DBS Group Holdings Ltd
Annual Report 2022
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More like
a startup,
less like
a bank
Since 2014, DBS has focused on inculcating a pervasive startup culture bank-wide. Encouraging a spirit of innovation, equipping our employees with important digital skills and reimagining the way we work continue to be key tenets of building an organisation that is nimble and agile.
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Redesigning the way we work – Managing through Journeys
Some years back, to ensure we put the customer at the heart of the banking experience, we trained our people in customer journey thinking which encompassed elements like customer discovery and customer science. More recently, we took this up a notch and reorganised the way we work by Managing through Journeys (MtJs). MtJs enable the bank to function as a Horizontal Organisation, with cross-functional teams across the bank collaborating to deliver value and enhanced customer experiences. These efforts have resulted in improved customer satisfaction in consumer and SME banking. Employee engagement has also risen, with DBS continuing to be Kincentric's Best Employer in Singapore and across Asia-Pacific.
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Industrialising innovation
We seek to industrialise innovation throughout the organisation. Through a proprietary Innovation Pyramid framework, we explore and exploit propositions that are new to bank, new to industry and new to the world. For instance, to be future-ready, we take bets on technologies that may mature only in a few years. High-profile new businesses such as DBS Digital Exchange and Partior are examples of such bets. We challenge business teams to conceptualise innovations, or “moonshot solutions”, that do not currently exist. Product teams are also tasked with elevating existing propositions to exceed customer expectations. Finally, to awaken the innovation DNA in all employees, we often run internal campaigns to crowdsource the best ideas from the bank.
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Cultivating a future-ready workforce through training and development
Recognising that our people are the driving force behind DBS’ transformation, we place significant focus on training and development. DBS' Tech Academy builds technical expertise through in-house curriculums developed by subject matter experts. Since 2021, over 9,000 employees have taken upskilling courses in data and artificial intelligence, while 7,000 have attended site reliability engineering training. We also launched our DBS Sustainability Learning Campus to provide learning opportunities for all employees on sustainability.
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Diversifying our tech workforce
We incorporated an innovation triangle – comprising three technological hubs – in Singapore, India and China, to grow our own timber. Our technology hubs in Singapore sit under DBS Tech Singapore, while DBS Asia Hub 2 in Hyderabad has been rebranded as DBS Tech India. DBS Tech China will be launched in Guangzhou in mid-2024. These hubs will facilitate continual innovation, provide diversity, and hone our talents as they learn from each other.
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Transforming our workspaces for optimal hybrid working
With hybrid work practices, DBS employees now spend three days in the office and two days working from home. To ensure that their time in the office is conducive to ideation, collaboration and social connections, we continue to experiment with design of spaces. We have done a series of experiments to drive creative thinking with flexible furniture, immersive lighting and writable surfaces. The insights gathered from employee feedback are being used to design and curate productive workspaces for the future.
