Episode 4 Jamie Warder, Head of Digital Banking at KeyBank: 3 Rules for Successful Innovation

Banking on Innovation

Jamie Warder, who is Head of Digital for KeyBank, is our guest this week on Banking on Innovation

KeyBank has around 1,000 branches in 15 states. Jamie is a savvy industry veteran who is skilfully navigating the complex terrain of how regional banks can capitalize on both opportunities and threats from the burgeoning fintech ecosystem.

KeyBank is taking bold and non-traditional steps to deliver on their digital ambitions – acquiring AQN, an analytics company, and Laurel Road, a student loan refinance operation which they are refashioning into a digital-led, full-service bank for the healthcare market.

Jamie brings a real appreciation for the financial services ecosystem and complex competitive landscape. He combined new ideas about the capabilities necessary to serve customers with pragmatism about the speed and types of innovation possible.

“As much as we talk about the digital revolution, I think in many cases it’s a digital evolution,” he says. “We’ll be measuring the change over the course of many years or decades.”

Different parts of the market are also maturing at different paces. Therefore, how and where you innovate must be considered carefully.

“We’ve coined a term - ‘Targeted scale’ - which means we’re not going to out-scale the trillionaire banks at KeyBank. But what we can do is pick our spots, like renewable energy, low-income housing and healthcare, where we can really focus our time, effort and resources and create targeted scale... If you’re trying to be strong everywhere you’re probably strong nowhere.”

The 3 Rules for Successful Innovation

Drawing on his experience in different organizations - including the United States military, where he was a captain - Jamie observes three key rules for successful innovation.

1. First, “you have to think about innovation in horizons. Thinking about what you can innovate this year might be different than innovation you’re thinking about five years from now.” The former may be “slight tweaks... relentless incrementalism” rather than true original thinking, while the latter may require thinking and design that never gets implemented.
2. Second, organizations must avoid “innovating for the sake of innovating.” Instead, start with a clearly articulated strategy outlining your target market and how you are trying to serve it, then use that as a frame for innovation.
3. Third, do not confine your innovation to technology, but consider processes and people too.

For example, says Jamie, he’s particularly proud that at KeyBank “We’ve been doing a lot of innovation on how to allow small start-up, nimble companies, typically that we’ve acquired, to keep their culture, spirit and speed, but within a larger regulated organization.”

The implication is that organizations cannot wait until they have achieved parity to start considering where they can innovate. It must be part of your agenda from the start. But equally, organizations must be intentional about their focus and accept that they cannot be innovative in every part of their business.

...and more.

Beyond the episode:

Find out more about Personetics’ personalized, customer-engagement platform for financial services: https://personetics.com/

Connect with podcast host Jody Bhagat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/digitalbusinessgrower