7 steps to get you ready

When it comes to client onboarding and client lifecycle management, then, what are the key steps financial institutions need to address with regards to planning in order to ensure their finite resources are focused on the ‘right’ initiatives for next year?

1. Align with the organisation’s strategic goals and current environment

Many organisations are currently undergoing structural changes which may be driven by re-alignment of the organisation around a more customer-centric approach or simply to drive efficiencies and reduce costs. Other organisations might be driven purely by cost reduction right now, given the global economic environment, or reducing risk driven by regulator, reputation, or other factors. While many financial institutions want to achieve all these outcomes over time, generally there is a single over-riding priority at a given time.

As you consider your plan for the rest of 2023 and look to 2024, are you clear on your own organisations’ goals? Do your plans support achieving those goals? It is important to consider how you can align your own plans with the overall goals of the organisation and ensure that the benefits of your plans are communicated in a way that supports those goals. For example, if the organisation is looking to reduce costs and you are considering implementing a new CLM system, you should consider the operational and compliance savings that could be achieved, as well as if there is a positive revenue impact.

The more closely aligned to your organisation’s strategic goals and the more clearly you can articulate the benefit that you can deliver to support this goal, the more likely you and your team are to receive the budget and backing to deliver your plans.

2. Articulate a clear vision for your area of the business

Ideally, you should have a clear vision for how you want to develop your client lifecycle management capabilities, from accelerating the onboarding process, to developing a single view of the customer, to delivering continuous KYC processes or high levels of automation. This vision should set out how you want these processes to look in 3-5 years’ time, setting out the key capabilities you want to enhance. This should be written down and communicated to the team on a regular basis – a task that we know can be very challenging due to both BAU activity and immediate priority management.

A clear articulation of where you want to be in a certain timeframe helps you and your team stay focused on the things that matter. It helps you prioritize projects effectively and helps gain buy-in from the team. At a minimum, it is worth considering where you want to be by the end of 2023 and into 2024 and communicate these goals to your team to ensure everyone is on the same page. This provides the foundations for your planning for the next six months and beyond.

3. Understand the full portfolio of current and planned initiatives

Do you have a clear view of all the initiatives that need to be considered in your plans for 2024? It may seem like a relatively simple question, but there is a lot to think about here.

The critical part is that you need to uncover everything that your team will be spending their time on. This will include:

• Mandatory projects, such as regulatory change and internal audit / regulator-driven projects – KYC refresh and remediation could also be considered within this category.
• In-flight projects, understanding which of these are going to slip into next year or have subsequent phases planned for next year.
• Strategic initiatives, those programs of work which support your strategic goals and help to transform / change the organization – this may include programs around automation, outsourcing, new technology system implementation, or others.
• Backlog items, which include the projects, enhancements, fixes, and other initiatives that have been previously considered but not yet prioritized; and
• Other projects, such as large cross-organization efforts which may require your team to participate and contribute time and effort.

It is crucial to have a full view of your portfolio as you enter your planning process in order to have confidence that you are creating a realistic plan for next year. This will help ensure that you can identify any gaps, particularly around resourcing and budgets. If you understand your team’s commitments at this level of detail, it will help you effectively communicate budget requirements, and critically, allow you to articulate the impact on what is possible if the required budget is not allocated.

4. Define the scope, timeframes, ROI and resourcing required

It can be a challenge to find the time to properly plan and scope your future initiatives while you are already working at full capacity. However, the more scoping and planning that can be done at this early stage, the more beneficial it will be later.

At a minimum, each initiative under consideration should be assigned an owner and each owner should complete a project initiation document to capture some critical information.

For instance, if you are considering a project around KYC automation, you would aim to develop a high-level understanding of the scope, key business requirements, the current process, the expected costs and benefits, the processes and systems impacted, an estimated timeline, key risks and dependencies and finally, the resources and skills needed for this specific initiative.

