Moving from pilots to platforms: How Financial Services leaders scale innovation

Moving from pilots to platforms: How Financial Services leaders scale innovation

Only 20% of financial services firms describe themselves as advanced in business model innovation in financial services.  In other words, 80% risk falling behind as new customer expectations and revenue flows emerge. Those are among the findings of new research conducted by FT Longitude on behalf of GlobalLogic.

The study suggests that many institutions are still challenged to bridge the gap from ambition to action. But as one financial services leader explains, it can be done when a firm demonstrates commitment, collaboration, and the right infrastructure to scale.

Avoiding the ‘experiment graveyard’

As Christopher Walsh, Deputy CTO for Digital Assets at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), acknowledges, “experimentation” sometimes carries a negative connotation: “Teams spend time doing an experiment, they have a presentation, everyone applauds, and that experiment goes into some virtual shelf for quite some time.”

Indeed, many firms excel at testing new concepts but struggle to transform pilots into production-ready solutions that drive real revenue. GlobalLogic’s study confirms this pattern, with firms often frontloading investment in a few key areas and then pivoting to the next trend before capturing value.

Walsh argues that real progress requires organizational buy-in: “When you really commit to something, you have to commit the resources, and you have to commit the funding and really the intellectual capital of your organization behind innovation projects.”

Building the right platform for innovation

Walsh pointed to a lack of platforms for proper experimentation as another critical barrier. That’s especially true in regulated environments where organizations can’t simply test with any technology stack.

He shares that DTCC’s solution has been a digital launchpad—an industry sandbox for conducting coordinated experiments with cutting-edge technology in a compliant environment. These experiments can even span multiple institutions, fostering digital innovation in financial services on a wide scale.

“A lot of these technologies take more than one individual company doing the experiment,” Walsh noted. “It needs to be orchestrated, and it needs to be coordinated across the entire ecosystem.”

This approach reflects another research finding: that leaders are twice as likely as laggards to prioritize AI ethics and model governance. Leaders recognize that sustainable innovation in the financial services industry requires building compliance and collaboration into the foundation—not bolting them on afterward.

Sequencing innovation (without stifling creativity)

So, how can institutions balance the “scattershot approach” of exploring trends with the discipline required to scale?

Walsh proposes a dual strategy: “You should have folks at your firm that are trying to seek out new solutions constantly and pressure-testing those ideas constantly… However, that doesn’t mean committing massive amounts of resources to everything.”

Success lies in creating formal investment pipelines that don’t stifle grassroots innovation. This mirrors what the high performers in GlobalLogic’s study demonstrate: they balance quick wins with long-term investment, continuing to fund proven, high-ROI opportunities rather than chasing every new trend.

One path to progress: Accelerated data product engineering

GlobalLogic offers proven approaches to help scale innovation more rapidly and more effectively. One of the most relevant for Financial Services firms is the ability to transform data product development from months to days.

Consider, for example, GlobalLogic’s four-step engagement process, which provides a structure similar to what Walsh describes:

1. Discovery Workshop – Brainstorm high-value use cases, assess your current maturity, and design your data products roadmap.
2. Data Engineering Playground – Experience hands-on examples and test-drive platform capabilities with your team.
3. MVP & Roadmap – Design 3-4 enterprise-ready data products with production-ready results guaranteed.
4. Productionize – Deploy into full production with enterprise governance and self-service capabilities.

Ready to move your innovations from the virtual shelf to production? Start the conversation today and discover how GlobalLogic can help you build the platforms, processes, and partnerships that turn experimentation into enterprise value.

Ready to turn ambition into a lasting advantage?

The new report from GlobalLogic and FT Longitude Research, “Turning Ambition into Advantage,” reveals how leading firms are bridging the gap between strategy and execution across Code, Capital, and Change. Download the full report now to discover how to transform disruption into your competitive edge and engineer lasting success.