PORTERS 5 FORCES

New Product Development

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:11:00 +0000

There are several general categories of new products. Some are new to the market (ex. DVD players into the home movie market), some are new to the company (ex. Game consoles for Sony), some are completely novel and create totally new markets (ex. the airline industry). When viewed against a different criteria, some new product concepts are merely minor modifications of existing products while some are completely innovative to the company.

Changes to Augmented Product
Core product revision
Line extensions
New product lines
Repositionings
Completely new

These different characterizations are displayed in the following diagram.

There are several stages in the new product development process...not always followed in order:

Idea Generation (The "fuzzy front end" of the NPD process)
- Ideas for new products can be obtained from customers (employing user innovation), designers, the company's R&D department, competitors, focus groups, employees, salespeople, corporate spies, trade shows, or through a policy of Open Innovation. Ethnographic discovery methods (searching for user patterns and habits) may also be used to get an insight into new product lines or product features.
- Formal idea generation techniques can be used, such as attribute listing, forced relationships, brainstorming, morphological analysis and problem analysis
Idea Screening
- The object is to eliminate unsound concepts prior to devoting resources to them.
- The screeners must ask at least three questions:
  - Will the customer in the target market benefit from the product?
  - Is it technically feasible to manufacture the product?
  - Will the product be profitable when manufactured and delivered to the customer at the target price?
Concept Development and Testing
- Develop the marketing and engineering details
  - Who is the target market and who is the decision maker in the purchasing process?
  - What product features must the product incorporate?
  - What benefits will the product provide?
  - How will consumers react to the product?
  - How will the product be produced most cost effectively?
  - Prove feasibility through virtual computer aided rendering, and rapid prototyping
  - What will it cost to produce it?
- test the concept by asking a sample of prospective customers what they think of the idea
Business Analysis
- Estimate likely selling price based upon competition and customer feedback
- Estimate sales volume based upon size of market
- Estimate profitability and breakeven point
Beta Testing and Market Testing
- Produce a physical prototype or mock-up
- Test the product (and its packaging) in typical usage situations
- Conduct focus group customer interviews or introduce at trade show
- Make adjustments where necessary
- Produce an initial run of the product and sell it in a test market area to determine customer acceptance
Technical Implementation
- New program initiation
- Resource estimation
- Requirement publication
- Engineering operations planning
- Department scheduling
- Supplier collaboration
- Logistics plan
- Resource plan publication
- Program review and monitoring
- Contingencies - what-if planning
Commercialization (often considered post-NPD)
- Launch the product
- Produce and place advertisements and other promotions
- Fill the distribution pipeline with product
- Critical path analysis is most useful at this stage

Brand Identity Prism (Kapferer)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:05:00 +0000

The conception of brand identity was mentioned for the first time in Europe by Kapferer, 1986. The importance of the conception and its understanding quickly disseminated in the entire world. The literature on brand management, which has been widely examined, uses the terms “equity” (Aaker, 1996).

According to J. Kapferer, brand identity could be de-fined by answering the following questions:
- What is the aim and individual vision of a brand?
- What makes a brand distinguished?
- How satisfaction could be achieved?
- What is brand‟s equity?
- What are brand competence, validity and legitimacy?
- What are the features of its recognition?

it could be claimed that the conception of brand identity includes the uniqueness, meaning, aim, values, and personality and provides a possibility to position the brand better, and, thus, achieve the competitive advantage.

Sources of Brand Identity:
Goods
Name
Personage (emblem)
Visual Symbols and Logotypes
Brand developer
Communication together with its content and form

Prism of brand identity

First of all brand contains an external specificity that is physical appearance, which is the core of brand and its value added. This determines a traditional brand management due to orientation to “know how”, classical positioning, selecting a principal good or brand features and the benefit. The first step building up a brand is the definition of physical factors, identifying what it is, what it does and how does it look like. Physical appearance is closely connected with a brand prototype, revealing the quality of a brand (for example Coca-Cola bottles on tins of Coca-Cola).

The second element of identity prism is brand personality. With a help of communication brand character is being developed and this is a way by which any brand “talks” about its goods and services and indicates a particular human person. The trait of personality within the prism of identity is inner source. It should not be mixes up with the image of consumer‟s reflection which is an ideal portrait of every recipient. Brand personality is described and measured using those features of consumer personality that are directly related to brands. Since 1996 the research was directed towards studies of brand personality (Kapferer, 2003). D. Grundey (2002) claims that the success of brand expression percentage in the market depends on the choice of every element of personality and its reconciliation. Brand personality is closely connected with self-image and image of a consumer because the identification of consumers‟ with a particular segment reflects brand features.

