“It is challenging for banks to adapt to the needs of the unbanked,” Mr. Danilkis said. “Their existing technology is old and it is hard to improve things on top of it.”
Startup founders have seized upon client acquisition and maintenance as the two areas prime for disruption, Mr. Danilkis said. The middle third does not differentiate, so Mambu concentrates on that part, leaving the disruption for the entrepreneurs.
That middle area involved plenty of unseen work so everything comes together when people access a banking platform. Customers want one simple banking experience,whether it be online or via mobile, and tying the different aspects of the banking experience together is hard, especially when the expected standard includes providing real time information.
Cloud technology helps the process in many ways, Mr. Danilikis said. It is cost effective, secure and scaleable which is especially important because only the richest financial institutions can afford to build those processes out entirely on their own. That provides them with the ability to onboard more customers.
Mambu also has an incentive to provide quality ongoing service, Mr. Danilkis said. They operate under a subscription-based pricing model. This reduces the client’s financial risk and fosters a closer vendor/client relationship, highlighted by a visible roadmap support team and no fees for hardware services.
“There is a different alignment of incentive,” Mr. Danilkis said. “End-to-end relationship management is an important part of being a SaaS (software as a service) provider.”
The totality of the vendor/client relationship involves a high degree of trust, which is easier to develop in some countries than it is in others, Mr. Danilkis said. The United States is at the forefront, followed by Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Some cultures which have experienced authoritarian rule are slower to accept the SaaS model, Mr. Danilkis said, with some areas of Eastern Europe being prime examples.
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