Latest news with #productmanagement
Finextra
3 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
Win-win banking: Unlocking value through advanced product, pricing, and billing
0 This content has been created by the Finextra editorial team with inputs from subject matter experts at the funding sponsor. In today's fast-moving and hyper-competitive retail banking ecosystem, product and pricing agility is no longer a luxury for financial institutions: it is now a necessity. Innovation-first challengers, evolving customer expectations, and regulatory pressures have forced banks to rethink how they design, price, and deliver products. Advanced product, pricing, and billing capabilities are crucial for modern retail banks to overcome complex product management challenges, rigid pricing, and fragmented billing. Optimised product management, dynamic pricing and centralised billing allows retail banks to rapidly design, price, and deliver innovative and hyper-personalised products at scale. The result is a win-win: banks gain agility, better revenue control, and growth opportunities, while customers receive relevant products at attractive prices, greater transparency, and better rewards. Evolving market demands Today's retail banking market demands agile, customer-centric solutions that prioritise personalisation, transparency, and flexibility. Looking to the future, these demands will intensify as digital-native customers expect seamless experiences, innovative offerings, and value-driven interactions. Hyper-personalisation and value: Today's customers expect financial products aligned with their unique financial goals and lifestyles - from low-fee student accounts to high-yield savings for young professionals. There is a strong demand for convenient, cost-saving bundled offerings such as mortgage and insurance packages or credit cards with travel rewards. Looking ahead, this trend will accelerate into hyper-personalised products, that leverage AI-driven insights to create bespoke solutions at a micro-segment or individual level. This could mean dynamic, usage-based bundles that adjust features or pricing in real-time based on customer behaviour. Dynamic and transparent pricing: Customers are increasingly demanding dynamic and transparent pricing with no hidden fees. They expect benefits like lower interest rates or waived fees that reward their overall relationship and loyalty. This push for relationship-based pricing considers factors such as account types, balances, relationship length, and activity. Looking ahead, AI will increasingly influence or drive pricing models making relationship-based pricing even more sophisticated by analysing predictive behaviours for hyper-personalised offers with real-time adjustments. Streamlined and flexible billing: There is a growing market demand for flexible billing options, including usage-based models and tiered services that reward customer engagement. Looking ahead, the expectation will evolve into seamless and transparent billing systems that integrate across all products, providing a single, real-time view of charges and rewards. Customers today and in the future value being rewarded for their loyalty. Banks are expected to deepen these relationships through effective cross-selling and bundling, tiered programmes offering premium services and attractive pricing, all aimed at encouraging customers to consolidate their financial services for better overall value. Why conventional capabilities fall short Banks today face a critical imperative: adapt to the demands of modern business needs. The reality is banks can no longer ignore critical capabilities that help them manage the intricate web of today's product management, dynamic pricing and offers, and diverse billing structures. The lack of these critical capabilities can create significant roadblocks. They cannot accommodate diverse contract structures and nuanced pricing models that are essential in a highly competitive market. This inflexibility directly impacts a bank's ability to innovate, respond to market shifts, and capitalise on evolving customer expectations. Rigid product management: Complex or hard-coded product definitions for loans or savings with distinct data structures pose significant challenges. Inconsistent product offerings can confuse customers and bank staff, while portfolio bloat from outdated or redundant products increases costs. Additionally, rigid systems with poor interoperability limit innovation by hindering experimentation with new features or integration with third-party partners or ecosystems. Complex or hard-coded product definitions for loans or savings with distinct data structures pose significant challenges. Inconsistent product offerings can confuse customers and bank staff, while portfolio bloat from outdated or redundant products increases costs. Additionally, rigid systems with poor interoperability limit innovation by hindering experimentation with new features or integration with third-party partners or ecosystems. Inflexible pricing structures: Inflexible pricing rules create rigid and inconsistent pricing models, making dynamic or personalised pricing challenging. Banks also struggle to tailor pricing to customer segments, behaviours, or overall lifetime value. Adjusting pricing to respond to market trends or competitor offerings is slow and complex. Inflexible pricing rules create rigid and inconsistent pricing models, making dynamic or personalised pricing challenging. Banks also struggle to tailor pricing to customer segments, behaviours, or overall lifetime value. Adjusting pricing to respond to market trends or competitor offerings is slow and complex. Inefficient and opaque billing processes: Siloed billing or applying inconsistent fee structures, complicated consolidated billing, and transparency. This leads to a negative customer experience or even attrition due to opaque or unexpected