In the classic tale of the tortoise and the hare, the tortoise wins the race by making thoughtful progress towards the finish line. Unfortunately, the moral of that story doesn’t translate for banking innovation. While being purposeful about product development is commendable, it’s not sustainable at a time when fintech and other non-traditional Finservs are already so far ahead.

The good news is, banks are aware of this problem. The bad news? Many aren’t sure what they should do about it. One model that’s proven successful has been for banks to build digital products themselves. So, how are some of the biggest names in banking accomplishing this, and why are they doing it this way?

Why Banks are Building Their Own Digital Products

According to a 2022 report by the DevOps Institute, there will be a global shortage of more than 545 thousand software developers by 2026. That shortage of talent is already starting to affect the efficiency of product development in banking, as many organizations struggle to get new products and services to market fast enough to meet customer demand.

Meanwhile, banks are looking for ways to align their technology with their overall business goals, and a controlled internal development process contributes to that. This controlled development also gives banks the power to implement tighter security measures and gain greater control over their entire technology stack while differentiating from competitors.

More banks are building their own digital products to retain control and keep costs low, and the central goal is to go-to-market faster. But, with a short staffed and overworked IT team, banks that are doing it successfully are using workarounds outside of traditional development models. Namely, the use of no-code technology.

No-code is allowing banks to pump out digital products and services quickly without adding more to IT’s workload. “Regular Joe” team members are contributing to the development, design, and testing of new solutions using no-code’s drag-and-drop interfaces.

New automation workflows, apps, and service models are being rolled out across divisions in a few clicks. The no-code approach is allowing teams to share their digital products easily and align the customer experience within the entire organization.

How the Banking Industry is Using No-Code to Make Gains

Some of the biggest names in banking are use no-code tech to develop and launch new products and services. The flexibility of no-code is helping these institutions reboot their digital offerings to quickly meet market demands.

• Take Capital One, a giant in US banking. Capital One adopted a no-code platform to help their team launch new mobile apps and online banking portals. They were able to create digital banking products and services with less friction and meet changing customer needs because of it.   
• HSBC, a powerhouse in global banking, implemented no-code to develop new products and services, too. The new mobile apps supported a more personalized experience that met their changing customer needs.
• Ally Bank is already an online-only bank, but they also saw the value of no-code for launching digital products more efficiently. They used a no-code platform to develop and deploy new offerings that improved the overall customer experience.  

What’s Next?

The future of development includes rapid protyping, more equal collaboration between business and technical teams, and greater control by banks over their technology stack. It’s a future that’s happening right now.

Using no-code platforms to build digital products and services will helps banks overcome the software developer gap without slowing down the rate of innovation. Institutions are able to pivot and remain competitive with evolving digital offerings, and the applications of no-code are going to continue to add to those possibilities.