Commercial Bank

Commercial Bank partnered with IQ to build human-centric innovation capabilities within its Imports and Exports division, enabling teams to adopt design thinking, improve customer experience, and identify automation-led opportunities to enhance operational efficiency.

Client
Commercial Bank
Services
BD & Innovation : Capacity Building Programs

98%

Increase in User Engagement (%)

95%

Customer Satisfaction Score (%)

3

Number of Workshops

30+

Number of Attendees

Client context & challenge

Commercial Bank's Imports and Exports division had a strong operational foundation, but that same success had created cultural and structural barriers to innovation.

  • Process-heavy mindset: Teams were execution-focused, with limited exposure to customer-centric problem solving or structured innovation frameworks.

  • Evolving customer expectations: Trade finance clients increasingly demanded faster turnaround times, greater transparency, and digital-first experiences.

  • Rising competitive pressure: Digitally enabled competitors were rapidly redefining service benchmarks across the industry.

  • Limited innovation capability: The organisation lacked structured tools to systematically identify pain points, reframe problems, and experiment with solutions.

  • Operational inefficiencies: Manual workflows and legacy processes constrained scalability and automation readiness.

The division needed to shift from a process-driven culture to a human-centric, innovation-enabled way of working without disrupting core operations.

STRATEGIC insight

IQ identified that sustainable transformation required more than tools—it required a capability and mindset shift. The key insights were

  • Improving customer experience in trade finance starts with deep empathy for customer and staff journeys.

  • Frontline and operational teams must be equipped with structured innovation frameworks they can apply independently.

  • Low-risk experimentation through prototyping is essential to surface practical automation and process improvement opportunities.

  • Embedding change requires ongoing coaching and action planning, not one-off training.

    • The strategy focused on building internal innovation capability that could continuously drive customer and operational improvements.

    What IQ

    designed & built

    Deep-Dive Research and Journey Diagnostics

    Conducted in-depth interviews with staff, customers, and key stakeholders across the trade finance ecosystem. Mapped end-to-end import and export journeys to identify friction points, delays, handoffs, and pain points. Synthesized insights into clear opportunity areas across customer experience, compliance, operations, and automation.

    Customized Design Thinking Capability Program

    Designed and delivered tailored design thinking workshops specifically contextualized to trade services and banking operations. Introduced structured modules on customer empathy, persona development, journey mapping, problem reframing, and ideation. Used real trade finance cases and live challenges to ensure immediate relevance and application.

    Hands-On Prototyping and Solution Development

    Enabled teams to convert insights into low-fidelity prototypes, service concepts, and process redesigns. Facilitated rapid testing of ideas to identify feasible automation opportunities and quick-win improvements. Helped teams prioritize initiatives based on customer impact, operational benefit, and implementation complexity.

    Automation and Process Innovation Identification

    Guided teams to systematically identify areas suitable for digitization, workflow automation, and straight-through processing. Highlighted opportunities to reduce manual effort, errors, and cycle time across key trade processes.

    Post-Training Embedding and Change Enablement

    Provided follow-up consultations and coaching to support execution and reinforce new ways of working. Helped leaders embed design thinking practices into ongoing improvement and transformation initiatives.

    LEARNINGS & reflections

    1. Mindset precedes technology

    Sustainable automation starts with human-centric problem framing, not tool selection.

    2. Contextual training drives adoption

    Innovation frameworks land harder when grounded in real operational challenges rather than abstract theory.

    3. Prototyping accelerates alignment

    Visualising ideas helps teams move faster from complex problems to actionable, testable solutions.

    4. Capability building creates lasting impact

    When internal teams own the methodology, improvement becomes continuous rather than project-dependent.

    5. Embedding is as important as training

    Follow-up coaching and structured action planning are what separate lasting change from one-off workshops.

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