fees, eroding trust. Disparate systems also cause revenue leakage through difficulties in tracking and reconciling fees. The lack of a holistic view of customer activity prevents relationship-based billing. Reconciling billing data across systems is labour-intensive, increasing operational costs. Siloed billing or applying inconsistent fee structures, complicated consolidated billing, and transparency. This leads to a negative customer experience or even attrition due to opaque or unexpected fees, eroding trust. Disparate systems also cause revenue leakage through difficulties in tracking and reconciling fees. The lack of a holistic view of customer activity prevents relationship-based billing. Reconciling billing data across systems is labour-intensive, increasing operational costs. Scalability challenges: Traditional systems often lack the scalability to handle high transaction volumes or new product lines, leading to performance issues and downtime. Driving innovation with advanced product, pricing and billing capabilities Advanced product, pricing, and billing capabilities can help power innovation and future-proof a bank. Banks can roll out new and innovative products, promotions, or pricing models more rapidly without the need for extensive and time-consuming overhauls of their existing systems. Banks can create dynamic and compelling bundled offerings, significantly aiding customer acquisition and retention. These bundles can take various forms, including cross-product packages (e.g., mortgage, insurance, and loyalty programme), lifestyle-based bundles tailored to demographics (e.g., student accounts with travel rewards), tiered services for premium customers, and dynamic usage-based bundles that adjust based on customer activity. With the right pricing capabilities, banks can quickly adapt to market changes, customer demands, or regulatory requirements. Dynamic pricing strategies based on various factors like customer segments, behavioural patterns, or lifetime value help offer new value to customers and establish competitive advantages. Relationship pricing can be elevated with tiered programmes, product bundling that incentivises multi-product usage, and personalised offers. Streamlined billing helps banks eliminate revenue leakage. Integration with existing CRM, ERP, and accounting systems, helps provide a unified view of customer data and sales processes. With quote creation, pricing calculations, and offer management being automated, sales teams can dedicate time to close deals and manage customer relationships. This improves customer experiences and allows banks to adapt and scale. The data and AI advantage Key considerations when evaluating solutions with advanced product, pricing and billing capabilities include seamless integration with existing bank systems through robust APIs and data synchronisation. A well-defined data migration strategy for accurate and complete data transfer, supported by strong governance and security is essential. Solutions must also be highly scalable and performant to handle the bank's full transaction volume with low latency, while strictly adhering to all relevant compliance regulations. AI can help banks identify profitable segments, understand customer needs, and predict future behaviour, leading to the creation of more relevant and personalised products. For pricing, AI can facilitate dynamic strategies by analysing demand, competition, and customer willingness to pay. A win-win: What is in it for banks and customers? Faster time-to-market: Banks can roll out new products, promotions, or pricing models more rapidly. Personalisation: Advanced capabilities make it easier to implement dynamic, customer-specific pricing, or tailored billing models, enhancing customer experience and competitiveness. Flexibility and agility: Banks can quickly adapt pricing and billing structures to market changes, customer demands, or regulatory requirements. Improved portfolio analysis: Banks can collect and analyse granular data on pricing, billing, and product performance. Dynamic product adjustments: Banks can experiment with pricing models, bundling strategies, or new product features. Customer-centric optimisation: Banks can better align their product portfolio with customer needs by leveraging data to design personalised or segmented offerings. Streamlined rationalisation: Banks can rationalise and optimise complex product portfolios by reconfiguring or discontinuing products reducing costs and risks. Scalability: Solutions that scale across the banking enterprise can more easily handle increased volumes or new product lines. Innovation enablement: Easier integration can power innovation in product offerings and enable partnerships with fintechs or other third parties. A strategic imperative for the future Advanced product, pricing, and billing capabilities help banks move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach. Granular product definitions, flexible pricing, targeted offer creation, and precise billing help banks tailor offerings to specific customer segments' needs and preferences. In a digital-first world, where expectations are measured in milliseconds and loyalty is won through experience, such capabilities are not just an operational upgrade, it is a strategic imperative. Retail banks that embrace these capabilities are positioning themselves to thrive amid disruption. Those that do not risk being outpaced by nimble competitors who build with agility at their core. As customer expectations rise and the pace of innovation accelerates, banks must rethink what it means to be product-driven. The answer is data and dynamic personalisation. And advanced product, pricing and billing capabilities are how modern retail banks get there.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
I mentor startups outside my Meta product job. I tell founders to take 3 steps to sell their AI vision.