Brand is culture. Brands possess that culture in which they originated. Brand is a representative of its culture, including communication. From this perspective culture entails a lot of values that provide brand with inspiration. Cultural features a correlated with external principles of brand management (a good and communication) Culture is in the core of brand. Global brands usually reveal their culture (Benetton, Coca-cola, IBM). The aspect of culture enables to discover differences between other competing brands. The attention is focused on brand personality; however, eventually only those brands become leaders that possess not only personality but culture. Brand culture is based on the culture, values and aims of an enterprise. This is one of good lineaments while comparing brands of different companies as it is not likely that tow different companies will have identical cultural features ( Grundey, 2002). Countries producers are the sources of brand culture as well. However, this is not the only factor, providing value added. The degree of brand freedom is frequently restricted by the culture of a company as this is the most visible and external brand feature. Culture plays the essential role in brand differentiation as it indicated what moral values are embodied in goods and services. This feature helps identifying the strongest brands because sources, basic ideals and a set of values are revealed.

Brand includes relationship as brands frequently take the most important place in the process of human transactions and exchange. This is extremely reflected in the sphere of services and retail companies. This feature emphasizes the way of behavior which is identified with brand most of all. A lot of actions such as the fact how brands influence and provide services in connection to their consumers determine this feature. According to Kapferer (2003), brand is a voice that consumers should hear because brands survive in the market because of communication. D. Grundey (2002) singles out the following ways of communication:
-Advertising and other support elements;
-Direct consumer‟s communication while purchasing a good.
Marketing culture of a company is extremely significant as it is a constitutive part of company‟s culture, manifested through the relationship of consumers and the company. Invisible communication is created with a means of associations and its can start between people (a seller, buyer or employee) seeking for the same or different goals. Communicating it is important to reconcile different need of people and present the entire useful information allowing perceiving the essence and peculiarities of a brand.

Brand is a customer reflection. Consumers can easily define what goods of a particular brand are produced for a particular type of consumers (for example, this automobile was developed only for show stars). Brand communication and goods aim at reflecting a consumer, for whom those goods are addressed. Consumer reflection is often confused with the target market (Kapferer, 2003). The target market determines potential consumers though consumer reflection does not define target market. A consumer has to be reflected in a way, which would show how he or she could image themselves consuming a particular good. The representatives of the target market should be presented differently from what they are but what they would like to be. Consumers use goods of certain brands seeking to create their own identity. Brands should control their consumer reflection. A constant repetition stating that this brand was developed for a certain target group weakens brand image.

Consumer self-image. Brand is closely related to the understanding of consumer self-image that is the features with which consumers identify themselves and the very same features they would like to be reflected by the chosen good and its brand. Consumer self-image is important in the explanation of consumer behaviour as consumers purchase goods, corresponding to their self-image. The conception of consumer self-image includes an amount of individual ideas, thoughts and feelings about him in relationship with other objects within socially defined boundaries (Onkvisitir Shaw, 1994). This is the understanding of an individual about his ability, semblance and characteristics on personality. The conception of consumer self-image is developed within timeframes and is based on that what a consumer sees around himself and how other consumers evaluate and respond to him. The conception is a set of beliefs about oneself, retained in memory. The conception of consumer self-image can be determined and strengthened by examining purchase and consumption. Consumers acquire the reconciliation of oneself having positive attitude towards a certain goods of that brand ( for example, a man who identifies himself as strong and muscular will choose Marlboro” cigarettes, while a woman, identifying herself as attractive and modern will choose,Virginia Slims cigarettes) ( Graeff, 1996).

All six elements emphasize brand identity. The prism of identity originated from the basic conception that brand is marked by the gift of “speech”. Brands can exist only then when they communicate. Physical appearance and personality allow determining the sender. The recipient is defined by consumer reflection and self-image. The last two elements of brand identity: culture and relationship link the sender and the recipient.

The prism of brand identity maintains a vertical subdivision: the elements on the left such as physical appearance, relationship and consumer reflection are social and provide brand with external expression (image) and are visible.
The elements on the right such as personality, culture and consumer self-image are connected with the inside of a brand and its soul.

