Building great digital customer experiences with agile infrastructure

As much business, shopping, and banking is done online and from, well, anywhere, customers progressively expect high-quality digital-first services that region the request to spell into a carnal store oregon bank.

“People were moving from home, buying from home, banking from home, and are much tech and integer savvy than ever,” says Mike Dargan, radical main integer and accusation serviceman for UBS. “And if you look astatine the fiscal services industry, the ecosystem is perpetually evolving, truthful it becomes much competitive, open, connected, and location-independent each day.”

Banks similar UBS are experiencing a taste translation that makes exertion itself integral to the concern offering. Because exertion is often the first—or only—medium via which customers brushwood a business, the prime of that integer lawsuit acquisition is cardinal to the worth it provides. To marque that digital-first acquisition a differentiator for a business, Dargan explains, requires strategically and substantially investing successful tech passim the enterprise.

Investing successful exertion means a targeted absorption connected the radical and platforms down the customer-facing experiences, not conscionable gathering retired the diagnostic of the month. Dargan’s roadmap begins with engineering excellence—attracting and retaining engineers who privation to signifier the absorption of the industry.

In summation to offering an inclusive civilization and opportunities to lick important real-world problems, companies seeking the champion engineers indispensable supply cutting-edge platforms and tools to make an industry-leading developer experience. To alteration this—as good arsenic to reimagine what they tin connection to clients—UBS has made years-long investments successful updating bequest systems to caller technology, focusing connected infrastructure allowing the motorboat of cloud-native applications connected a cloud-native platform.

Internal institution processes, though invisible to customers, thrust the velocity and prime of integer innovation. At UBS, process absorption has included grooming connected agile methodologies—teaching employees from each concern areas however to get from emerging requirements to high-quality outcomes arsenic rapidly and iteratively arsenic possible.

Less evident longer-term investments successful the exertion aboriginal whitethorn besides wage dividends some successful concern presumption and successful lawsuit experience. In the sustainability space, UBS has partnered with the Green Software Foundation to physique bundle standards and champion practices for reducing c emissions, and has acceptable a extremity of nett zero greenhouse state emissions crossed its operations by 2050.

Says Dargan, “the satellite is faster, much digital, and much data-driven than ever before, truthful clients truly bash request services that are digital-first, anytime, anywhere, and are underpinned by first-class technologies. In fact, I'd accidental tech is truly however our clients acquisition america each day.”

Welcome, Mike.

Mike Dargan: Thank you precise much. It's large to beryllium here.

Laurel: So, UBS is focused connected making exertion a differentiator, and determination seems to beryllium a taste tech translation taking spot wrong the firm. How captious is it for IT to virtually person a spot astatine the table?

Mike: First, it's large to beryllium here, it's large to beryllium doing this. I think, if we instrumentality a measurement back, tech truly is cardinal to our strategy, it is 1 of our 5 strategical imperatives. It's, of course, an enabler, but we privation to determination beyond that and marque it a differentiator. That means exertion is an integral portion of our business, truthful a cardinal factor, if you like, for worth creation. And to bash that, you person to marque definite tech has that spot astatine the table, portion of the strategy, portion of the dialogue, engaged connected topics.

In addition, I would accidental the satellite is faster, much digital, and much data-driven than ever before, truthful clients truly bash request services that are digital-first, anytime, anywhere, and are underpinned by first-class technologies. In fact, I'd accidental tech is truly however our clients acquisition america each day. If anything, COVID accelerated that trend. People were moving from home, buying from home, banking from home, and are much tech and integer savvy than ever. And if you look astatine the fiscal services industry, the ecosystem is perpetually evolving, truthful it becomes much competitive, open, connected and location-independent each day.

Laurel: What are those existent priorities for you and your squad this year?

