BAI Online

Deborah L. Bianucci President and CEO, BAI

Why We Collaborate

Collaboration is a growing trend in banking, as financial services companies create alliances to achieve their strategic goals. The non-traditional (consider how NetBank uses UPS stores as an additional deposit-taking channel) and the mainline (Citibank?s partnership with 7-Eleven stores to provide surcharge-free ATMs) all are pursuing the strategic benefits of working together in new and different ways.

The arguments for collaboration and innovation in financial services are explored in BAI's Banking Strategies July/August 2006 article "The Next Phase of Innovation: Rethinking the Business Model". IBM consultants Sunny Banerjea and Shankar Ramamurthy endorse collaboration as a means of delivering new products, expanding delivery channels and developing new business models.

At BAI, we too believe in collaborating across the spectrum of our multiple lines of business. The added expertise and expanded resources provided by our partners enrich the value of our offerings in research, benchmarking, conferences, seminars, training, certification executive education and publishing.

For example, BAI works with Qualytix, a subsidiary of Novantas LLC to provide extensive data analysis in our Deposit Performance and Small Business benchmarking programs. Also, the groundbreaking research we deliver is developed with partners. As an example, this year BAI conducted a major study, Small Business Payments Strategies, with Unisys and Oracle. The research was designed to help financial services executives better understand the factors and forces that help shape demand for payment services by small businesses.

Our next major study, "Bringing the Experience Back to Banking," will be released at BAI Retail Delivery Conference & Expo 2006 in November. Committed research sponsors to date are Unisys, SAP, Accenture and NewGround.

In our events business, our partners include ECCHO (on image exchange), AMIfs (on profitability and performance management) and the AICPA (finance and accounting issues). Similarly, BAI has relationships with an extensive network of state banking associations that help deliver our comprehensive offering of front-line training products. Our alliance with PSI also positions us to offer an even broader range of training options, specifically designed for our solutions provider customers who are investing in the development of their staff.

Thanks to a partnership with Informa, we offer Web-delivered market rate information, providing subscribers a daily round-up of national averages for key interest rates and fees.

All who pursue scale through partnerships quickly realize the inherent challenges. Motivations need to be disclosed and understood, interests need to be aligned and agreements need consistent attention?.all with the customer in mind. When we evaluate our alliances, we start with a view of customer needs with emphasis on exploring how we will be better positioned to meet those needs by working with a partner. Our experience in having established many alliances has taught us that clear goals and metrics are not only essential, but perhaps the most important agreement between the partners. We rigorously evaluate progress and modify approaches as required to better meet customer needs. When I talk with our customers, many of them are surprised at how much BAI is able to produce for financial services executives with the size of staff we have. A strategy of collaboration and a commitment to well-managed alliances are a big reason for that.