MMDB 2024 Innovation & Entr... Tyme Bank. Digital Dis... + Create All tools Edit Convert Sign e ΑΙ BOO ୪ 1/1 < > As such, Keraan mentioned that an operational imperative for TymeBank was that of ensuring that its services were delivered successfully 99.9% of the time. "That's a reality of being a bank - that customers and the public expect very high resilience and reliability in the delivery of our services, because banks are such a critical part of the infrastructure of an economy. This becomes even more important as we grow larger, because any downtime would affect an increasingly large number of individuals. We're ensuring this by minimising single points of failure, automating even more of our internal operational processes, ensuring seamless cutover over infrastructure environments in the events of a disaster recovery, implementing state-of-the-art cyber security controls and advancing our real-time monitoring and response capabilities,” he explained.³ 87 Botha, had such high confidence in the ability of the bank's IT infrastructure to support the two key focus areas security and availability - that he stated that "TymeBank is set to revolutionise the local banking scene". 88 Cloud - the big differentiator. By the time the decision was taken to establish TymeBank as a fully- fledged digital bank, cloud platforms had matured enough to be secure, thus providing a cost-effective alternative to traditional banking IT systems, which were expensive to maintain. As a result, since 2018, TymeBank's core banking system had been hosted on the cloud platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS). This enabled the bank to reduce its overheads even further and pass those cost- savings on to the customers. Botha added: "Today we have over 85% of our entire bank running in the AWS Cloud, including our core systems. We are also rolling out some internet of things (IoT) capabilities to help improve observability. "90 89 Exploiting Technical Data. TymeBank had built an open banking platform with application program interfaces (APIs) that allowed the bank to interface with other platforms (Pick n Pay's Smart Shopper b The concept of connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and/or to each other). This included everything from cell phones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps or wearable devices. By combining these connected devices with automated systems, it was possible to gather information, analyse it and create an action to help someone with a task, or learn from a process. [Source: Burgess, M. (2018). "What is the Internet of things?”, WIRED, 16 February, available at: www.wired.co.uk/article/internet-of-things-what-is-explained-iot (accessed 26 September 2019).] Open banking enabled institutions to share data securely with third parties based on customer consent by opening account and payment data through secure application programming interfaces (APIs). Open banking promoted competition in the banking services industry by creating more opportunities for innovative finance services. Consumers would have greater control over how they manage their money, as multiple suppliers would offer them products and services - for example, a comparison of loan offerings, or new ways to make and receive payments. [Source: PwC (2019), Striving for Growth in a Challenging Environment: South Africa Major Banks Analysis, (Online), PwC, available at: www.pwc.co.za/en/assets/pdf/major-banks-analysis-april-2019.pdf (accessed 30 September 2019); Fawthrop, A. (2019), "Open banking explained: a simple guide to year one and what lies ahead", NS Banking, 24 January, available at: www.nsbanking.com/analysis/open-banking-explained/ (accessed 31 October 2019).] desire ම Sign in × 品恺 8 8 JUN 2 14 TymeBank: Digital Disruption in South Africa's Banking Sector data, for example) to better understand its customers and their behaviour. In the absence of physical contact with a customer, data analytics was an important tool in building an emotional connection with customers: the more data the bank had access to, the better service it was able to offer.91 92 Moreover, the bank's architecture made advanced data analytics possible - the front-end, middle- office and back-end processes were as integrated and as digitised as possible, so as to allow all systems to interface with each other. In addition, all the bank's data was digitised from day one, and therefore ready to digest and analyse." "Because we developed our own models, we are able to have flexible, modernised decisioning platforms that help us leverage the data that we have, do rapid cycle testing and design our products using behavioural economics to nudge people in the right way," explained Phukubje.⁹3 Becoming Profitable Keraan anticipated that the business would break even towards the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022.94 Van Zyl explained what this would entail: “To become a self-sufficient bank, we need 2 million active accounts. We also need 700 000 of those 2 million to have their TymeBank account as 2 άtv A X W Д O 1,534 Ο T NEW 25 ם < > C 1:1 0 Q MMDB 2024 Innovation & Entr... Tyme Bank. Digital Dis... X + Create All tools Edit Convert Sign e ΑΙ BOO Innovation at TymeBank "Throughout the lifespan of the Tyme business, the management team has constantly been forced to think creatively as new challenges have cropped up - and has demonstrated an ability to survive and thrive under often-difficult circumstances," remarked Keraan.80 As a digital bank, TymeBank had the advantage of having a smaller and leaner organisational footprint. Keraan noted: "We ensure that our systems are quick and easy to change, enabling us to be responsive to the fast-changing banking landscape. Underlying all of this, we endeavour to maintain a strong organisational culture that enables entrepreneurship and innovation. Thus, when hiring new employees, a wholistic recruitment process was vital to maintaining the bank's entrepreneurial spirit - screening not only for capability and qualifications, but also for culture and personality. 81 82 - 7 desire ୪ 1/1 < > ම × Sign in 口≡ JUN 2 14 TymeBank: Digital Disruption in South Africa's Banking Sector The bank also tried to structure itself so that its teams could work optimally. "We have distinct teams, for example the Innovation Lab, whose job is entirely focused just on innovation," noted Foo. "This takes them out of day-to-day activities, giving them the space to think out of the box and explore new solutions and technologies."83 In addition, key underlying operating principles included being open to non-bank business models and being able to work smoothly with external partners, both technologically and operationally. "This enables us to constantly infuse the bank with new ideas from the outside. Our partner technology teams and business development teams in Hong Kong and Vietnam help us to source new ideas and technologies from other geographic markets and bring this back to South Africa as well," he said. The Pivotal Role of Technology 84 Keraan and his management team believed that the most important thing that set TymeBank apart from traditional banks was its focus on using cutting-edge technology and that this focus would be critical to being able to stay ahead in the banking sector. It was crucial for the bank to deliver its services, securely and consistently, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without any system failures. 86 As such, Keraan mentioned that an operational imperative for TymeBank was that of ensuring that its services were delivered successfully 99.9% of the time. “That's a reality of being a bank - that customers and the public expect very high resilience and reliability in the delivery of our services, because banks are such a critical part of the infrastructure of an economy. This becomes even more important as we grow larger, because any downtime would affect an increasingly large number of individuals. We're ensuring this by minimising single points of failure, automating even more of our internal operational processes, ensuring seamless cutover over infrastructure environments in the events of a disaster recovery, implementing state-of-the-art cyber security controls and advancing our real-time monitoring and response capabilities,” he explained.87 Botha, had such high confidence in the ability of the bank's IT infrastructure to support the two key focus areas security and availability – that he stated that "TymeBank is set to revolutionise the local banking scene". , 88 Cloud the big differentiator. By the time the decision was taken to establish TvmeBank as a fully- 2 C 1:1 Q 1,534