Business customers test the digital financial assistant service delivered by metis.finance
Tapping into the customer pool of an incumbent is what many startups are dreaming of.
We, at Fintechlab have been pretty successful running an acceleration program that helps our startups realize their idea while at the same time bringing inspiration to MKB Bank how to serve customers in a digital ecosystem.
Today, we made a leap forward matching our partners’ needs when the first pilot was launched as a collaborative effort of MKB — the bank, metis.finance — the start-up and Fintechlab — the innovation lab. We invite a selected group of our small- and medium size business customers to test the digital financial assistant service delivered by metis.finance, a startup that excelled in the Fintechlab acceleration program.
What I learned from the journey?
It’s not a fight but a collaborative learning process. We chose to collaborate closely with experts from the bank. I know, it often feels like mission impossible, but it is worth the effort. For good reasons, banks have strict policies and processes that need to be respected whenever something new is implemented. Still, people designing and running those processes are consumers just like you and me. They understand, use and probably love most of the digital solutions that are out there so they do not oppose to digital services being made available for their customer, but they also will rightfully look out to guard crucial customer needs: security and privacy. So what worked incredibly well for us is to onboard a journey of learning and exploring the new. Giving time and space for questions, embracing challenges and coming to pragmatic solutions together. I’m proud to have seen business, technology, legal and compliance experts all at the table working out the framework that allowed for secure execution.
No, it is not rocket science. You need a team of experts, consistent but flexible project management and some magic to set the tone for openness, empathy and flexibility in your project team.
Yes, it takes much more time than you would expect. When you do it first, it’s much more about the journey than the actual arrival. We took the time to build a sustainable system that will be capable of taking in new partnerships much more efficiently when the next startup’s solution, that is exciting for clients and executives equally, arrives.
We are excited for our third acceleration program which is starting in March, 2019. If you want to bring your innovation solution to market and test it on real customer base like metis.finance, do not miss out on applying during this Fall.