While this approach provides a base level of information to support prioritization of initiatives and budgeting allocation, it is also a critical exercise enabling your team to think through what they need to achieve next year and what they need to achieve a successful outcome.

5. Communicate benefits and value

In a time where budgets are very tight, for all but the most critical initiatives you must be able to answer ‘why’ you need the budget requested. And that answer must clearly articulate the value or return on investment that will be delivered to the organization.

You should aim to express the benefits from both a qualitative and a quantitative point of view, ensuring you can describe the holistic improvements the investment will bring alongside a $ amount on the return that will be delivered.

An important point here is that in order to communicate the change that will be delivered, you need to be able to measure what you do today. If you’re building a case of efficiency or productivity saving, you need to measure the reduction in time taken, increase in overall speed, or reduction in costs. If you’re building a case for reduced risk, you need to show how your project will demonstrably reduce losses – either from fines, fraud, or reputation through high-profile breaches.

We always recommend that is conducted at the individual project level to ensure you understand how the benefits are attributable across your portfolio and the value of each individual ask.

6. Identify your resourcing requirements

As part of the planning process it should become clear whether your current resourcing can meet future demands. There has already been clear incentive to use internal resources wherever possible.

We recommend you consider resourcing from the perspectives of capacity, experience, expertise, and capabilities. Depending on the initiatives you are looking to deliver, you may need additional capacity. Alternatively, you may need specific skills or experience that do not currently exist within your team.

Consideration should also be given to the impact of remote working. Many organizations have noted an increase in productivity through remote working and you may be able to source experienced personnel from outside your geographical area to fill specific gaps.

In summary, it is important to get a clear understanding of what resourcing your initiatives will require so that you can communicate this clearly when budgets are being allocated.

7. Develop a plan with the bigger picture in mind

As you put your plans together, you must ensure that each initiative fits into the bigger picture. You should also ensure that you are considering how your area of the business can be supported through the wider organization.

While it is vital to ensure that each initiative has a clear benefit and return on investment, it is also important to ensure that your plans are realistic and achievable within the constraints of your organization. Consideration must also be given to the demands on other parts of the organization. There is no benefit to be gained from having a detailed and feasible plan that cannot be supported by the wider organization. If you are planning a large increase in activity, does the organization have the capacity to support this?

Your plan should be more than a collection of individual initiatives. It should show how these initiatives support your overall goals and how they will fit together. For example, if you are looking to accelerate the onboarding process, how will this support your strategic goal of reducing costs or increasing revenue?

8. Ensure alignment with IT and other enabling functions

Many client lifecycle management initiatives will require IT development and integration. However, it is not just IT that you need to consider, there may also be requirements from other functions, such as operations, compliance, and legal.

It is important that as part of your planning process, you ensure that IT and other enabling functions are fully aware of your plans and the potential impact on them. It is also crucial that you understand the implications and requirements of your plans on these functions.

By identifying the requirements early, you can help avoid any last-minute surprises or delays in the future.

9. Plan for execution

While this may seem obvious, it is important to plan how you will actually execute your initiatives. There are a number of areas that you need to consider, including:

• Project management: How will you manage and track progress, and how will you deal with issues and risks that arise?
• Resource allocation: Do you have the right people with the right skills available when you need them?
• Change management: How will you ensure that the changes you are making are effectively communicated and adopted by your team and the wider organization?

By planning for execution as part of your overall planning process, you will be better prepared to deliver on your initiatives successfully.

10. Be flexible and adaptive

Finally, it is important to recognize that no plan survives contact with the enemy. The business environment is constantly changing, and you need to be prepared to adapt your plans as new information becomes available.

It is important to regularly review your plans and be willing to make adjustments as needed. This could be in response to changes in the external environment, changes in the priorities of your organization, or simply new information that comes to light.

By being flexible and adaptive, you will be better able to ensure that your plans remain relevant and achievable throughout the year.