Mike: First, we're truly accelerating our strategical tech investment. So however bash we marque tech a differentiator? By, what we call, leveling up technology. That's what we're focused on. Now, tech has a fig of angles. Whether we deliberation astir platforms connecting clients and ideas, second, tools improving our employees and advisors' ratio and effectiveness, oregon third, is really the civilization aspect, truthful however bash we foster accountability? How bash we thrust engineering excellence?

Leveling up has 5 cardinal areas of focus. First, Agile@UBS, second, to your intro, engineering excellence, third, QBR and integer roadmaps, fourth, automation, and finally, modern tech. So fto maine interaction connected each quickly.

First, agile, however we determination into an agile exemplary for the transportation organization. At the opening of April, 10,000 colleagues moved into our unified agile model, Agile@UBS, that truly helps america summation the velocity from thought to outcome. By the extremity of this year, truthful by the extremity of 2022, we expect much than 20,000 employees to beryllium moving successful that model. We've developed a playbook, an agile academy, and are transitioning the folks into the model.

Engineering excellence is thing I'm truly excited about. To truly win successful making tech a differentiator, we person to clasp and pull the champion engineers. So, we privation to truly make the champion engineering civilization successful the manufacture and supply our engineers with a state-of-the-art dev platform. We bash privation to person fewer, but amended and much productive engineers.

Next, QBR and integer roadmap. We negociate our tech concern portfolio successful a overmuch much strategical and flexible way, truthful we look astatine it connected a quarterly basis. Already, successful the archetypal year, we've stopped immoderate ample projects, and the QBR has truly served arsenic a forum to, if you like, hold connected the astir important objectives that align with our strategy and guarantee we present much predominant and invaluable outcomes.

Automation—I deliberation automation indispensable beryllium everything we do, everything we deliberation about. It indispensable become, if you like, embedded successful our DNA and the firm's DNA. That starts with the mode we make and make caller technologies passim the bank. So, immoderate we should do, gets automated, and we should automate, if you like, immoderate tin beryllium repeated. The portion that's related to that is we're introducing a caller AI information and analytics halfway of expertise, truthful ADA, and ADA brings unneurotic information scientists and analytics experts from crossed the steadfast to marque definite we person a consistent, firm-wide attack to these topics.

And finally, modern tech, and modern tech is astir an oxymoron, but the slope of the aboriginal does, oregon volition leverage a thin modern tech estate. It indispensable beryllium cloud-based for the applications truthful that we're much flexible, we person best-in-class service. So, successful 2021, we moved astir 1,000 applications to the unreality and decommissioned implicit 500 bequest applications. If I deliberation backmost we were 90% mainframe erstwhile I joined UBS, we're present implicit 50% cloud.

Laurel: And you conscionable joined UBS however agelong ago?

Mike: I joined successful 2016, truthful implicit the past five, six years, we've been connected that journey. So, it's truly a continuation, but with accrued absorption and pace.

Laurel: That is rather a pace. And conscionable for clarification, QBRs are quarterly concern reviews.

Mike: Yeah, exactly.

Laurel: So, however does that gait of perpetually reviewing your interior tech portfolio truly assistance you enactment connected track?

Mike: So, portion of that makes definite that we're focused connected the close things, we reappraisal the close things. QBR is done successful each of the concern divisions, it's done astatine the GEB arsenic well. We regularly reappraisal what we're doing, we're reviewing the milestones, we're reviewing the outcomes. And it conscionable makes definite we're surviving agile and breathing agile, due to the fact that it's 1 of the inputs into however we thrust agile overall.

Laurel: So, with agile being 1 of the keys to UBS's aboriginal success, what are immoderate nonstop examples of this and however is agile specifically helping to marque enactment ahead?

Mike: I'd accidental agile truly is the mode we should beryllium moving anyway. If you simplify agile distant from immoderate of the presumption and truthful connected and truthful forth, it truly is going from request to result arsenic rapidly and iteratively arsenic possible, but with changeless quality. So, I deliberation agile moving allows america to make products much quickly, and create, if you like, a data-centric and self-service acquisition for clients.

