaken, but also a shift in the whole organization and their way of working. Thierry Derungs, the company's Chief Digital Officer tells us how.

Michelle Howard
04 Sep 2018
How collaboration underpins the digital vision of BNP Paribas Wealth Management

How collaboration underpins the digital vision of BNP Paribas Wealth Management

Thierry Derungs, Chief Digital Officer, BNP Paribas Wealth Management, discusses how's the company's client experience program has helped catalyze a profound transformation not only for the projects undertaken but also a shift in the whole organization and their way of working.
Thierry Derungs, Chief Digital Officer, BNP Paribas Wealth Management
How would you describe your organization’s enterprise-wide digital transformation strategy?

BNP Paribas group has committed an investment of €3 billion over three years to digital transformation. We at Wealth Management are strong believers and started our digital transformation six years ago. After building the foundations we needed and going through change management to demystify digital, we jumped into our Client Experience program two years ago. This was about moving off our “digital geeks’ island” and pushing digital back inside the business, driven by the vision and business model we wanted to achieve. As such, we are talking about a profound transformation involving not only the projects we could have but also shifting our whole organization and way of working. Agile collaborative work across Wealth Management, together with our clients, is not a concept or wishful thinking but a reality.

What targets does your organization have to guide this strategy?

As highlighted by our Client Experience program, we are client-driven. Everything we do must serve our vision and business model to better serve and deliver added value to our clients. We also have our Employee Experience program which, again, is to transform our employees and support them to provide value to our clients. Our transformation is to deliver our added value to our clients through a smooth and seamless experience around the clock and around the world.

What’s the biggest ‘win’ you’ve achieved so far?

Three years ago, I stated that I should become redundant as Chief Digital Officer in three years. My biggest win, as well as a win for BNP Paribas Wealth Management, is that objective is almost achieved.
For two years now, we have no longer had a digital strategy but a business vision and model to achieve which is supported by digital.

The digital geeks’ island is gone, and transformation is inside our business, with involvement from all our employees. This goes along with our new organization pushing deep collaboration and new ways of working.

What are the biggest challenges you face in achieving your digital transformation aims?

If the new technologies are the Mont Blanc to climb, transforming the organization and the people is the Everest ascension. There were many questions, fears and apprehensions, and misunderstandings about ‘What is digital?’, its real added value, and the impacts it could have on the day-to-day interaction with clients.

Since my recruitment as Chief Digital Officer for Wealth Management (I was the first inside BNP Paribas group with an official and prescribed mission) six years ago, I am pleased every day to witness how well we have transformed our organization and our mindset. Five years ago at our first hackathon my CEO wondered what could be the added value. He trusted me and today we have built a very strong start-up ecosystem allowing for much success and collaboration.

Since my very first day, I was the promoter of change management. Now, change management is one of the strategic focuses from our senior executives to support our employees for our transformation.

Last but not least… I remember our very first Agile project for which I was the product owner together with my marketing colleague. Today, Agile scrum, codesign, lean startup, tribes and squads are our classic ways of working.

Leadership is clearly paramount, but what makes a good digital leader?

My preferred BNP Paribas motto is: “Lead by example.”
A digital leader is firstly a leader, a fully-fledged one; this goes along with all the classics: being a great communicator, having conviction, pushing collaboration with the one-team spirit, being happy when others succeed, taking failure as an opportunity to learn…In addition to these, a digital leader must be a very strong believer. There are so many obstacles in a digital transformation.

A good CDO must not only keep going but also motivate everyone around to do so, despite the complexity and the challenges. Bold and brazen, sometimes impertinent, while remaining cautious and aware of all the potential difficulties to deliver short term value in line with the long-term vision.

I always love to state that CDO is not for chief digital officer but for chief disruptive officer…the disruptive gentleman or the gentle disruptor.

Digital transformation is not just about changing processes and technology; it also involves a shift in organizational culture. How is your teamwork changing, and what’s your role as a team leader?

As stated by our co-CEOs, transformation is the duty of everyone inside the organization. This goes along with our leadership commitment to support all our employees on this journey. As an example, we are currently implementing ‘flex office’ in our organization. Our main focus is not to save square meters but to truly promote collaborative ways of working.

In terms of the wider societal impact of digitization, what are you looking forward to over the next decade?

The societal impact of digitization is a key driver for our strong commitment to change management. Indeed, what we know for sure is that banking and wealth management will not be the same in the near future. Our duty is to prepare our employees for this deep transformation in terms of new ways of working, knowledge to acquire or deepen, mindset and, last but not least, their mission and duties in this new business model.

In terms of the wider societal impact of digitization, what concerns you?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation will definitely have deep impact not only inside organizations but more widely on education for the next generation. I think that a big shift in the required skills has already started and will amplify in the coming few years.

I believe also that entrepreneurship tomorrow will be fundamentally different from what we know today, even in the youngest startups. In my opinion new enterprises will be ‘just’ temporary associations of people working together on a specific objective. These factors will again be amplified by the new business models created through blockchain technology.

What is the next big idea you are working on?

No surprise… AI and blockchain are two key technologies we are working on. Their increasing accessibility and maturity open many business use cases which were not possible before.