NBAD's Essay On Business Model, Operating Model, Digital Capabilities, And Leadership Capabilities.

You have been appointed as a "Lead Digital Consultant" to Abu Dhabi National Bank (NBAD) to help them become a Digital Master in digital-rich and competitive world. 

1) Describe NBAD's Business Model. You must describe the three major components of the Business Model as discussed in class.

2) Now, place NBAD Business Operating Model on the Grid discussed in class and sketch the "Business Operating Model".

3) Using the diagram below, place NBAD on one of the below quadrants. You must choose one and only one quadrant. Your answer must assess NBAD's Digital Capabilities and Leadership Capabilities as detailed in each quadrant. 

4) Depending on how you rated NBAD's Leadership/Digital Capabilities on the chart above, outline the major components of a "Playbook" for the senior management to become a Digital Master. If you rated NBAD as Digital Masters, then you need to describe a "Playbook" to maintain this position. If, on the other hand, you rated it as Beginners, you must describe a "Playbook" to become Digital Masters. 

Business Model of NBAD

National Bank of Abu Dhabi is a world famous bank which plays a vital role in the development of Abu Dhabi. There are few key components of the business model of NBAD as follows:

Key partners of NBAD are as follows:

• Regulatory agencies which regulates the functioning of the bank
• Technology Vendors that supports the technology based operations of the bank
• Investment Partners that provide financial support to the bank

Key activities of NBAD are as follows:

• IT operations
• Call center operations
• Branch operations

Key resources of NBAD are as follows:

• Loan assets
• IT infrastructure
• Physical infrastructure

Value proposition of NBAD is as follows:

• Loan Products which are of high interest rates
• Deposit Products which are of low interest rates

Key channels of NBAD are as follows:

• Mobile Applications for online banking services
• Internet banking
• Call centers for providing a 24*7 online support to the customers
• ATMs to offer any time cash facility
• Bank branches in all the areas so that in the remote areas also there is no problem related to banking

• Corporate and the retail customers which are known as borrowers
• Corporate and the retail customers who are the depositors (nbad, 2017)

• There is automation wherever it is possible
• Personal assistance is also offered to the customers who cannot have access to internet.

Key costs of NBAD are as follows:

• Channel related costs
• Internet expense

• Fee Income
• Interest Income (Islam, 2003)

The business operating model of NBAD is unique in itself as well as well-efficient. Following are the various different aspects of the business operating model of NBAD:

• Being a bank, the first ad the primary business activity of NBAD is to take deposits from various institutes as well as from the masses. Next to this, NBAD lend this money to the people or institutes requiring this money in the form of loan after having certain legal formalities.
• After this, the bank transfers this money from one place to another. The bank also acts as trustee for several organizations or institutes. The bank also keeps the valuables of the masses safe in its custody which have been mortgaged against the loans taken.
• NBAD being a national bank also performs several government business transactions. As well as it also undertakes property management, acting as a corporate advisor by providing advisory services to several corporate or business organisation regarding financial transaction business moves, etc. (nbad, 2017)
• The next part in the operating model of NBAD is the leasing and treasury services offered by the bank. NBAD provides lease to several institutes as well as works as an investment bank for the treasures or the financial officers and offering them information, transaction and investment services (Ariss, Rezvanian and Mehdian, 2007).

Because of highly efficient business model and business operating model, National Bank of Abu Dhabi falls under the most competent quadrant i.e. Digital Masters.

There are various digital capabilities and leadership capabilities of NBAD that have supported and strengthen the organisation to become a digital master. Following are the factor which demonstrates NBAD as digital masters:

Strong Overarching Digital Vision

NBAD’s vision statement is full of digitalization as the bank purposes to become the most innovative and financially strong bank of Abu Dhabi as well as of the world in the future. The bank is recognized as a leader in the terms of financial advisor, creditor, loan provider, banking, etc. The objective of NBAD is to become the most superior banks of the twenty first century and recognized as a strong pillar of the banking industry. The digital vision of NBAD focuses upon recognizing as the most techno savvy and innovative bank (Fujitsu, 2009).