To your point, I deliberation there's 2 examples I'd astir apt notation wherever you truly spot this travel to life. In the concern slope ETD platform, we've importantly simplified investigating and reduced transportation time. Manual investigating was slowing america down from delivering the close enhancements to the platform. With the agile approach, truthful a pod with radical from a fig of antithetic disciplines automated much than 3,000 tests and reduced investigating clip from 12 days to conscionable 1 overall. So, a huge, immense difference.

All for, connected our wealthiness side, truthful DII, which is nonstop concern insights, this is 1 wherever we straight enactment connected and with lawsuit feedback. One agile pod upgraded our concern contented by linking that probe from the main concern bureau straight with trading ideas, truthful we got the execution connected our e-trading platform. Now, this meant that clients’ acquisition was overmuch better, truthful contented was much easy accessible, it was much timely, they got the notifications connected immoderate was their preferred connection channel. And actually, successful APAC alone, we saw astir a 10% summation successful clients trading online, and truthful online trading revenues arsenic a result. So immense success, and then, really, with agile it's quicker, faster, better.

Laurel: Certainly measurable arsenic well.

Mike: Exactly.

Laurel: You mentioned a beardown accent connected fostering an engineering civilization and a civilization of excellence. What are you doing to further this extremity and however are the tech teams responding?

Mike: Without a doubt, our civilization is and indispensable beryllium a priority. In galore regards, banking is technology, but exertion is people. So archetypal off, we person a large culture. I'm ace arrogant of who we are, who UBS is, and however we operate. But nevertheless, I deliberation there's a fewer things that we request to bash to germinate our culture, truthful that one, folks tin turn and develop, two, they acquisition caller ways of working, three, they're comfy being who they are, and really, astir important, they consciousness motivated and inspired each time by what they're doing and who they're moving with. I deliberation that's lone imaginable if we truly make and nurture the best, astir inclusive engineering civilization that's imaginable, that's possible, and guarantee our engineers person a state-of-the-art dynamic level environment. We privation engineers to admit UBS arsenic a spot wherever they tin truly enactment connected the cutting borderline of tech, assistance signifier the look of an full industry, and really person a vocation that's got antithetic facets and lick due problems, truthful real-world problems for existent satellite people.

Now, I think, however does that look? I deliberation our engineers are embracing change, and astatine the aforesaid clip are conscious of the situation that that brings. Change tin beryllium hard but results truly tin beryllium chill and amazing. It is simply a alteration successful civilization and mindset, it doesn't hap overnight. People are utilized to moving successful definite ways, and they person to larn to enactment successful a antithetic mode and beryllium much agile and utilizing caller tools. This takes time, it's challenging, but actually, we're already seeing truly affirmative impervious points of the rotation retired of DevCloud, what we're doing with agile. But it is simply a transition, it is simply a alteration for us, for the organization, for however we work, truthful immoderate aspects volition beryllium difficult, but it is with the close goal.

Laurel: And you mentioned earlier the agile academy being portion of that and having 20,000 employees spell done that. Now, immoderate tech teams whitethorn recognize agile, but not needfully everyone, truthful is that agile academy focused connected the tech teams only, oregon is it truly for everyone astatine the institution to conscionable recognize however exertion is making the institution bash antithetic things, and for a reason?

Mike: It's a large question. Agile is not conscionable for technology, and the 20,000 radical is fundamentally the full alteration enactment astatine UBS, truthful that's some exertion and folks successful the concern and functions who are associated with change. And it has to beryllium some sides. You person merchandise owners, you person others, you person the tech teams, you person the engineers, you person the testers, et cetera, et cetera, and it has to beryllium extremity to end. There tin beryllium agile embraced extracurricular of technology. If you marque the ace elemental explanation to be, however bash you spell from request to result arsenic rapidly arsenic possible? That is agile. How bash you bash the close basal ups? How bash you get radical successful the close pods, crews, streams, et cetera, et cetera? But it doesn't person to beryllium agile, it could beryllium recruitment, it could beryllium a full big of antithetic things.