Summing on the prism of brand identity it can be noted that it is the unit of brand identity as a live system of elements, possessing internal and external sides and determining possible limits for brand development and variation.

Porter's 5 Forces - Case Study

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:49:00 +0000

Martin Johnson is deciding whether to switch career and become a farmer – he’s always loved the countryside, and wants to switch to a career where he’s his own boss. He creates the following Five Forces Analysis as he thinks the situation through:

This worries him:

The threat of new entry is quite high: if anyone looks as if they’re making a sustained profit, new competitors can come into the industry easily, reducing profits;
Competitive rivalry is extremely high: if someone raises prices, they’ll be quickly undercut. Intense competition puts strong downward pressure on prices;
Buyer Power is strong, again implying strong downward pressure on prices; and
There is some threat of substitution.

Unless he is able to find some way of changing this situation, this looks like a very tough industry to survive in. Maybe he’ll need to specialize in a sector of the market that’s protected from some of these forces, or find a related business that’s in a stronger position.

Key points:

Porter’s Five Forces Analysis is an important tool for assessing the potential for profitability in an industry. With a little adaptation, it is also useful as a way of assessing the balance of power in more general situations.

It works by looking at the strength of five important forces that affect competition:

Supplier Power: The power of suppliers to drive up the prices of your inputs;
Buyer Power: The power of your customers to drive down your prices;
Competitive Rivalry: The strength of competition in the industry;
The Threat of Substitution: The extent to which different products and services can be used in place of your own; and
The Threat of New Entry: The ease with which new competitors can enter the market if they see that you are making good profits (and then drive your prices down).

By thinking through how each force affects you, and by identifying the strength and direction of each force, you can quickly assess the strength of the position and your ability to make a sustained profit in the industry.

You can then look at how you can affect each of the forces to move the balance of power more in your favor.

Porter's Five Forces - Assessing the Balance of Power in a Business Situation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:40:00 +0000

Porter's Five Forces

Assessing the Balance of Power in a Business Situation

The Porter’s 5 Forces tool is a simple but powerful tool for understanding where power lies in a business situation. This is useful, because it helps you understand both the strength of your current competitive position, and the strength of a position you’re looking to move into.

With a clear understanding of where power lies, you can take fair advantage of a situation of strength, improve a situation of weakness, and avoid taking wrong steps. This makes it an important part of your planning toolkit.

Conventionally, the tool is used to identify whether new products, services or businesses have the potential to be profitable. However it can be very illuminating when used to understand the balance of power in other situations too.

How to Use the Tool:

Five Forces Analysis assumes that there are five important forces that determine competitive power in a situation. These are:

Supplier Power: Here you assess how easy it is for suppliers to drive up prices. This is driven by the number of suppliers of each key input, the uniqueness of their product or service, their strength and control over you, the cost of switching from one to another, and so on. The fewer the supplier choices you have, and the more you need suppliers' help, the more powerful your suppliers are.
Buyer Power: Here you ask yourself how easy it is for buyers to drive prices down. Again, this is driven by the number of buyers, the importance of each individual buyer to your business, the cost to them of switching from your products and services to those of someone else, and so on. If you deal with few, powerful buyers, they are often able to dictate terms to you.
Competitive Rivalry: What is important here is the number and capability of your competitors – if you have many competitors, and they offer equally attractive products and services, then you’ll most likely have little power in the situation. If suppliers and buyers don’t get a good deal from you, they’ll go elsewhere. On the other hand, if no-one else can do what you do, then you can often have tremendous strength.
Threat of Substitution: This is affected by the ability of your customers to find a different way of doing what you do – for example, if you supply a unique software product that automates an important process, people may substitute by doing the process manually or by outsourcing it. If substitution is easy and substitution is viable, then this weakens your power.
Threat of New Entry: Power is also affected by the ability of people to enter your market. If it costs little in time or money to enter your market and compete effectively, if there are few economies of scale in place, or if you have little protection for your key technologies, then new competitors can quickly enter your market and weaken your position. If you have strong and durable barriers to entry, then you can preserve a favorable position and take fair advantage of it.

