TSW and Widiba: an online bank that grew from listening

TSW and Widiba: a partnership that began in 2013 and has developed over the years as a continuous working relationship. What they have in common is their approach: they make listening to people the centre of every process. It is people who offer suggestions and ideas for creating products and services that can really meet users’ expectations.

This approach was agreed from the very start of the project: TSW is working with Widiba on the global planning of its online banking service, advancing their partnership with activities aimed at the continuous development and improvement of the platform, as well as the integration of new services.

Widiba – a bank just the way people want it

Widiba was created in September 2013: the aim was to launch a direct online bank that really understood what people want from an online banking service and make it happen. The approach behind the company’s choices was clear from the outset: the name Widiba was chosen by a community of 115,000 people and encapsulates the notion of Wise-Dialogue-Bank.

People were also central to the decision-making process for the definition of the services offered: the community provided 3,500 ideas for the Widiba offer, which now includes 145 different products and services, giving people what they really expect from an online banking service.

It took a year to complete the entire service design process; the Widiba online banking platform went online in September 2014. From then on, the online bank has been periodically upgraded, integrating its offering with a growing number of services, including a trading platform for financial advisor services. In 2016 we launched a new paradigm for interaction between banks and people. Modelled on natural human language, this new Widiba development garnered several awards in the field of innovation and customer experience.

The partnership with TSW: a synergy that fosters continuing evolution

TSW has worked with Widiba from the earliest versions of the platform and has established a partnership that endures today, enhanced by periodic innovations and activities designed to foster continuous improvement of the service offered by the online bank.

In 2013 we began the process of analysing targets and consumer expectations, which was essential for the successful creation of a platform that truly meets the needs of end users. This was accompanied by iterative test activities. From the beginning of the partnership, TSW has carried out usability tests on the online banking desktop and mobile experience, using wearable devices for eye tracking and bio-metric detection. Throughout the five-year partnership, this activity has been carried out on a number of platforms and experiences, which have gradually been integrated into the Widiba world. The purpose of usability testing is to gather feedback from users while they are actually using the product. The results can thus point to new ways of improving the features on offer.

Usability testing was then extended to further additional activities, such as the design of the Mobile Banking app, trading platform and financial advisor platforms and the design of the new home banking paradigm, allowing for a more natural interaction between people and bank.

In addition to its work in the field of user experience, TSW supports Widiba in the development of strategies for online visibility and lead generation, with an accent on acquiring new customers through the opening of online accounts.

Together, TSW and Widiba have nurtured a quality partnership, which over the years has succeeded in creating a fully-featured bank that manages to combine technology with the human and relational dimension.