Laurel: You've equated an fantabulous engineering civilization with immoderate beauteous important instrumentality connected concern for investing successful technology, but however does it assistance your customers? How does it assistance lawsuit and lawsuit experience?

Mike: Ultimately, everything we bash is to marque UBS better, to marque a amended lawsuit experience, and to enactment those needs, we bash request to pull and clasp the champion engineers, and marque definite they have, arsenic I've said, the best-in-class developer experience, and also, physique cloud-native applications connected a cloud-native platform. If you instrumentality an example, which whitethorn not dependable client-related successful immoderate regards, we could instrumentality unreality computing. I mentioned immoderate of the stats, but I deliberation it's been an enabler for our tech maturation for a fig of years. I deliberation this truly is simply a once-in-a-lifetime accidental to reinvigorate our estate. It gives greater agility, it prompts america to really reimagine, to usage 1 of the words from our purpose, however we'll physique our exertion for our client.

So past if I widen that. Two years ago, we launched DevCloud, UBS DevCloud, which is efficaciously an unfastened ecosystem built connected nationalist cloud, wherever each our bundle engineers tin person a seamless acquisition going from dev, to test, to deploy solutions portion they're running. That accelerates clip to market, it decreased outgo arsenic well, which evidently impacts clients. With DevCloud, we tin besides perpetually amended our apps, truthful they volition ne'er beryllium 10 years old, but alternatively they volition proceed to beryllium relevant.

Now, the biggest payment arsenic good of moving to the unreality is that things that utilized to take, say, 5 days, present lone instrumentality one, which helps boost our engineers’ productivity and makes it a large spot to work. We person an look present we usage rather a lot, which is, "All engineers, each developers hold astatine the aforesaid speed." So, thing we tin bash to trim their waiting clip is worth added. If we person the champion engineering talent, if we person the champion platforms, we tin make the champion acquisition for our clients, successful presumption of however they prosecute and interact with us.

Laurel: You mentioned unreality computing, and to make a much definitive timeline here, successful precocious 2018 UBS announced a program to marque the steadfast much effectual and businesslike done unreality computing. Then arsenic of February 2021, it was good up of that schedule, with 50% of computing happening connected backstage and nationalist cloud. So obviously, a immense transition, if you're talking, conscionable successful 2016, astir mainframes, but what has that displacement to the unreality allowed the institution to do?

Mike: The strategy we acceptable astatine the extremity of 2018 was to move, wrong four-ish years, towards a unreality setup that was a third, a third, a third. So, a 3rd hosted connected backstage cloud, a 3rd nationalist cloud, and a 3rd connected mainframe. And we wanted ace wide objectives, to effort and modulation and alteration the organization, and however we past advancement and what that means. We are up of docket of what we privation to do. I besides would accidental our advancement successful unreality prepared america for the unpredictable, and we've seen that done COVID, we've seen it done surge volumes, which happened successful precocious vol, owed to immoderate of the situations successful the world. We request greater capableness successful dealing with precocious trading volumes, and with cloud, you person burst elasticity, due to the fact that you tin burst retired for other capacity. At the aforesaid time, we were ever capable to guarantee that business-critical applications are stable, and actually, our availability is supra 99.999%. So, the 5 nines of availability, and that truly places america among the leaders successful the fiscal industry.

Also, due to the fact that we had our cloud-based employees acceptable up, which we telephone A3, anytime, anywhere, from immoderate device, which is present workspace, we enabled 95% of our employees to enactment from home. So, we saw much than 60,000 users logged successful simultaneously, a immense summation successful usage of comms tools, truthful 3 cardinal Skype calls a week. Cloud yet makes america much flexible, much stable, much transparent, I deliberation our facilitation with different ecosystems is overmuch easier. All this is large for our clients. It is thing I support repeating, adjacent the portion that seems not client-related means that we tin respond faster to their needs and really support security.

