USA Today: Cognizant Thought Leaders Discuss the Way Forward in Doing Business with Millennials

“Millennials are comfortable with new technology. Now they need to get comfortable with selling and servicing and consulting and delivering and managing and building businesses,” says Ben Pring, co-leader of Cognizant’s Centre for the Future of Work and co-author of “Code Halos”. “They’ve got a great head start ... but a lot to learn.”

Citing Code Halos—the data that accumulates around people, devices and organizations—the correspondent writes, “As technology evolves and data about the use of the technology continues to accumulate, experts believe that the digital lives of people, things and organizations will change the operating rules for all types of businesses around the new concept of "Big Data." This trend already played out as Amazon beat Borders, Netflix beat Blockbuster and Apple beat Kodak, and also is reflected in ebusiness superstars like Google, Pandora, Facebook and LinkedIn.”

“I think we will see an increasing number of disruptors entering into traditional banking markets, and for banks that is scary,” says Steve DeLaCastro, who leads Cognizant’s Banking and Financial Services Business Unit’s global digital banking program and is a former CIO of Bank of America. “In this coming decade, a new level of creativity is required to win. Those banks that can think and act like digital natives will prevail.”

“The information that we provide through all of our online activity—the core of the Code Halo concept—is the new key business lever that all businesses and organizations need to master to monetize the potential of the new 24/7 digital world,” Pring adds. “The economic benefits are huge—this is the route to joining the second trillion-dollar club. By placing the customer at the center of corporate strategy, businesses across industries can apply Code Halo thinking to create more satisfying and personal experiences that drive innovation, loyalty and performance.”

He notes, “The key commercial concept that Code Halo leaders understand—and which other organizations need to leverage—is ‘always be suggesting,’ i.e. ‘if you like Product X, you might like Product Y.’ This idea—born in the world of book and movie retailing—is entirely transferable to all other organizations that need to sell, i.e. every organization.”

DeLaCastro adds, “Every day bank customers become more digitally savvy and die-hard traditionalists are more the minority. While branches will never go away, they will evolve to become much less transactional and much more about relationship building of high value relationships, completing complex sales, and financial advisory. We are seeing an evolution of tellers coming out from behind the bar and becoming more like personal bankers. We are seeing more transparency in customer interactions.

“More and more I expect to see banks advertising on social media, effectively harnessing big data techniques to understand their customers and prospective customers, tailoring products solely for digital channels, effectively servicing, marketing, and selling to micro-segments and indeed to customers as individuals. I expect much more digital self-service and much less transactional human interaction,” he says.

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