These forces can be neatly brought together in a diagram like the one below:

PORTERS 5 FORCE ANALYSIS

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:32:00 +0000

BANKING INDUSTRY: An Analysis

This report analyzes Banking industry taking into perspective the growth of the Indian economy and the sustainability of this industry in the present scenario. The report also contains an assessment based on Porters analysis, PEST analysis, covering the relevant political, economic, social and technological factors that have implications for the development of the bank. Additionally, it evaluates the industry within the Michael Porter framework. The report goes on to describe the competitive landscape and provides a comparative financial study of the major players in the industry. It also captures the important trends and key issues and provides an outlook on the bank.

1. PORTERS 5 FORCE ANALYSIS FOR BANKING INDUSTRY

Porters model is, applied microeconomic principles to business strategy and analyzed the strategic requirements of industrial sectors, not just specific companies. The five forces are competitive factors which determine industry competition and include: suppliers, rivalry within an industry, substitute products, customers or buyers, and new entrants. Porters 5 forces model is shown in figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Porters 5 forces model

Although the strength of each force can vary from industry to industry, the forces, when considered together, determine long-term profitability within the specific industrial sector. The strength of each force is a separate function of the industry structure, which Porter defines as "the underlying economic and technical characteristics of an industry."

Collectively, the five forces affect prices, necessary investment for competitiveness, market share, potential profits, profit margins, and industry volume. The key to the success of an industry, and thus the key to the model, is analyzing the changing dynamics and continuous flux between and within the five forces. Porter's model depends on the concept of power within the relationships of the five forces.

Porters 5 force model can help us determine the factors involved and various market forces that influence the functioning of the Bank business model. It helps in understanding the level of competition the banking industry faces, competition is an important factor to determine the level of profits the banking industry can achieve. Understanding the model helps banking industry to gauge its market positions. Understanding the competitors in the market can help the banking industry to gauge its strengths and weakness, and better equip itself to face the ever changing trends in the market, to optimize its profitability.

Let’s now customize the above model to understand the forces surrounding Banking industry.

Figure 1.2 Porters 5 forces model for banking industry

1.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers to Banking industry

The Bargaining Power of Suppliers is high as there is rise in investment avenues like Mutual Funds, Tax-free bonds, Equity market etc. Providers of funds could be more demanding. As quality of services provided with minimum time matters a lot.

The term 'suppliers' comprises all sources for inputs that are needed in order to provide goods or services. Supplier bargaining power is likely to be high when:

Interest rates play a major role in the functioning of the bank.

Valuations of Dollar, Euro and Rupee play a major role.

The economic out look of the country determining the future of lending and borrowing capability of the bank.

RBI( Reserve Bank Of India) is the supreme controller of the functioning of the bank.

The functioning of the bank is very sensitive to the fluctuations in the interest rates of the Federal Reserve Bank in the US.

Since the bank has offshore operations in many countries its interest rate policy and products are directly related to the law of the land and the economy of the country. Example: Switzerland, Japan.

The bank does not have direct influence on the prevailing conditions it should adapt to the market and economic conditions.

1.2 Bargaining Power of Customers for Banking industry

Bargaining power of customers is very high, as banks have also forayed into the long-term finance.

Similarly, the bargaining power of customers determines how much customers can impose pressure on margins and volumes. Customers bargaining power is likely to be high when:

They take large volumes of loans and deposit large sums of money; there is a concentration of buyers.

The consumers have a wide choice of banks and services to choose, which offer very attractive offers for the consumers.

Retail lending (especially mortgage financing) formed a significant portion of the portfolio for banking industry and they have customized their products to cater to the diverse demands.

With better penetration in the semi urban and rural areas the bank garnered a higher proportion of low cost deposits thereby economizing on the cost of funds.

Figure 1.3 Distribution of financial services provided by banking industry

This pie-chart in figure 1.3 clearly indicates the distribution of financial services provided by banking industry as on May 2007.

Apart from streamlining their processes through technology initiatives such as ATMs, telephone banking, online banking and web based products, banking industry also resorted to cross selling of financial products such as credit cards, mutual funds and insurance policies to augment their fee based income.

Banking industry’s Foray into Rural Markets

Banking with the poor is a challenging task as the natures of demand requires doorstep services, flexibility in timings, and timely availability of services, low value and high volume transactions and requires simple processes with minimum documentation. The nature of supply however involves high cost of service delivery, rigid, inflexible timings and procedures and high transaction costs for the customers. With these features on the supply side, traditional banking is not poised to meet the requirements of the demand side. The reach of the banking sector in the rural areas was as low as 15% in terms of credit potential, and 18% in terms of population with physical access to a bank branch.