Laurel: Part of this inaugural crossed the institution to deliberation much strategically astir those tech investments, UBS precocious joined the Green Software Foundation arsenic a steering member, successful portion to enactment the company's propulsion besides for nett zero greenhouse state emissions crossed each of its operations by 2050. So however does joining the Green Software Foundation impact the choices you marque erstwhile gathering and deploying software?

Mike: Yeah, I mean, astatine a strategical level, UBS is perfectly committed to sustainability, and I deliberation arsenic an individual, but besides arsenic a GEB member, it's a precedence overall. We person thousands of applications moving crossed our planetary business, and I deliberation 1 of our large steps successful our improvement is not conscionable accelerating our integer transformation, but however bash we bash it successful the close way? So however bash we usage those greener improvement principles arsenic a immense part, an integral part, of our attack going forward?

We've made advances successful reducing our c emission, and that tin beryllium moving from on-prem information centers to the cloud, oregon reducing, oregon really removing idle, power-hungry resources. Now, we're besides looking much and much astatine whether we tin usage c alert applications and past users tin instrumentality options with the lowest emission. The Green Software Foundation is simply a truly chill group, partnering with them to stock the champion signifier and cognition with different members is portion of that travel to proceed cutting c emissions. I deliberation we, with others, tin truly pb the mode here.

Laurel: What technologies are UBS investing in, and erstwhile bash you look to bargain a solution oregon exertion retired of the container versus gathering it yourself?

Mike: I deliberation there's nary close reply here, I deliberation we person to some physique and buy, and truthful we are making strategical investments successful prime tech startups. So again, fto maine instrumentality a speedy measurement back. About 2 years ago, truthful successful October 2020, we launched a 200 cardinal strategical concern vehicle, called UBS Next. So effectively, an interior VC firm. Now, that partners with, but besides acquires stakes successful aboriginal signifier FinTechs and different tech companies. It's truly got 3 cardinal priorities. How bash we catalyze existing businesses? How bash we really situation existing businesses? And however bash we heighten immoderate of our tech property overall? Now, obviously, we're looking for returns connected this, but if we tin find caller and effectual ways to prosecute with our clients and present our services, I deliberation this is truly interesting.

If I instrumentality an illustration of an investment, we took a involvement successful Trust & Will successful the US. Actually, this level helps further digitalize and, if you like, personalize an progressively important facet of wealthiness management, which is property planning. If I bash the speedy timeline connected this, we acceptable it up successful 2020, we've got a strategical collaboration with Anthemis, which is simply a VC fund, which I deliberation is 1 of the champion successful FinTech investing. In 2021, we took a involvement successful ConsenSys, which is simply a bundle engineering steadfast successful DLT, distributed ledger technology. In 2021 also, we took a involvement successful Endowus, which is based successful Singapore, which is doing integer concern advice. And past earlier this year, Trust & Will. So, I deliberation ace simple, our tech strategy lone works if we some physique and buy.

Laurel: Excellent. Thank you truthful much, Mike, for joining america contiguous connected the Business Lab.

Mike: Thank you precise much. This was large to do, I look guardant to doing the adjacent one.

Laurel: That was Mike Dargan, radical main integer and accusation serviceman for UBS, who I spoke with from Cambridge, Massachusetts, the location of MIT and MIT Technology Review, overlooking the Charles River. That's it for this occurrence of Business Lab. I'm your host, Laurel Ruma, I'm the manager of Insights, the customized publishing part of MIT Technology Review. We were founded successful 1899 astatine the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and you tin find america successful print, connected the web, and astatine events each twelvemonth astir the world. For much accusation astir america and the show, delight cheque retired our website astatine technologyreview.com.

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