Proposition Innovation

In retail financial services, whilst the hunt continues for "white hot", new to the world, innovation, the reality is that much of the change is incremental in nature and often regulation-driven.  Many of the core ideas within financial services were developed decades, even centuries ago.  (Some argue that the last real innovation was leasing - separating ownership and use - dating back to the early part of the Industrial Revolution.  Perhaps it was hire purchase in the mid-19th century - a form of vendor finance for Singer domestic sewing machines originally).  This view may be challenged by recent developments in investment banking but even then securitisation. Off-balance sheet finance and derivatives are not entirely new concepts.

What has remained true over time is that the Executives of most firms are frustrated by their slowness to bring new products to market.  This is despite several cycles of attempting to foster new ideas; re-drafting processes and implementing new technologies.  Better, faster and cheaper methods are the nirvana but efforts are frequently frustrated by a failure to address underlying issues.  These typically include:

  • Failure to understand what constitutes superior benefits to the consumer
  • Failure to define the complete proposition required upfront
  • Failure to adapt from clunky, linear processes
  • Failure of the decision-making process (hazy criteria/sporadic senior engagement etc)
  • Failure to manage at a programme or project portfolio level with resulting resource problems and delays

The Bluerock team has many years of experience of creating new services and building more effective development environments.  Our range of services are aimed to improve speed to market - typically targeting a minimum 20% improvement; this frequently results in lower costs due to efficiency improvements and shorter lead times and better quality outputs both meeting TCF criteria and delivering more value all round.

Bluerock can provide:

  • In-company seminars and diagnostics
  • Cross-industry comparisons and study visits
  • Idea development workshops and model business cases
  • The set up of Knowledge Banks and Idea Nurseries using traditional and Web 2.0 methods
  • Decision-making and resource allocation advice
  • Parallel processing and collaboration - organisational designs to tools
  • Portfolio management theory and practical techniques

For further details contact Vaughan Jenkins,