Banking industry chose to pursue the unreached rural markets as part of its strategy of being a universal bank. However, instead of taking the conventional branch banking model for increasing its outreach, the Bank decided to work with models which would combine the strengths of intermediary forms of organization with the financial bandwidth of a banking institution.

1.3 Threat of New Entrants for banking industry

Licensing and Government and RBI requirements, investment in technology, skills required for financial management, distribution reach, good branch networks. The entry of foreign banks is posing a big challenge.

The competition in this industry will be the higher, if it is easier for other companies to enter this industry. In such a situation, new entrants could change major determinants of the market environment (e.g. market shares, prices, customer loyalty, financial services, and deposit interest rates) at any time. There is always a latent pressure for reaction and adjustment for existing players in this industry. The threat of new entries will depend on the extent to which there are barriers to entry. These are typically:

Economies of scale (minimum size requirements for profitable operations)

High initial investments and fixed costs

Cost advantages of existing players due to experience curve effects of operation with fully depreciated assets

Bank reputation and brand loyalty of customers

Protected intellectual property like patents, licenses, etc.

Scarcity of important resources, e.g. qualified expert financial experts and adequate staff

Good network of branches with ATM’s channels are controlled by existing players

Existing players have close customer relations, e.g. from long-term financial service contracts

Moderate switching costs for customers

Legislation and government action that control the banking sector

RBI's roadmap for the penetration of foreign banks and the acquisition of stake by the foreign entities in Indian private banks seems to be a step towards facilitating entry of foreign banks into India. The twin-phased roadmap also seems to be towards fulfilling the key objectives of competition, consolidation and convergence in the sector. Policy initiatives such as lifting the 10% cap on voting rights in private banks was another much awaited decision for facilitating foreign ownership in private banks. This initiative is expected to pick up momentum once the sector opens up for foreign competition post FY09, banking industry has high vested interested for such moves.

Given the low credit penetration and strong capex cycle, credit growth for banking industry is expected to remain robust despite the prospect of rise in interest rates, going forward. While better asset quality projects a positive outlook for the bank, margin pressures and capital crunch remain some of the prime concerns.

1.4 Threat of Substitutes for banking industry

Threat of substitutes is also high as there are large numbers of investment and borrowing avenues. NBFCs and small co-operative banks are also posing a major threat to the market share of the bank.

A threat from substitutes exists if there are alternative banking services available with lower prices of better performance parameters for the same purpose. They could potentially attract a significant proportion of market volume and hence reduce the potential sales volume for the bank. This category also relates to complementary products. Similarly to the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes is determined by factors like:

Close customer relationships

Switching costs for customers

The relative price for performance of substitutes

Current trends

High returns during Bull market.

People are not very conservative and are risk takers.

Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are privately owned financial intermediates focusing mainly on leasing, hire purchase, car and consumer durable finance, investment banking and advisory services. NBFCs are able to earn higher returns due to their ability to manage high-risk assets. For instance auto financing is high yielding. Banking industry also faces strong competition from mutual funds and stock markets.

FIs are not required to maintain cash reserve ratio (CRR) and statutory liquid ratio (SLR). Priority sector lending norm of 40% (of total advances) is not applicable to them. While this is at their advantage, they do not have access to low cost demand deposits. As a result their cost of funds is always high, resulting in thinner interest spread.

Non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) that were banned from accessing the overseas market for resources by the Finance Ministry a few years back will now be able to access low cost funds through the FCCB route. This will not only ease pressure on their fund mobilization but also exert heavy pressure on banking industry and will have to face a stiff competition.

Investors’ awareness of trading in the Indian capital markets is a serious threat to the Revenue generation of banking industry.

1.5 Competitive Rivalry between Existing Players for banking industry

There are numerous informal financing in the rural area. There is intense competition due to the large number of capital markets in India for investing.