Mahesh Chayel, a product management lead at Meta, mentors AI startups outside his job. He outlined the three steps founders need to take to sell their AI vision. "The biggest gap I've seen is essentially, why use Gen AI?" he said. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mahesh Chayel, a product management lead at Meta. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Since 2018, I have mentored 12 startups, especially those operating in the enterprise and AI spaces. The biggest gap I've seen is essentially, why use Generative AI? I work closely with early-stage founders to shape product strategy, refine their go-to-market approach, and explore how AI can be meaningfully integrated into their solutions. I bring a unique blend of deep product experience at scale, having worked on Meta Ads, along with a strategic understanding of enterprise pain points from my time in Silicon Valley. I also help teams clarify what real customer problems are worth solving, how to validate their solution early, and how to position their offering to resonate with decision-makers, especially in business-to-business environments. This is what I tell founders who are building in AI. I work with a couple of founders who are like, "Let's use AI and then let's build a product." If this problem could have been solved in other ways, what would it look like? And if they are using Gen AI, is AI the best use of technology in that case? In some cases, it can be. As a customer facing a problem, you really don't care how to solve it. It's more about, are you solving these problems for the customer in a better way? Founders usually start thinking: If somebody else is going to use the same idea, use AI or Gen AI to solve the problem faster. Founders iterate a lot and keep trying to solve the problem through different mechanisms. Can you be super laser-focused on the customer? Can you really identify how this technology can specifically solve the problem? If it doesn't, find other ways to solve it. People sometimes measure product-market fit in an incorrect way. For some, even before building the product, their product market fit is not very clear. It's not about 100 or 10,000 people looking at this product and just being aware of it. Many times, the first-time sale is not a good mechanism because all of those metrics can be gamified. You can spend a lot of money on ads and make the product available to a lot of people. You can provide discounts and sell the product first time to a set of customers. The most important thing for product market fit is: Do your set of customers really love and trust the product to keep using it and coming back? That's the real crux of it. Product market fit comes down to retention metrics or the repeat purchase of a product. A startup I gave advice to was essentially building an AI tool for young adults — AI companions. The founder was not generating money from this. There are a couple of parts. Young adults are not the real users who are going to pay for the product. You would need to identify who can really pay. It can be the parents, it can be the schools where these kids are studying. It was a breakthrough to help this founder really understand the business model that can work in such a space. We uncovered that the market wasn't quite there yet, at least not in the way the founder had imagined. While disappointing at first, it helped them redirect their focus toward a more validated pain point, saving months of effort and repositioning the company for a better product-market fit. Take a step back: Who is the product used by? Who is the product paid by? How can it scale? As a founder, sometimes you get so attached to the problem that you don't see the larger space. This restart has helped the startup build a more sustained business now. Whether it's unlocking growth or steering away from misaligned markets, I measure success by how much clarity and conviction founders gain in their next move. Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Temenos introduces Gen AI tool to accelerate banking product development
