YBS
mobile apps . It established a partnership with identity confirmation provider HooYu , allowing it to elevate its onboarding and ID verification process . Together , they developed a programme called “ experiencedriven acquisition ”, which involved building a more seamless account opening process . Alongside the partnership with HooYu , YBS also redesigned some customer journeys and replatformed to make this project work .
YBS has also invested heavily in modernising its mortgage origination system . A new platform was introduced in 2018 and through the programme this has been extended , adding the remaining products one by one . Significant time has also been spent optimising this tool , working with technology partner Iress to create innovative solutions and leverage its capabilities . Permanent squads were also set up , allowing technical expertise and strong relationships with the supplier to develop . The result is that the speed of change has increased by 300 %.
Morris says this has had a huge impact on the business : “ When I started at YBS I saw our mortgage business had lots of potential . I think it is easy to overlook the impact of our transformation here but , for me , this has been the spark that enabled the broader transformation . With our mortgage engine firing , we have been able to subsequently transform our savings proposition and invest further and faster in our digital transformation .”
The results have been staggering , the company says : digital acquisition has gone from 20 % of the mix to over 70 % and the online book is over 2.5 times bigger than it was before the transformation began ; over 20 % of lending originated utilises the new capabilities the transformation delivered ; and digital satisfaction has increased by over 40 % in the last 12 months alone .
It also transitioned away from waterfall development , which just wasn ’ t cutting it with the modern digital technologies , and created a ‘ digital services tribe ’ instead . It was the first time that YBS had attempted to work in that agile way at scale , so clearly the technical undertaking itself was vast . But it all stemmed from a single collective vision that helped to clearly define the building society ’ s priorities , who it was and who it served as a business , and exactly how it would take advantage of the digital opportunity before it .
“ As we have learned we have sped up certain bits , slowed down and reordered priorities ,” David Morris says . “ But we have done this in a way that is completely
166 February 2023