YBS: Making customers central to digital transformation
Yorkshire Building Society’s (YBS) Chief Commercial Officer, David Morris, and Director of Business Transformation, Ben Sampson, discuss the transformational journey that the business has been on in the last five years. The member-owned mutual has a rich history, tracing its roots as far back as 1864. But the business today, while being proud of its heritage, is not just a local player, with clients up and down the UK.
YBS began its digital transformation programme by establishing a much more precise clarity of focus. “We want to make sure we're doing things purposefully,” Morris says. “We want to make sure we've got the capability to execute against that; and critically we only compete in parts of the market where we think we can win.”
That clarity of focus has allowed YBS to focus on two core business lines: mortgages and savings products. In practice, being ‘purposeful’ means lending to first-time buyers looking to get onto the property ladder or customers who have a chequered credit history and would struggle to get a mortgage with other high-street lenders.
