To build, bolt-on, or buy? Navigating critical choices in banking customer experience

By Rahul Kumar

December 4, 2024

0 min read

Lead with value or get left behind—there’s no middle ground in financial services. The intense competition, consolidation, and high customer expectations are pushing the boundaries of what was once considered possible and placing financial services firms under pressure to deliver more value to consumers.

At the same time, firms must navigate high regulatory burdens, increasing risks, budget scrutiny, and the complexity of managing diverse customer needs. These challenges, often push banks to adopt a product-focused approach, rather than a customer-centered one that prioritizes the customer experience. As a result, banks often find themselves with systems that are not designed to deliver the dynamic, seamless experiences today’s consumers expect.

The industry is grappling with a fundamental challenge—how to pivot from rigid, legacy systems to more agile, customer-oriented models that put the consumer experience front and center. Every firm has embarked on this journey but with varying results. While some have succeeded in aligning innovation with customer value, others are still struggling to find the right strategy.

Revamping customer experience comes with its own set of strategic challenges: should banks build a custom CX solution, buy an integrated platform, or add targeted tools to improve specific areas? Getting this decision right is crucial. Delivering exceptional customer experiences while balancing security, compliance, and operational efficiency demands a careful approach. The key question is: which strategy—build, buy, or bolt on—offers the best path forward, given the resources and long-term goals of the banking institution? In this article I describe the unique advantages and challenges of each option, focusing particularly on how AI is reshaping banking CX.

Build: Control at a cost.

Building an in-house customer experience system is particularly appealing to institutions with unique business models and custom infrastructure that require deep integration. A custom solution ensures the bank meets its requirements without compromising on critical functionality. A tailored CX platform integrates with the bank’s operations, enabling greater control over how data is managed, secured, and governed. This level of control is crucial in financial services, where regulatory compliance is rigid, and data security is a top priority.

In addition to the technology, building such a system demands a significant investment in specialized talent. It requires a team of data scientists, software engineers, AI experts, and system architects—skills that are in high demand and expensive to recruit. Additionally, keeping this talent can be challenging in a competitive market. Beyond the initial build, maintaining, updating, and ensuring compliance as markets evolve becomes a constant burden on internal teams.

A key question is how AI, which is fundamental to modern CX, will be integrated and maintained. Do banks have the in-house expertise to train, refine, and adapt AI models as the business and customer expectations evolve?
Building an in-house CX system offers maximum control and customization, but comes with heavy resource demands. Banks must carefully assess whether they have the capacity to manage this long-term, especially as AI integration becomes more critical and complex. Balancing the desire for a tailored solution with the realities of maintaining it will be key to determining if this is the right path.

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Bolt: Quick fix, long-term complexity.

In many financial institutions, functional silos are common. This fragmented setup makes it difficult for teams to coordinate effectively across departments, leading to decisions driven more by convenience and influence than by a strategic, unified approach. For customer experience platforms, the bolt-on solution is frequently the path of least resistance, chosen for its immediate ease of implementation rather than long-term suitability.

Internal dynamics usually drive this decision—individuals with authority within their specific function push for solutions they’re familiar with—often those with strong brand recognition or a proven track record of reliability. In these cases, the decision-maker may prioritize options that are widely used and perceived as “safe” choices, rather than fully evaluating whether the solution aligns with the broader organizational strategy. The driving motivation isn’t always about finding the best fit for the company’s unique needs but about minimizing risk, avoiding controversy, and ensuring the selected platform doesn’t create problems that reflect poorly on the decision-maker.

Organizational considerations can also play a significant role in the decision to adopt a bolt-on solution. The need to address the priorities of key stakeholders and accommodate several groups within the firm may guide the decision toward a bolt-on approach to ensure departmental alignment, even if it doesn’t provide the greatest long-term value. The overwhelming number of choices available in the market can further complicate the decision-making process, leading to rushed decisions driven by the appeal of the latest, most trendy technologies—often without fully considering how these platforms will fit into the existing ecosystem.

Buy: Accelerate value, reduce risk.

Buying a pre-built, integrated platform accelerates time to value while derisking modernization and offers a faster, more scalable solution than building one from scratch. Off-the-shelf solutions have already completed the iterative configuration process, allowing banks to accelerate time to value. The platform can start delivering results almost immediately, without the lengthy trial and error that comes with building a system in-house. It also enables financial institutions to avoid common implementation pitfalls and streamline deployment while minimizing risks. Scalability is another key advantage, as these platforms are designed to grow with customer demands, expanding capabilities with no need for constant reconfiguration.

The key question in the buying decision is: “Does a solution meet organizational requirements within operational constraints, in both the short and long term?” Industry-specific expertise plays a crucial role here. Platforms tailored to the financial services sector increase the probability of meeting individual business requirements with fewer tweaks and workarounds as they’re more likely to have pre-built integrations that require minimal effort to implement. This reduces the time, cost, and complexity of aligning with internal systems and processes.

Another consideration is resourcing: while the vendor handles much of the maintenance, the institution will still need skilled professionals to manage platform integration and ensure alignment with internal systems and business objectives. Specialized vendors usually have a value management office (VMO) and professional services teams that understand the unique challenges and regulatory context of the financial industry. These teams help navigate trade-offs and ensure the ROI is obvious and attainable. They help identify where to focus investments to yield the highest returns, offering guidance on how to achieve measurable value quickly.

For financial institutions seeking to drive faster results while mitigating modernization risks, an integrated CX platform offers a powerful solution, providing added benefits, such as rapid deployment and scalability. It provides a ready-made solution with the added benefit of continuous innovation from the vendor, without overwhelming internal teams with the burden of maintaining and evolving the system. Deciding whether to build, bolt, or buy a banking customer experience solution is a strategic choice that will have long-term implications for the institution. The key is to align CX technology with business objectives, ensuring the delivery of seamless, personalized experiences at every touchpoint.