This force describes the intensity of competition between existing players and banking industry in financial markets. High competitive pressure results in pressure on prices and margins and thus on profitability for every finance organization in the segment. Competition between existing players is likely to be high when

There are many players of about the same size

Players have similar strategies

There is not much differentiation between players and their products, hence, there is much price competition

Low market growth rates (growth of a finance organization / individual is possible only at the expense of a competitor)

Barriers for exit are high (e.g. expensive and highly specialized service oriented approach)

Less paper work in case of rural / local financers

India’s capital markets have experienced sweeping changes since the beginning of the last decade. Its market infrastructure has advanced while corporate governance has progressed faster than in many other emerging market economies. Its Regulatory framework institutions like SEBI, Sock exchanges play a major role in India’s capital market.

An enabling environment is coming in place and there is an overriding increase in the domestic investors’ knowledge regarding the merits and risks of capital market investing. Professional financial services not only execute trades for their clients but also provide them critical and timely investment advice.

A person who had invested 10k every month from 1996 to 2006 in mutual funds have reaped an amazing returns of around one crore rupees. By timing the market properly based on technical or fundamental analysis, the returns are very huge compared to what one gets from investing in fixed deposits or other schemes in the banks.

Rural people have easier access to local financers rather than banks. Getting loans from informal financers is easier with hardly any paper work than undergoing a formal process in the banks. Illiteracy still has its strong hold on the minds of rural people and they feel that bank is not for poor illiterates like them.

Informal financers are very proactive in their restructuring initiatives be it in implementation or pursuing people. The rate of inflation draws the urban mass closer to the capital markets.

Many financial institutions such as SBI, HDFC, HSBC, ICICI Banks will spend the rest of this decade positioning themselves to meet the demand for long-term savings products and for life-cycle wealth management services.

Bringing intensive awareness in the rural people about the services provided by the banks and by eradicating illiteracy, banking industry can become a great success in the rural areas of the country. Having its branches even in the remote areas of the country is a necessity to overcome the challenges of the informal financial organizations or individuals.

By offering effective life-cycle wealth management services and by predicting changes in consumer preferences through the cycle banking industry can be very successful, at least in developed markets. Branding, product mix, customer service and performance metrics must all support the goal of building a long-lasting and multi-faceted relationship with the customer.

2. PEST ANALYSIS FOR BANKING INDUSTRY

The “radical and ongoing changes occurring in society create an uncertain environment and have an impact on the function of the whole organization”. A PEST analysis is merely a framework that categorizes environmental influences as political, economic, social and technological forces. The analysis examines the impact of each of these factors (and their interplay with each other) on the business. The results can then be used to take advantage of opportunities and to make contingency plans for threats when preparing business and strategic plans.

PEST analysis is a useful strategic tool for understanding market growth or decline, business position, potential and direction for operations. The headings of PEST are a framework for reviewing a situation, and can in addition to Porter’s Five Forces models, be applied by companies to review a strategic directions, including marketing proposition. The use of PEST analysis can be seen effective for business and strategic planning, marketing planning, business and product development and research reports. PEST also ensures that company’s performance is aligned positively with the powerful forces of change that are affecting business environment. PEST is useful when a company decides to enter its business operations into new markets and new countries. The use of PEST, in this case, helps to break free of unconscious assumptions, and help to effectively adapt to the realities of the new environment.

PEST model is depicted in figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1 PEST Model

PEST Analysis for Banking industry

Political Factors

Focus on Regulations

High Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) for Implementation of Basel II

Economic Factors

Growing Economy

Low Interest Rates

Social Factors

Loyalty Factor

Increased Penetration of Cards

Increased Usage of Online Banking

Technological Factors

IT Services

Mobile Banking

Banking industry must build a high-performance culture centered around the customer. Staff incentives linked to customer satisfaction and service levels will become more prevalent. Timely and insightful metrics on customer attitudes will become a greater priority. Banking industry has to think about the customer experience first and their internal processes second if it has to stay ahead and to stave off its rivals.

Security will be a significant differentiator for financial institutions. The reputation and operational risks from breaches in security are growing, and franchises and brands can suffer immense damage from unauthorized release of data, or leaks from their own or an outsourced database.

Rising competitive pressures will force Banking industry to differentiate itself more aggressively, whether through its product mix, market focus, or branding proposition. Restructuring will focus on entrenching existing areas of strength, not developing entirely new ones.

Cost-efficiency will remain key factor. Expect a further acceleration in the outsourcing of non-core functions and greater emphasis on performance improvement as the bank will seek to increase the efficiency of back-office processes.