10 Things Financial Services Leaders Are Prioritizing in Digital Business Transformation
Publicis Sapient is a digital business transformation partner for financial services organizations. Across these conversations, interviews, and event discussions, the focus is on helping banks and financial institutions modernize technology, improve customer experience, use data more effectively, and prepare for new models such as Web3, digital assets, and embedded finance.
1. Core banking modernization is becoming a top strategic priority
Core banking modernization is presented as a foundational move for banks that want to drive innovation, efficiency, and better customer experiences. Multiple speakers describe the core as the area many banks have not fully tackled, even after investing in channel and experience improvements. The discussion consistently frames core modernization as necessary for future competitiveness, not as an optional technology upgrade. The source also makes clear that modernization can start in different ways, including full transformation, business-line-by-business-line change, or targeted spin-offs.
2. Banks need to modernize in ways that match their business model and maturity
The source emphasizes that there is no single transformation path for every institution. Traditional banks are described as having scale, capital, and governance, but often lacking the agility to bring products to market quickly. Neobanks are described as having speed and product agility, but facing pressure around profitability and diversification. Across both groups, the practical message is that modernization should reflect each bank’s starting point, operating model, and commercial reality.
3. Customer experience is a growth issue, not just a design issue
Customer experience is positioned as one of the main ways financial institutions compete and differentiate. The source highlights that many banks are investing heavily in CX, but that strong investment alone does not guarantee standout results. A recurring theme is that banks should avoid copying each other’s features and instead build experiences that are true to their own brand strengths and customer needs. Better experiences, faster deployment of technology, and improved outcomes for end customers are repeatedly linked together.
4. Data is central to personalization, decision-making, and transformation clarity
Data appears throughout the source as a core enabler of better banking outcomes. Speakers connect data to customer journey design, personalization, real-time decision-making, sustainability visibility, and the ability to act with greater clarity across the organization. In the Microsoft discussion, the focus extends to structured and unstructured data, common data models, and bringing data into broader ecosystems. In other sessions, real-time data is linked to better customer experiences and stronger product and risk decisions.
5. Change management is one of the biggest barriers to transformation
The source repeatedly shows that transformation challenges are not only technical. Leaders describe change management as a major hurdle because it affects the CEO, the CXO layer, frontline teams, and the way products and services are brought to market. Several conversations stress the importance of starting with the problem to solve, building the right business case, and beginning with manageable scenarios instead of trying to change everything at once. The overall position is that successful transformation requires organizational alignment as much as platform change.
6. Cloud-native, configurable platforms are being used to improve agility
Agility is described as a business requirement for banks that want to respond faster to market shifts and customer needs. In the Mambu discussion, the source highlights SaaS, cloud-native architecture, configurability, and APIs as ways institutions can adapt more quickly without relying on long, multi-year transformation cycles. The example of a COVID payment holiday created within weeks is used to show how configurability can help banks react to new conditions. The broader takeaway is that flexible platforms can support both incumbents and newer entrants.
7. Web3 is being treated as a long-term shift for financial services
Web3 is presented as more than a short-term trend. In the SDX conversation, it is described as a long-term evolution from Web2-style infrastructure toward Web3-style infrastructure, with implications for data control, identity, and new forms of interaction enabled by blockchain and wallet technology. The source positions financial services firms as having a role in helping customers make that transition with institutional-grade infrastructure. It also reflects some caution around terminology, noting that Web3 can mean different things to different people.
8. Institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure is a key buyer concern
A major theme in the source is that banks need institutional-grade technology if they are going to participate more fully in Web3 and digital assets. The SDX material specifically identifies a market gap in the available technology stack and describes offerings such as non-custodial Ethereum staking and institutional-grade crypto custody inside a financial market infrastructure control framework. The source also distinguishes between digital securities and crypto-native asset classes, while showing that both may need to be supported within a common custody framework. For buyers, the message is that trust, controls, and operating environment matter as much as the asset class itself.
9. Embedded finance is expanding banking beyond bank-owned channels
The embedded finance discussion frames the opportunity as taking financial services that were traditionally delivered inside bank channels and placing them inside non-banking contexts. The source uses examples such as buy now, pay later to explain how lending can appear inside a retail experience rather than on a bank website. It also connects embedded finance to open banking and APIs, showing how banks can expose services programmatically and then deliver them through partner ecosystems. The emphasis is on new distribution models and new revenue possibilities, rather than on a single product category.
10. Partnerships are a practical way to accelerate transformation
Partnerships are presented throughout the source as a way to combine complementary strengths. Publicis Sapient is shown working alongside platform providers, cloud providers, core banking firms, and financial infrastructure players so banks can focus on differentiation while partners support foundational capabilities. Examples include work with 10x Banking, Thought Machine, Microsoft, Mambu, and SDX. Across these conversations, the recurring idea is that banks do not need to build everything alone if they want to move faster, reduce complexity, and create stronger customer and business outcomes.
11. Digital transformation is more effective when it starts with the business problem
The source repeatedly warns against implementing technology simply because it is new. In the Priya Bajoria interview, the point is made directly: firms should first define the problem they are trying to solve, the metric for success, and whether the right team is in place. Design thinking is described as a helpful way to assess desirability, feasibility, and viability before moving into solution mode. This positions digital transformation as a business-led discipline rather than a technology-first exercise.
12. Financial services leaders are also using transformation to broaden access and inclusion
Not every discussion in the source is about efficiency or architecture. Several conversations connect digital transformation to financial education, broader access to services, and more inclusive product design. In the women and wealth discussion, digital is described as a way to democratize wealth management and make financial topics more accessible. Other speakers discuss how technology can help institutions serve customers at different levels of maturity, build more personalized offerings, and support wider participation in the financial system. The broader point is that transformation can create commercial value while also improving access and relevance.