Micro front-end transformation is the next frontier for banking ecosystems that could impact their backend and frontline operations massively by giving them a massive advantage. The community offerings and customer focus could be more inclined in a way to enhance their satisfaction through this implementation across the banking sector. The five crucial elements make it to the advancements and bring in the real change that could generate more profitability for banks.

In the last ten years, digital mediums for banks have become the most crucial business channels. Earlier, this used to be a less focused arena for banking ecosystems but as the technology is widely adopted, even traditional banks are developing their own applications, which often have a glimpse of the pre-smartphone era. Considering the recent primacy of digital channels, user experience has turned out to become a vital differentiator for the organizations that deploy them correctly. The revenue growth rates for the principal business with modernized digital channels can be around 2 to 4 times more when compared with the legacy ones.   

In many instances, digital channels have collected large legacies, with tremendous amounts of functionality in present ATMs, and mobile and online applications for different and unique customer journeys, each having a unique feel. Recently, banks have grappled continuously with usability problems that are compounded by a short innovative cycle of approximately 18 months for online front ends and mobile applications. As a result, the teams constantly struggle to keep up with enhancements in functionality, thereafter creating the next app and maintaining consistency across the front ends.  

Starting small and ending big scenario with front-end transformation: 

Software enhancement has firmly created the principles of the modernization of individual elements and business capacities with maximum reusability. Following this approach has resulted in the development of server less architectures.   

Practically, a mobile application operating with micro front-ends would contain various tech elements with a common look. Minimum components like log-in screens, app screens, and buttons can be easily reconfigured to serve new user journeys with the least additional development. 

Five Essential Elements of micro front-end transformation

Creating easily reusable, unique individual micro front-ends may appear self-evident, but banks may find it to be cumbersome to achieve a continuous look and feel through the channels.

Following are the five elements pertaining to successful front-end optimization: 

  1. Reusable elements: Creating a design system, which is a comprehensive library industrializes front-end development whilst enabling a continuous user interface through channels. 
  2. Tech-embedded design: When each component of the design system is technologically agnostic, the teams get access to isolated pieces of code with the most efficient technology available. The approach depends on the server view for rendering purpose that enhances resilience.  
  3. Browser-focused technologies and frameworks: When the need for designing front-ends for various browsers is less considered, organizations will have the freedom from user technology.  
  4. Integrating DevOps: Organizations that inculcate the micro front-end approach with a DevOps chain can also help in completely automating user acceptance and integration testing. 
  5. Developer portal: The developer portal is a medium for developers and internal stakeholders where all the information is shared. The best developer portal for the front-end integrates the design system, reusable code, and underlying technology usage.  

These five crucial elements enable the organizations to continuously modernize their apps while scheduling the upgrades for design systems on an 18-month period basis.

Indeed, this would improve resilience, accelerate time-to-market, and leaves development teams with more technology choices for future roadmaps. The execution of the micro front-end has reduced the hard work needed to bring the new functionalities to the market by 50%.  

Micro front-ends in action: 

Though micro front-ends accelerate and widely support the front-end digitization, there are possible challenges associated with it. For developing a developer portal or a design system, banks must invest their time, resources, and effort. In addition to this, there are technology complexities to estimate and manage.  

We implement the micro front-ends by upskilling the internal teams in parallel to implementing Agile approaches to ensure the quality of end products. Also, our teams have the dynamic abilities to build agile capabilities and practical experience in new development areas. There will be support included through executive coaching as it is the core part of us and provide individual learning opportunities for this roadmap.  

These actions could, however, help the banks to highly modernize and sophisticate the applications so that they can be quick and effective to cap more revenues from their frontline business operations.