How IDEO Helped Bank of America Innovate
Discover how IDEO's design thinking revolutionized Bank of America's services with the innovative "Keep the Change" savings program.
In the competitive financial sector, innovation is a must to stay ahead. One of the most successful examples of innovation in banking comes from the partnership between IDEO and Bank of America. IDEO’s customer-centric design thinking approach led to the creation of Bank of America’s Keep the Change program, a groundbreaking service that transformed how customers save money. Learn more about how design thinking can transform the financial sector on InVision’s design blog.
This article delves into the details of how IDEO played a pivotal role in helping Bank of America innovate its services, the specific challenges they addressed, and the impact their partnership had on the financial industry. You can also explore more about IDEO’s impact on banking here.
Who Is IDEO and What Role Did They Play in Bank of America's Innovation?
IDEO is a global design consultancy known for its innovative, human-centred approach to solving complex challenges. They are pioneers in design thinking, a methodology that focuses on understanding users' needs and creating solutions that meet those needs through creative problem-solving. Their work has significantly impacted sectors beyond banking, including healthcare, technology, and education. Discover more about IDEO's approach on their official site.
Bank of America turned to IDEO for help when it needed a fresh way to engage customers and encourage them to save more money. IDEO played a vital role in shaping the Keep the Change program, a service that rounds up customer purchases to the nearest dollar and deposits the difference into their savings accounts. This was IDEO’s way of making the saving process effortless and automatic, addressing customer needs with simplicity. Learn about how design thinking helps address real-world customer challenges here.
How Did IDEO Help Bank of America Innovate Its Services?
IDEO helped Bank of America innovate by applying their human-centred design approach. They focused on real customer pain points, uncovering that many people struggled with saving money regularly. IDEO’s team worked closely with Bank of America to ideate, prototype, and test potential solutions, ultimately arriving at the Keep the Change program. You can explore more about how IDEO collaborates with businesses to solve real-world problems here.
This simple service allowed customers to save without thinking about it, addressing their need for an effortless way to build savings. IDEO's process, which included customer feedback at every stage, was instrumental in ensuring that the innovation was practical and effective for everyday users.
What Was the Key Challenge Bank of America Faced That IDEO Addressed?
Bank of America’s key challenge was finding a way to encourage more customers to open accounts and actively save money. Many customers expressed a desire to save but found it difficult to do so consistently. The bank needed a solution that made saving easier, more automatic, and, ideally, invisible to the customer’s everyday spending habits.
IDEO addressed this challenge by designing the Keep the Change program, which made saving feel effortless. Every time a customer made a purchase, the small change from rounding up to the nearest dollar was automatically deposited into their savings account. This small, automated step significantly boosted customer engagement and account openings for Bank of America. For further insights into the program, check out the full case study on the Bank of America - Keep the Change program.
Why Did Bank of America Choose IDEO for Their Innovation Partnership?
Bank of America chose IDEO because of their proven ability to create customer-centric solutions. IDEO’s reputation for using design thinking to solve complex problems made them the ideal partner for a project that required a deep understanding of customer behaviour and banking habits. You can learn more about IDEO’s collaboration with Bank of America and their transformative work here.
IDEO’s collaborative approach, involving customers at each step of the innovation process, aligned perfectly with Bank of America’s goal to create a service that genuinely helped customers save. This focus on empathy and iterative design was key in ensuring that the resulting solution would resonate with users.
How Did IDEO's Design Thinking Approach Benefit Bank of America?
IDEO’s design thinking approach benefited Bank of America by focusing on the end-user’s needs throughout the entire design process. By empathising with customers, defining the problem, and iterating on potential solutions, IDEO ensured that Bank of America launched a service that addressed a real and widespread customer challenge.
This customer-first approach not only increased customer engagement but also led to tangible business growth. Within the first year of the Keep the Change program, more than 2.5 million customers enrolled, and billions of dollars were transferred into savings accounts. Find out how design thinking revolutionised Bank of America’s services by visiting this page.
What Specific Innovations Did IDEO Introduce at Bank of America?
The most significant innovation IDEO introduced at Bank of America was the Keep the Change program. This service was designed to make saving automatic, effortless, and tied to everyday transactions. Every time a customer made a purchase, the amount was rounded up, and the difference was moved into their savings account, making the process of saving feel natural and unnoticeable.
This innovation was a simple, intuitive solution to a complex behavioural issue—getting people to save money regularly without feeling the burden of it. IDEO’s work on this project has since been recognised as a model of how design thinking can lead to successful product innovation in financial services.
Fiskil: Bringing Innovation Through Open Finance
Just as IDEO helped Bank of America innovate with customer-centred solutions, Fiskil is revolutionising financial services through open finance. Fiskil provides real-time access to banking and energy data, helping businesses streamline their operations and create more personalised experiences for their customers.
How Fiskil Enhances Innovation
Fiskil enables businesses to access and utilise financial data under the Consumer Data Right (CDR) framework, which allows for greater innovation and customisation in banking services. Similar to IDEO’s design thinking approach, Fiskil’s open finance solutions empower businesses to design services that meet their customers’ unique needs. Learn how Fiskil can drive innovation in your business by visiting Fiskil’s official website.
- Identity Verification: Fiskil enables businesses to verify customer identity directly from their bank accounts, improving onboarding and reducing fraud.
- Automated Onboarding: Fiskil helps reduce customer drop-off rates by automating the onboarding process, making it faster and more seamless.
- Fraud Detection: With real-time transactional data, Fiskil allows businesses to detect and prevent fraud efficiently.
Conclusion
The collaboration between IDEO and Bank of America is a powerful example of how customer-centric innovation can drive business success. Through their Keep the Change program, Bank of America was able to significantly increase customer engagement and savings. IDEO’s design thinking methodology was key to this innovation, and their focus on addressing real customer needs made all the difference. For further insights into how IDEO uses design thinking to transform industries, visit their official site.
Similarly, Fiskil is helping businesses harness the power of data through open finance, enabling them to innovate and deliver personalised solutions. By integrating real-time data, businesses can offer enhanced services, improve customer experience, and drive growth in the competitive financial sector.
For more on how Fiskil can help your business innovate, visit Fiskil’s blog.
Relevant Resources:
Fiskil Resources
Case Studies and Insights on Design Thinking in Banking
- Feeling in Control: Bank of America Helps Customers to Keep the Change
- Design Thinking Association: Bank of America Helps Customers Keep Change
- IDEO: Making Sure a Bank Stays Great as It Grows
- IDEO: Transforming the Banking Experience
- InVision: Applied Design Thinking
- Chegg: Bank of America's "Keep the Change" Program
- DT Seminar: Bank of America - Keep the Change
- Course Hero: Case Analysis of "Keep the Change"
- Core77: Bank of America Enlists IDEO's Services
- Fortune: How IDEO Brings Design to Corporate America
- IDEO: Financial Services