Everyone wins: strength in our partnerships

Two heads are better than one.

I believe that a cornerstone of the modern economy is the ability and willingness to partner effectively – particularly in banking, where the only way we can succeed in satisfying the fast changing needs of our customers is from working closely with the world’s best – including other financial services groups, tech providers, start-ups, fintechs, and even governments and government agencies.

“Two phases of [technological change in banks] going on in parallel and quite often running at different paces.” - Whitehouse

At ANZ we know strategic partnering is critical to our success. At the recent ANZ Strategic Partner Summit, I discussed how we believe in an openness, transparency and sharing and how this culture is our true differentiator.

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At ANZ we value partners who do the work, deliver what they promise but go the extra mile and make a significant contribution in helping us to live our purpose and deliver better outcomes for all our stakeholders.

This takes a level of commitment, development, investment and thought according to Accenture Senior Managing Director – Financial Services, Growth and Strategy Simon Whitehouse.

“I think all businesses are moving in the direction off multi-sourcing different components,” he said. “Being really clear about what their strategic focus and differentiation is and then subscribing to supporting activity to others.”

Through our experience we also know that partnering is easier and more effective when you share values, purpose and “DNA”. Both partners need to be committed and both need to be open minded to change.

In my discussions with Wipro BFSI President & Chief Executive Shaji Farooq, we acknowledged the real value in the relationship is when we can learn from each other. For example, both ANZ and Wipro are using agile work practices – but how do we learn from each other so we don’t have to make the same mistakes? How can I take the best of Wipro’s experience as fast track improvements at ANZ?

According to Shaji, agile is vital in an era where patience for long-ended projects don’t exist. “Traditional waterfall projects – I think it’s a fact that they haven’t delivered on their promises,” he said.

Partnering is hard. It takes courage, it requires investment of time and it needs the right culture to succeed. But the prize is better, faster outcomes for mutual success.

Shayne Elliott is CEO at ANZ