Good Governance

There is high governance in all the business approaches, operations and practices of NBAD as well as there are rapid improvement strategies for becoming the good governance leader in the corporate world. There are several business operations and various terms which demonstrate that NBAD is high in good governance:

On the basis of analyzing NBAD from workplace corruption point of view, it has been evaluated that there is powerful governance hold by the bank. There are various policies and practices which bans any kind of workplace corruption at NBAD. The decisions taken are also on the grounds of authenticity and equitability with no discrimination on the basis of any factor. All these things show that NBAD is high on good governance (Ayish, 2005).

From the employee standards point of view, there has been identified competent governance as there are various potential standards and the policies which are followed in NBAD that offers a number of benefits and rewards to the organizational employees that supports them continuous development of both professional as well as personal grounds (Beck, Demirgüç-Kunt and Merrouche, 2013).

From the corporate management perspective, NBAD is recognized as possessing hood governance as there is a strong and powerful management system in the organisation which focuses upon satisfying varied needs of the masses and the society. NBAD has highly efficient corporate management which continuously performs initiative to uplift the society and have the community development (Kastelein, 2017).

Many digital initiatives generating business value in measurable ways

To attain digital excellence, huge investment in Adobe

Business Operating Model of NBAD

NBAD has developed a robust association with Adobe which is a global leader in the technology sector. The organisation will attain numerous benefits by having several cloud solutions in the various business operations and partners of NBAD. Through this, NBAD will able to offer a strong and innovative digital service to the customers in terms of fast banking services. it will also assist in offering customized services to the individuals that will help in rapid functioning and satisfaction of the needs of the customers (Adobe, 2015).

NBAD has won the title of “Best Engaged Social Media Channels- UAE 2016”. This shows the digitalized networks and innovative solutions of the organisation. NBAD is highly active on social platforms which support the customer engagement process of the bank. Whether it may be Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Google Plus, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. at all these platforms NBAD has its recognized digitalized presence. Therefore, it shows the increasing business value of NBAD by the means of digital initiatives by having strong appearance of the social media to fascinate and engage the customers (NBAD, 2017).

Strong digital culture

The digital culture of NBAD is recognized as extremely robust as it has incorporated digitalization in almost all its business activities and business operations. With number of innovative practices and technological developments, there has been a sudden rise in the development of the banking sector of Abu Dhabi. There are great capital investments for the development of new and innovative technologies which can support faster banking systems. The strong presence on social media and the association with technological leader Adobe, demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the digital culture in NBAD (Amit and Zott, 2012).

Performing modifications in the business model

For managing and maintain the position of digital master, it is essential for NBAD to have reliable and improved changes in the business model. In the present scenario, the competition is rising with an increasing arte. Therefore to have a leadership status in the banking industry of Abu Dhabi as well as from the global perspective, there is a need of restructuring. With the rapid technological advancements in the industries, customers are demanding for more innovative services. Therefore, NBAD must also incorporate theses technological developments in its business model so that it can be remained contemporary in all phases (Talks, 2016).

The companies which have a global presence are required to have a sort of consistency level in their business activities. Whether it is the function related to providing loans or other banking services, NBAD is require maintaining high level of standardization in its services. The primary reason behind focusing upon standardization is that, being the digital master, it is necessary for NBAD to offer same and equal services to all its clients irrespective of the various factors. This will help in achieving strong brand recognition by the organisation. There will be development of trust of the customers if the organisation will offer similar set of services with high standardization to all the masses (Ashraf, 2012).

Another step to maintain position of a digital master is to have high emphasized upon the empowerment in utilizing efficient digital technologies in the various business operations of NBAD. The workforce of the organisation must also be empowered to taking effective use of the digital technologies at the time of offering services to the customers so that they can realize the digital initiatives of NBAD.

NBAD as Digital Masters

To maintain the position of a digital master, there is a need that NBAD must maintain the records of its prime customers. Being a recognized and global bank, there is complete information stored of all the customers. But having complete data and information of the customers help the organisation in offering more modified and personalized services to them (Berger and Udell, 2002).

There is also essential for NBAD to have wide and extensive research. Increase amount of investments in research and development sector helps the company in implementing innovative technologies and also have reach to potential customers. The more and in-depth the research is the wider is the scope for advancement and improvement of the business operations of the organisation (Mansoor Khan and Ishaq Bhatti, 2008).

