Banking Transformation Middle East
2x Faster Product Launches: We helped the bank speed up how quickly they release new products, cutting the time in half.
Top-Quality Digital Products: The bank launched new digital products that were a hit with customers, thanks to our approach.
Stronger, Smarter Teams: We improved the skills and teamwork across the whole bank, making sure they can keep getting better over time.
Introduction
Our client, a tier-1 Bank, a leading financial institution in Saudi Arabia, faced the challenge of implementing a new digital business model and streamlining their value stream through a large-scale agile transformation. The collaboration with Lithe Transformation was pivotal in overcoming significant hurdles, including legacy teams with limited agile experience, misalignment on agile mindsets, and limited stakeholder buy-in, particularly at the C-suite level.
The Challenge
The bank's ambition to shift to a digital-first model required a comprehensive transformation. The primary challenges included:
Legacy Teams and Partners: Existing teams and partners had limited experience with agile methodologies.
Misalignment:There was a noticeable gap in agile mindsets and practices between the bank, its suppliers, and the incumbent.
Stakeholder Buy-in: Securing the commitment of key stakeholders, especially at the executive level, was critical yet challenging.
Our Role
Lithe Transformation played a key role in facilitating this complex transformation by providing comprehensive leadership and expertise across various domains:
1. Agile@Scale & Lean Transformation: We guided the adoption of agile methodologies and lean principles tailored for the Bank's specific needs and large-scale environment.
2. Product & Design Expertise: We brought in our knowledge of product management and design thinking to create a customer-centric approach to product development.
3. Customer Experience (CX) Focus: Ensuring customer experience remained a top priority throughout the transformation process.
4. Product-Led Delivery: Implementing agile ways of working to deliver valuable products quickly and iteratively.
Our Approach
To achieve successful transformation, we employed a multifaceted approach:
Maturity Assessments: Comprehensive assessments were conducted to understand the current agile maturity of teams and identify areas for improvement.
Collaboration & Coaching: Strong relationships were established with the leadership team, Tribe/TMO leadership, and teams. Ongoing coaching and training were provided to build agile capabilities across all levels.
Change Management Strategy: A robust change management strategy was implemented to address stakeholder concerns, foster a continuous learning culture, and promote agile adoption within the broader ecosystem, including legacy teams and partners.
Community Building: Chapters and Communities of Practice were facilitated to foster knowledge sharing and collaboration between teams.
Targeted Improvements: Improvements based on assessments were implemented, including team restructuring, process optimisation, and tooling enhancements.
Psychological Safety: A safe environment for open communication, experimentation, and learning was fostered.
Tools and Techniques
We leveraged several innovative tools and techniques to drive the transformation:
Operating Model: Organised teams by value-stream by customer journey, forming cross-functional teams that were self-organising, outcome-focused, and reduced external dependencies.
Transformation Management Office (TMO): Led the approach to drive large-scale programme controls, including onboarding, budgets, and vendor contracts.
Visualising Work: Utilised Mission Control, Tribe Walls, impediments boards, MI Dashboards, and Kanban to make work visible and resolve impediments.
Design Thinking: Employed Design Sprints and a design-thinking approach for innovation, rapid prototyping, and problem solving.
New Ways of Working: Implemented agile mindsets and practices, visualising work, and Scrum@Scale for delivery and improvements internally and with vendors/partners.
Project to Product: Shifted to a product/feature-led approach to strategically align and improve speed, efficiency, and productivity.
Agile and DevOps (CI/CD): Adopted an incremental approach to develop and deliver software, continuously deploying code using modern tools and automated processes.
Continuous and Process Improvements: Employed a lean-agile approach to establish, improve, and mature processes.
Peer Programming: Used pairing to develop internal client capabilities.
Psychological Safety: Fostered team norms, team events, chapter/CoP, and individual coaching of agile mindsets/behaviours.
Marketing Engagement: Utilised digital marketing, comms, and Town Halls to raise organisational awareness of the transformation, progress, and outcomes.
Outcomes and Benefits
The collaboration between Lithe Transformation and the bank yielded significant results:
50% Reduction in Time to Market: Streamlined processes and increased agility led to a substantial decrease in time to market for new products and features.
Enhanced Team Maturity & Capability: Teams across the organisation developed a strong understanding of agile methodologies and product management principles.
Continuous Learning Culture: A culture of continuous learning and improvement was established, ensuring long-term success.
Delivery of Market-Leading Products: the bank successfully launched market-leading digital products, boosting customer experience and market share.
Lessons Learned
This initiative provided valuable insights into facilitating large-scale agile transformations within complex multi-supplier environments. Key takeaways include:
Stakeholder Buy-in is Crucial: Early and consistent support from all stakeholders, especially C-suite leadership, is essential.
Prioritised Commitment: The transformation and new digital business model had commitment (funding, people, etc.) and was top priority for the bank.
Integrated Transformation Journey: Bringing all parties – the bank, legacy organisations, and suppliers – on board from the beginning fosters collaboration and minimises friction.
Agile Mindset & Practices Matter: Leading by example and promoting an agile mindset across all levels is vital for successful adoption.
Balancing Prioritisation: Maintaining a balance between delivering value and building capabilities ensures sustainable transformation.
Tailored Approach for Different Cultures: Recognising and adapting to regional cultural differences is critical for effective change management.
Sustainability after Conclusion: Leadership and teams were coached and educated to continue the culture and ways of working after our departure. Training ranged from immersive, certifications, and role-specific capability uplift.
In conclusion, the large-scale agile transformation for the bank demonstrates the power of a well-coordinated, customer-centric, and agile-focused approach. Lithe Transformation's expertise in agile methodologies, product management, and change management played a crucial role in overcoming challenges and achieving significant, measurable outcomes.