5 big questions on innovation

The idea of the lab presence itself is about giving people a space to come and think differently and engage with us. We run demand sessions with our business teams to get to the root cause of their challenges and then find solutions to meet those needs. It is the applied adoption of new technologies with a return on investment by decreasing risk, simplifying the environment or increasing revenue. By the time we have introduced the technology into the bank, we are confident it will make a difference.

All large banks have challenges. The size, credentials and history of the bank reflects the complexity of the underlying systems and processes that need to be transformed. The labs have been created specifically to tackle these challenges on all fronts. Some are easier than others to solve, but the needs of our business and technology partners within the bank are always our focus. Something that helps overcome impediments is how well the labs have been embraced by the bank. There is huge support and engagement at the executive level to make Deutsche Bank great from a technology perspective. 

Innovation is one of the pillars of Deutsche Bank and at the cornerstone of everything the bank is doing. Our CEO, John Cryan, talks about the innovation labs often in his public speeches as a means to enable us to service our clients in a better fashion. It is a top-down imperative with a bottom-up implementation, making the lab accessible to everybody. The labs are for all Deutsche Bank employees. People come in and see the bank has invested in working differently. Everybody who has walked through our doors or spoken to one of us feels the excitement and takes it back to their desks.    

Over the next few years, technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, and analytics will transform the banking industry. What these new technologies can do with analyzing and transforming vast amount of data is amazing.

I love how Panera Bread leveraged technology to change the ordering experience. The wait was long and the orders were not always right. They transformed their ordering process through in-store kiosks and a mobile app, so now it takes a minute instead of eight to order your food there. I’m always looking for ways to save time in my life, so this resonates with me.