“Alexa, what’s up with my bank?” How to overcome the customer experience gap in banking“Alexa, what’s up with my bank?” How to overcome the customer experience gap in banking“Alexa, what’s up with my bank?” How to overcome the customer experience gap in banking

“Alexa, open a new checking account at [bank name].”

Crickets.

While we may not be able to open a checking account via Alexa today (though, with the soon-to-be-released Alexa+, who knows?), we live in a world where we can order dinner, book a ride and adjust the thermostat with a simple voice command. Keyword: “simple.”

Improving customer experience (CX) isn’t just about outperforming direct competitors in the banking sector — customers don’t segment their expectations by industry, they compare every digital interaction to the best experiences they’ve ever had.

It means traditional banks are now competing with neobanks like Chime and Monzo, and the intuitive, hyper-personalised, frictionless experiences offered by brands like Amazon, Uber and Netflix — customers rightly ask: “If my streaming service can anticipate my preferences seamlessly, why shouldn’t my bank do the same?”

And the competition is real. Chime has grown to millions of users without a single physical branch, proving that people are willing to leave traditional banks behind when a better experience is available.

The problem isn't that traditional banks are unaware of the need to deliver hyper-personalised experiences — 77% of industry leaders recognise CX as a key growth engine. The issue is that their legacy systems are stopping them from delivering these experiences, and leaders fear the modernisation required to change this won’t bring the results they need.

But Nearform has the solution: Our experience-led modernisation approach. Read on to discover how it transforms your bank's customer experience.

“Siri, open a new checking account at [bank name].”

Silence.

Banks have been investing in technology for decades, adapting to shifts in how customers interact with financial institutions.

We’ve seen banking evolve from being 100% paper-based to integrating faxes and emails, to the dot-com boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when banks first began launching online services.

Fast forward to today, many banks have built sleek mobile apps, AI-driven chatbots and digital account openings. But here’s the problem: while the frontend experience has been modernised, the backend has largely been left behind.

Many banks are still weighed down by legacy technology — outdated core systems that were never designed for today’s on-demand, digital-first world. While it may seem like they’re digitally advancing, the reality is much of their infrastructure remains fragmented, rigid and unable to support true innovation.

Traditional banks are stuck maintaining decades-old architectures that lack scalability, making it difficult to keep up with growing digital demand. This limits innovation, forcing banks to work around outdated processes rather than reinvent them. And it consumes massive investments, with a significant portion of IT budgets spent on maintaining legacy systems instead of advancing new initiatives.

These outdated systems don’t just create technical debt — they directly impact customer experience and put traditional banks at a disadvantage against more agile competitors. Two key challenges of this are:

Delays in launching new products and features

While neobanks and fintechs can roll out updates in days or weeks, traditional banks often take months or even years to bring new digital offerings to market. This not only drives up costs and consumes valuable resources, but also increases the risk of missing the market entirely. By the time a product finally launches, customer expectations may have shifted, or a more agile competitor may have captured the opportunity.

Struggling to utilise AI and modern tech effectively

AI-powered fraud detection, predictive financial insights and intelligent automation are transforming banking, offering faster, smarter and more secure experiences. However, many traditional banks lack the necessary backend infrastructure, scalable technology and seamless data availability to fully capitalise on these innovations. Without a modern foundation, AI remains an untapped opportunity rather than a competitive advantage.

“Hey Google, open a new checking account at [bank name].”

Dead air.

Leading with a technology-first approach (such as attempting a full system overhaul at once or implementing tech for tech’s sake) can be a costly mistake. While it may seem logical to replace outdated infrastructure in one sweeping initiative, this approach is often long, expensive and risky. Furthermore, modernisation isn't just about upgrading technology — it’s about delivering tangible, customer-centric improvements that drive real business value.

“Big bang” modernisation efforts often fail. This is because attempting to revamp an entire banking system all at once introduces several challenges:

Massive costs and extended timelines

Large-scale system overhauls often take years to complete, delaying the benefits of modernisation while draining resources. By the time the transformation is done, customer expectations may have already evolved, rendering parts of the solution outdated.