Another major initiative which the organisation must take is to have its primary emphasis upon having increased customer involvement. The more the customers are involved and engaged with the organisation, the greater are the chances of development and brand building. Being a digital leader, there are several innovative and digitalized technologies by which the organisations can have an improved association with the customers, such as the use of social platforms, where NBAD stands as a leader. The organisation must continue its practice of customer engagement in the future run also (Al Shamsi, Aly and El-Bassiouni, 2009).

To remain as digital master in long-term also, there is recommended to NBAD that it must have an appropriate designing of the customers’ understandings and experiences. For this, kit is essential that, there must have efficient tools and techniques by which there can be obtained adequate form of information. If the customers are offered with some specialized and personalized services, then there are high chances of improvement and growth for the organisation. There must be some specific policies or practices for domestic customers as well as for international customers (Albertazzi and Gambacorta, 2009).

Being a digital master, there are several expectations which are arise from the organisation from the customers’ side. It is essential for NBAD to take use of its technologies for satisfying the customers. By taking feedbacks from the customers and assisting them in every possible manner, the organisation can maintain its position of a digital master if it incorporates its technological advancements in providing value based services to its customers (Ghermandi and Messalem, 2009).

References

Adobe, (2015). The National Bank of Abu Dhabi, going digital, Pp.4, Retrieved on: 1^st June, 2017, Retrieved from: https://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/customer-success/pdfs/national-bank-abu-dhabi-case-study.pdf 

Al Shamsi, F. S., Aly, H. Y., & El-Bassiouni, M. Y. (2009). Measuring and explaining the efficiencies of the United Arab Emirates banking system. Applied Economics, 41(27), 3505-3519.

Albertazzi, U., & Gambacorta, L. (2009). Bank profitability and the business cycle. Journal of Financial Stability, 5(4), 393-409.

Amit, R., & Zott, C. (2012). Creating value through business model innovation. MIT Sloan Management Review, 53(3), 41.

Ariss, R. T., Rezvanian, R., & Mehdian, S. M. (2007). Cost efficiency, technological progress and productivity growth of banks in GCC countries. International Journal of Business, 12(4), 471.

Ashraf, G. (2012). Adoption of Internet Banking in United Arab Emirates (Doctoral dissertation, Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU)).

Ayish, M. I. (2005). Virtual public relations in the United Arab Emirates: A case study of 20 UAE organizations’ use of the Internet. Public Relations Review, 31(3), 381-388.

Beck, T., Demirgüç-Kunt, A., & Merrouche, O. (2013). Islamic vs. conventional banking: Business model, efficiency and stability. Journal of Banking & Finance, 37(2), 433-447.

Berger, A. N., & Udell, G. F. (2002). Small business credit availability and relationship lending: The importance of bank organisational structure. The economic journal, 112(477), F32-F53.

Fujitsu, (2009). National Bank of Abu Dhabi invests in state-of-the-art IT, Pp.2. Retrieved on: 1^st June, 2017, Retrieved from: https://www.fujitsu.com/it/Images/nbankad.pdf 

Ghermandi, A., & Messalem, R. (2009). Solar-driven desalination with reverse osmosis: the state of the art. Desalination and water treatment, 7(1-3), 285-296.

Islam, M. M. (2003). Development and performance of domestic and foreign banks in GCC countries. Managerial Finance, 29(2/3), 42-72.

Kastelein, R., (2017). T he National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) Introduces Real-Time Cross-Border Blockchain Payments, Retrieved on: 1^st June, 2017, Retrieved from: https://www.the-blockchain.com/2017/02/14/national-bank-abu-dhabi-nbad-introduces-real-time-cross-border-blockchain-payments/ 

Mansoor Khan, M., & Ishaq Bhatti, M. (2008). Islamic banking and finance: on its way to globalization. Managerial Finance, 34(10), 708-725.

Nbad, (2017). About First Abu Dhabi Bank, Retrieved on: 1^st June, 2017, Retrieved from: https://www.nbad.com/en-ae/about-nbad/overview.html 

NBAD, (2017). NBAD Social Media, Retrieved on: 1^st June, 2017, Retrieved from: https://www.nbad.com/en-ae/contact-and-support/social-media.html 

Talks, E. (2016). Outreach.