Blog and news posts in all categories
Claims such as “robo advisors will replace bankers” or “banks will have disappeared” could be read frequently over the last decade in connection with accelerated digitization. However, we don’t notice much of this in Europe. Is the fintech movement really a revolution or rather an evolution?
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How do you decide whether you want to participate in an ecosystem? And if so, in which position? This article offers a first clue.
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This article shows, by way of example in the area of housing, how various services can be meaningfully combined in an ecosystem in order to comprehensively address a customer need.
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Despite many known advantages, it is still difficult, especially for practitioners, to identify concrete application areas for blockchain-based applications. This article takes this as its starting point and presents a sector-independent typology of application fields, which not only serves to analyze existing blockchain applications, but also provides users with an orientation as to which general possible uses there are for the blockchain and how complex an initial implementation of the respective applications can turn out to be.
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Sustainability is on everyone’s lips and now impacts all regions and sectors of the global economy. Increasingly, financial industry stakeholders, including customers, investors, suppliers and regulators, expect financial services providers to play an active role in financing the transition from a linear economy to a circular economy. ESG criteria are a tool for companies to become more sustainable and to comply with the regulatory efforts of policymakers and regulators.
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For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), AI offers enormous potential for scaling and increasing efficiency, but for these companies in particular there is no alternative to using GAFA services because they themselves lack, for example, machine learning knowledge or the necessary data to train algorithms. An analytics marketplace could solve these challenges.
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Two weeks ago, we introduced the BlockWiki here on the blog, a website where we compile and explain the most important blockchain and DLT terms. The blockchain map, a graphical summary of blockchain terms, can also be purchased there. The overview differentiates between the technical and the business view of the Blockchain. After the left side with the technical view was described in detail in the blog post “The Technical Side of the Blockchain Map”, in this article we focus on the business view of the blockchain universe and explain the terms depicted there within their context.
Continue reading » In our last blog post, “The BlockWiki – The Blockchain Explained,” we introduced the BlockWiki, a compilation of blockchain terms and research on blockchain and distributed ledger technology. One component of the BlockWiki is the Blockchain Map, which graphically depicts the technical background, various uses and functions of the technology. It is divided into two sections: technical view and business view. In this blog post, the focus will be on explaining the elements of the technical side.
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The blockchain is gaining more and more attention and importance worldwide and across industries. Although there is a broad field of application behind this technology on both the technical and economic side, the terms surrounding blockchain in research are not entirely consistent and often unclear. The BlockWiki is a website where relevant terms regarding the blockchain are explained and related to each other and can therefore be used as a reference tool by anyone interested in the blockchain.
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On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Agile Manifesto, I would like to take another look at the central concepts of the document. Because even after this long time, the values and principles contained represent the basic tenets of the agile working method and can be found in many different agile methods, such as Scrum, Kanban or SAFe.
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In my lecture, “The Tokenization of Everything,” I explore the topic of tokenization starting from the concept all the way to the status quo of the token economy. The lecture was created as part of the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center’s Industry Insights series.
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37 billion US dollars. With this issue volume, Ant Group, formerly Ant Financial, a Chinese tech group created by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, was to be traded on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges. Many see new value creation logics, so-called business ecosystems, which Ant Group is said to have developed for itself, as being behind the rapid growth and the extremely high company valuation. However, the assumption that Ant Group is an ecosystem should be treated with caution. In the following, we have analyzed individual platforms in more detail based on the work of the CC Ecosystem.
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For banks, the evolution toward a customer-centric, flexible and adaptable organization is essential. Yet less than one percent of banks operate in a largely agile manner. The TEC model helps banks set the course for developing an agile corporate culture.
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Breaking up the value chain in the financial industry has been explicitly promoted and demanded in all states of the European Union since January 13, 2018 by the Payment Services Directive II, or PSD2 for short. PSD2 gives AIS and PIS open access to customer account data and payment behavior via application programming interfaces (APIs). This creates potential for the use of AI technologies.
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The trend towards value creation in ecosystems has led to a multitude of ecosystem definitions in the past. This makes it difficult even for the interested reader to understand the research results presented. To what extent do the ecosystem concepts really differ and can the findings of one field be transferred to the other?
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What distinguishes an ecosystem from other forms of cooperation? There are already various other concepts that describe cooperations or network structures, but they do not represent ecosystems at all. This article deals with forms of cooperation and their differentiation from ecosystems and presents 8 criteria for the identification of ecosystems.
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In my last post, I explained what characteristics distinguish the robo-advisory process from that of traditional client advice provided by a human advisor. Today, I explain how exactly these characteristics affect the traditional client advisory process and change it to create the robo-advisory process that I presented in the third post of this series. Finally, I answer the question of which of the two advisory processes is the better one.
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Another rather exciting year has passed, during which was able to advance some of my personal projects, among them being self-reflection. Reading books is one of the tools I use to reflect on my perspectives and to refine and adjust them, wherever I feel necessary. While I tried to tap into a diverse set of ideas and experiences during 2020, this article will present five highlights, hoping that some of the ideas I found most inspiring will provide some food for thought for you, as well.
Continue reading » In my last post, I detailed the customer advisory processes for a human advisor and a robo-advisor. Today I explain what causes these differences. This step is important to be able to understand and explain the differences between the two advisory processes and then, in a next step, to be able to derive the impact of robo-advisory services and to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of robo-advisors compared to the traditional customer advisory process.
Continue reading » My last post before the Christmas break was about which business models and strategies a robo-advisor can align its offering with. Today, I will present the customer advisory processes of traditional, human banking advisory services and robo-advisors. In the rest of the series, I will then discuss the impact caused by robo-advisors which form of advisory is better and whether robo-advisors will be able to replace bank advisors in the near future.
Continue reading » Last week’s post was about how robo advisory services are defined and how they came into being, whether they are serious competition for banks, and what stage of development robo-advisors are at now. Today I present the prevailing business models and strategies of robo-advisors.
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The culture of a company is the beliefs, values and behaviors that shape the social and psychological environment of the organization. As a 2017 Capgemini change management study shows, the companies that transform most successfully are also those that involve their employees in the transformation process from start to finish and thus actively promote a change in corporate culture. Many studies from science and practice also make it clear that the path to an agile culture is not an easy one. In a recent article, the consulting firm McKinsey has published four lessons learned from its experience with clients around the world that offer a good approach to how companies can foster the development of an agile culture.
Continue reading » The ever-increasing digitalization confronts companies with dynamically changing environmental conditions requiring them to regularly adapt their product and service portfolios and business models to changing circumstances. In order to meet this requirement, an agile organizational culture is indispensable.
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Digitalization is necessary, but its costs are often not offset by corresponding additional revenues. Ecosystems can provide a solution.
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With a share of 10% of all FinTech companies in Europe, Switzerland is one of the leading innovation centers. The focus on distributed ledger technology is striking in Switzerland, especially in Crypto Valley Zug. In the meantime, 250 crypto companies have already settled there or are planning a location. However, Switzerland cannot rest on its laurels: to remain a leading innovation center, it constantly needs new FinTechs with innovative ideas. In order to identify gaps in the existing range of Swiss blockchain FinTechs and thus the innovation potential for further services, I analyze in this article the current service offering of the Swiss blockchain FinTech scene.
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