Banking software provider Temenos has introduced the Temenos Product Manager Copilot at the Temenos Community Forum '25 held in Madrid, Spain. This new tool aims to assist banks in the design, launch, testing, and optimisation of financial products with use of Generative AI (Gen AI) technology. The Copilot is integrated with the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and is embedded within the Temenos Retail core banking solution, providing a conversational interface for product, IT, and customer service managers. This integration allows users to access the extensive capabilities of Temenos' core banking functionality and data insights, facilitating a more efficient product development process. The Temenos Product Manager Copilot is included in the advanced and enterprise offerings of Temenos retail accounts. With the introduction of the Copilot, product managers can utilise built-in user agents or communicate through platforms such as Microsoft Teams to develop, test, and launch new products. The tool also enables quick access to business insights derived from core banking data without the need for complex queries, thereby supporting strategic decision-making. The integration of Azure OpenAI Service allows the Copilot to extract insights from a bank's core data, documentation, and regulatory requirements. The design of the solution is flexible, permitting easy integration with new AI agents tailored to specific bank data sources, as well as existing AI agents already in operation. Furthermore, Azure OpenAI Service ensures enterprise-level availability, scalability, security, and confidentiality for customer data. The Temenos Product Manager Copilot is expected to be generally available in the fourth quarter of this year. Temenos chief product and technology officer Barb Morgan said: 'Temenos Product Manager Copilot unlocks the full innovation potential of Temenos core banking using Generative AI to help banks deliver better products faster to their customers. 'We are excited to bring this game-changing technology to financial institutions globally. In an era where fintechs and neobanks can launch new offerings within weeks, it is critical for banks to accelerate innovation or risk losing relevance in an increasingly competitive landscape.' The company's core banking solutions are currently utilised by over 950 banks globally, ranging from large multinational institutions to smaller regional entities. Temenos' offerings include a wide array of pre-configured products and extensive out-of-the-box functionality. Last month, Zest AI combined its AI-powered credit decisioning and fraud detection systems with the Temenos Loan Origination system. "Temenos introduces Gen AI tool to accelerate banking product development" was originally created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Entrepreneur
15-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Why Skills Alone Aren't Enough to Build a Strong Team
Discover why a mindset of ownership is the real differentiator for scaling startups and engineering teams. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. In the world of fast-growing tech companies, hiring tends to follow a predictable pattern. Leaders look for engineers fluent in the latest frameworks, product managers with impressive resumes, and marketers who know their way around every analytics dashboard. Skills are quantifiable. They are testable. And in high-growth environments where speed is currency, it is tempting to optimize your hiring process around hard qualifications. But here is the trap: A team stacked with talent but lacking ownership will never scale effectively. Over the years, we've seen companies across a wide range of industries thrive by tapping into nearshore talent from Latin America. While technical skills certainly played a role in their success, one quality consistently stood out above the rest: a strong sense of ownership. It wasn't just what these professionals could do — it was how deeply they cared about the outcomes. Related: 4 Ways You Can Create a Culture of Ownership What is ownership mindset, really? Ownership mindset is more than just accountability. It is a proactive, results-driven approach where team members take initiative, act in the best interest of the business and treat challenges as their own to solve. It is the difference between someone who says, "That is not my job," and someone who says, "I will figure this out." We define it as a blend of initiative, responsibility, problem-solving and alignment with outcomes. People with an ownership mindset do not just check boxes. They drive progress. And in today's decentralized, remote-first world, that mindset has become the number one indicator of long-term team success. Why skills alone are not enough Technical skills evolve quickly. What