Unwieldy and difficult to manage

Replacing an entire core system in one go introduces operational complexity. This increases the likelihood of setbacks, unforeseen technical challenges and disruption to critical banking services.

Failure to align with business priorities

A technology-first approach often misses business needs and customer experience improvements, leading to solutions that are misaligned with actual market demands.

Inadequate ROI and transformation failure

Many large-scale modernisation efforts fail to deliver on expected outcomes due to misaligned goals, unexpected costs and shifting business priorities. In some cases, projects collapse before completion, wasting millions in investment.

If the all-in, tech-first approach doesn’t deliver, what brings the results banks need?

Banks know they need to modernise. But how they modernise is just as important as what they modernise. Attempting a massive, technology-first overhaul comes with significant risks. Experience-led modernisation is Nearform’s proven alternative to the “big bang” approach.

Instead of tackling modernisation as a purely technical challenge, we focus on delivering impactful, customer-centric improvements first. We ensure that every investment in modernisation directly enhances the banking experience, while laying the foundation for long-term transformation.

Why experience-led modernisation works

Experience-led modernisation starts with the customer and works backwards. We identify friction in real experiences, then surgically target the legacy systems, processes, or silos that are holding your bank back.

This approach delivers value fast — in weeks, not years. Think of it as modernisation in motion: thin slices of high-impact change that deliver measurable outcomes without the risk. We build the right systems — ones that solve real problems and deliver value where your customers feel it most.

This isn’t theoretical, it’s a practical and proven solution we employ through our client engagements:

• Problem: Reliability issues were creeping in for Travelex’s app users.
• Solution: A team of Travelex and Nearform experts designed, developed and launched a new app.
• Impact: Travelex boosted its sales conversion rate by double digits in under six months.

How experience-led modernisation delivers rapid impact

We’ve built our approach around what actually drives business outcomes — not technical checkboxes. Here’s how it helps banks modernise with purpose:

Untangling legacy without the disruption

• The challenge: Legacy systems slow everything down, from releasing new products to responding to compliance needs or integrating AI.
• The Nearform way: We work around the legacy, not against it. Through thin-slice modernisation, we tackle the most painful customer journeys first, exposing them via modern APIs and workflows. No “rip and replace,” no multi-year delays, just targeted modernisation that rapidly unlocks agility.
• The result: You get real progress in real time, while keeping your systems running and your customers happy.

Improving what your customers care about

• The challenge: Customers don’t care about your backend. They care about getting what they need — fast, seamless and personalised experiences.
• The Nearform way: We prioritise customer outcomes over platform rework. By designing with product thinking and validating with live feedback loops, we surface what really matters — then modernise the supporting tech behind it.
• The result: You stop guessing what your customers want, and start delivering it.

Meeting compliance requirements without sacrificing experience

• The challenge: Regulatory demands are non-negotiable, but legacy systems make it tough to adapt quickly.
• The Nearform way: Our modernisation embeds security and compliance into the design from day one. That means solutions are resilient, auditable and future-proof — without adding friction to the customer experience.
• The result: You stay ahead of regulators and deliver secure, seamless banking.

Accelerating delivery without burning out your teams

• The challenge: Slow release cycles, high technical debt and siloed teams delay innovation and frustrate everyone involved.
• The Nearform way: Our lean, cross-functional teams bring engineering, design and product together — and we ship fast. We also run cost-efficiency audits to spot where your spending isn’t delivering value.
• The result: You unlock innovation, reduce operating costs and make room to grow.

Why leading with experience wins every time

Our approach prioritises high-impact customer journeys (like onboarding, payments, or self-service) and modernises from the outside in. We design and build around what customers need today, while laying the foundation for what’s next. Because when you lead with experience:

• You shorten the time between investment and impact
• You create measurable value that your customers (and stakeholders) can see
• You de-risk change by modernising in thin, strategic slices

“Hey Nearform, open a new checking account at [bank name].” **No problem. **

With our experience-led approach, you can deliver real impact, faster — without the risk of a total overhaul. Let’s build what your customers actually want.

Contact Nearform today to start your customer-centric modernisation journey.