UBS has launched its new digital factory in Zurich, which will house the teams in charge of developing the digital future of Switzerland’s largest bank.
Axel Lehmann (pictured below), the head of UBS Switzerland, joined his colleagues Sabine Keller-Busse (COO), Karin Oertli (Swiss COO) and Mike Dargan (global head of IT) at the grand opening of the digital factory in Zurich on Tuesday.
Focus Rooms and Coffee Points
The new digital factory is spectacular in comparison with the first such floor on Paradeplatz. It will house on as many as 600 UBS staff on three floors; specialists drawn from more than 20 areas are meeting to push ahead with digitization – the focus hereby being on the Swiss business.
UBS has spent lavishly on what it called a milestone toward the implementation of the digital strategy – the open-plan offices are state-of-the-art (see below) and characteristic of a typical startup firm – with focus rooms for periods of hard studies and coffee points for meeting and greeting colleagues.
Exempt From Cost Cuts
UBS will spend some 500 million Swiss francs ($495 million) on innovation in Switzerland alone in a three-year period through 2021. The digital factory is said to be exempt from the recent round of cost cuts at the banking giant.
The factory will spend most of its time and energy on internal and external applications. The specialists will develop and test apps for smartphones and also move internal procedures in the loans business to the digital space: two projects are devoted to corporate credit and mortgage selling. The digital factory will also develop robots aimed at reducing paper work.
Defending the Bank’s Interface
The bigger picture is the bank’s attempt to defend its interface with the client, because this is where fintechs and IT giants such as Apple and Google are trying to muscle in. The specialists working in the new factory are told to keep their eye on what clients really want. The bank is ready to invite clients for testing purpose to the state-of-the-art center.
Experts working at the factory will also come together in specialist teams to develop new applications in ultra-short periods of time, according to the principal of «agility», as Lehmann said on Tuesday. The teams will be charged to compile, test and evaluate a project within a few days in bid to get a functioning product on the market.
This principle of speed contrast sharply with the earlier approach where specialists would brood over solutions for years, only to be overtaken by reality. Lehmann, bank manager and marathon man, paid tribute to the dynamic approach, leaving his tie at home (or perhaps in his office).