is cutting-edge today could be obsolete in a year. While foundational knowledge matters, the reality is that most great developers are constantly learning. But no amount of knowledge will help if someone lacks the drive to apply it effectively, the judgment to prioritize the right problems or the resilience to work through ambiguity. We have seen companies hire incredibly skilled developers who could not operate autonomously. They waited for instructions. They did not raise red flags. And when problems emerged, they lacked the sense of urgency to act. That is not a skills issue. It is a mindset issue. Ownership mindset drives better business outcomes At ParallelStaff, when we place developers, we vet for more than just technical capabilities. We look for people who ask the hard questions during interviews. Those who take pride in the products they have built. Those who view the success of the client's mission as their own responsibility. Those developers consistently: Proactively solve problems instead of escalating them Communicate clearly and consistently, even under pressure Identify improvements and inefficiencies without being asked Go beyond task completion to drive project success This is particularly powerful in remote and distributed teams, where autonomy and self-leadership are non-negotiable. If you are building a team across time zones or continents, you need people who will move things forward, not wait for permission. In fact, many of our clients who build dedicated teams with us say the same thing: "Your developers feel like part of our company, not just vendors." That is the byproduct of hiring people with ownership built into their mindset. Related: How to Get Your Employees to Take Ownership Hiring for ownership starts with values At ParallelStaff, we center our culture on five core values: Excellence, Efficiency, Integrity, Growth Mindset and Ownership. These are not just words on a website. They shape how we vet candidates, how we coach developers and how we deliver to clients. Our vetting process goes beyond code tests. We simulate real-world project scenarios. We assess communication under pressure. We look at how candidates handle change and ambiguity. Ownership shows up in the gray areas: when requirements shift, timelines compress, and stakes are high. When you hire for ownership, you are not just filling roles. You are building a culture — one where people think like founders, lead without titles and care deeply about the outcome. How to identify ownership during hiring Hiring for ownership takes intentionality. Here are a few strategies we use and that you can apply, too: Ask behavioral questions focused on outcomes: "Tell me about a time you took initiative on a project without being asked." Test for decision-making, not just delivery: Present candidates with scenarios where they need to prioritize, push back or propose alternatives. Watch how they speak about past teams and projects: People who take ownership will talk about we, our users and the results. Not just what they were told to do. Look for learning agility: Ownership-driven people do not wait to be taught. They go figure it out. Do not overlook red flags: If someone blames others or needs constant direction, that is a long-term cost. Cultural fit: The force multiplier When you build remote teams with cultural alignment, things just work better. Meetings are more productive. Trust builds faster. Collaboration scales. And your team does not just execute. They evolve together. That is why companies that prioritize ownership in hiring often see: Faster ramp-up times Lower turnover Higher NPS scores internally and externally A stronger culture of accountability Related: What to Consider When Hiring Employees Ownership is not something you can train overnight. It is something you find, reward and reinforce. Hiring for skills gets you workers. Hiring for ownership gets you builders. The best teams are not just technically competent. They are mission-driven. They care. They push. And they do not need to be micromanaged because they manage themselves. At ParallelStaff, we believe ownership is the single most underrated trait in scaling technology teams. It is how we help clients move faster, build smarter and grow sustainably. If you are scaling your engineering team and want to avoid the common traps of traditional outsourcing, start by prioritizing mindset. Your future self and your customers will thank you.
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
What Product Managers Can Learn About Culture From Japan
Rocky Sharma is Investor at The Procurement School. 2x CEO, 3x Head of Product. Stanford GSB alumnus. Product managers play a critical role in a company. Customers experience the company's culture through its products—and product managers shape that experience through their behaviors and decisions. Hence, product culture is extremely important, as it can impact not only a company's products but also teams and business outcomes. I believe product managers can learn a number of lessons by examining Japanese culture, which I experienced through a recent trip to the country. People in Japan tend to follow an unwritten commuter culture. For example, in many parts of the world, people often wear bags on their backs or shoulders on public transportation, but this can sometimes cause inconveniences if the bag keeps poking others due to it being out of sight for the wearer. I noticed many commuters in Japan, however, wore their bags to the front, which kept their things in their line of sight and minimized inconvenience to other passengers. When you commute via local trains in some cities, there is often a lot of noise, with people playing music, eating, speaking over the phone and cracking jokes with their friends. As part of Japanese train etiquette, I've found that riders generally don't talk on their phones and speak at low volumes to respect other passengers. Additionally, on train platforms in many metro cities, I often see people who do not honor the yellow safety lines that are placed as a barrier when train doors open and close, which is dangerous. But in Japan, I noticed commuters largely respected this boundary, and some even politely raised their hands to prevent others from breaking the rules. Lastly, in some regions, when people are in a hurry and trying to catch a train or get off, commuters don't always follow the allocated lanes for walking while climbing stairs or escalators. However, I noticed this wasn't the case in Japan; many commuters did not show signs of hurry and followed defined lanes at the stairs and escalators. A healthy product culture in a company needs to follow similar practices. It is not just what is written in policies, nor is it just how you behave when the boss is around. Product managers should hold others accountable when proper procedures or product culture are not followed. That defines real culture. The first violation should be a gentle reminder. The second violation could be a genuine warning. The third violation may need to be about separation. Otherwise, this could negatively impact business outcomes. Food is treated as a visual medium in Japan. Just like jewelry stores display items in showrooms to attract shoppers, many Japanese restaurants display replicas of their dishes outside to attract diners. I also noticed that many Japanese shops provide a pre-packed wet tissue or warm towel complimentary for customers who are buying snacks or food, and most dine-in restaurants have a mesh bag at each table to cater to the comfort of people dining in. This is in contrast to restaurants I've visited outside of Japan, where diners with shopping bags or handbags might need to keep their things on the table or in a seat, which can make the experience congested. Apart from focusing on local delicacies, many Japanese establishments also offer their own take on non-Japanese foods to cater to tourists or locals who crave their home country's cuisine. Product managers can learn a few things from these examples of Japanese culture, mainly that culture should not be enforced. Rather, it should be experienced at every touchpoint. Every member of a product team—starting from the head of product management all the way to product interns—should demonstrate the product culture. This ensures the culture becomes part of the work-life experience. Processes, systems and policies should be ingrained into the DNA of employees, the product and the organization. This is again directly aligned with business outcomes, as constant slips can impact the product team's morale. Japan's culture also highlights the value of taking a customer-centric approach, as well as prioritizing agility and empathy. Like how many Japanese food establishments provide wet tissue, a mesh bag at tables or non-Japanese food options, a product management team must be able to cater to differentiated needs. Otherwise, they risk customers not engaging with the company. In most places where English is not the first language, English-speaking travelers might struggle when trying to communicate with locals, which can lead to friction. In Japan, I observed many local businesses use technology to bridge language barriers. I also saw differences in sales tactics. Negotiation while purchasing is a standard occurrence in many parts of the world, wherein you haggle with the shops about a better price. In Japan, I found shopping establishments to be forthcoming with their best price, so there was no room for negotiation. Additionally, in some shops and malls around the world, you might encounter salespeople announcing deals and pushing for attention to attract shoppers. By contrast, I found salespeople in Japan often stood straight with a smile on their faces and looked attentive. If someone needed help, the staff would step in naturally and provide quality customer service. Actions like this can boost culture. Even in moments where a consumer doesn't directly interact with a salesperson—like using a vending machine, which is very common throughout Japan—companies make the experience memorable through unique offerings, like cake inside a can. From a product management standpoint, I believe one of the key lessons leaders can learn from Japan is that culture is not automation. Rather, it's about how you use technology to create memorable experiences for customers, employees and investors. This requires emotional connection, the human touch and expertise. Ultimately, I believe product managers can take inspiration from Japan's transportation, food and shopping culture. Product managers should remember that building a strong product culture requires more than setting a few rules; members of product teams must also hold one another accountable, demonstrate the culture in everything they do and use technology to build memorable experiences for customers. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
