Banks and financial institutions face growing pressure to deliver growth while managing risk, regulation and customer expectations. Competition from fintechs, economic uncertainty and rising sustainability demands from regulators and investors are redefining what success looks like.
Staying competitive requires Connected Planning – linking financial, risk and operational data so decisions are faster, more accurate and strategically aligned.
In this article, we look at how Connected Planning is becoming the next opportunity to create competitive advantage for the banking sector, and how Zooss helps financial institutions make the shift – connecting operations and financial performance to purpose, and growth to governance.
Strategic imperatives shaping modern banking in Australia
Across the banking and financial services sector, five priorities are shaping strategy and investment:
- Cost efficiency and simplification – simplifying internal operations, reducing manual effort and improving productivity while streamlining the customer journey.
- Digital transformation and modernisation – accelerating automation and platform renewal, adopting cloud technologies and applying generative AI to improve service and reduce cost-to-serve.
- Customer-centric service and experience – responding to rising expectations with new digital channels and personalised advice tools that strengthen relationships.
- Risk management and regulatory compliance – strengthening conduct, AML/CTF and cybersecurity controls while improving transparency and governance across reporting and operations.
- Sustainable finance and ESG – embedding environmental and social goals into strategy, including commitments to finance renewable energy, reduce lending exposure to high-carbon sectors and lower environmental impact across supply chains.
Together, these imperatives define a new model for growth – one that balances efficiency, trust and purpose while connecting financial performance to long-term sustainability. Banks that will succeed are those that can turn these challenges into opportunities through connected, data-driven planning.
Connected Planning strengthens every step of the banking value chain
Connected Planning – supported by data analytics – creates value across the entire financial services value chain by linking teams, data and decisions – from product development through to customer support.
- Product development – Product and portfolio planning connects customer demand, market insights and risk appetite. Banks can model profitability and compliance implications early, ensuring that new products meet both customer needs and regulatory standards.
Advantage: Faster time-to-market with a clear view of financial impact and governance. - Sales – Integrated sales and finance planning enables accurate forecasting of loan volumes, deposits and cross-sell performance. Scenario modelling helps align targets to market shifts and funding constraints.
Advantage: Smarter, data-driven sales strategies that balance growth with margin and capital efficiency. - Delivery – Operational planning connects front-office demand with back-office capacity, workforce allocation and digital infrastructure. Teams can simulate resource needs, cost impacts and process bottlenecks before they occur.
Advantage: Improved efficiency and service delivery with lower operational risk. - Customer service – Linking financial, customer and operational data allows banks to forecast service workloads, manage branch or digital channel performance and maintain service-level compliance.
Advantage: Consistent customer experience and reduced cost-to-serve. - Governance – Transparent, connected planning across Finance, Risk, Compliance and IT provides an enterprise-wide view of performance. Automated workflows support audit readiness, regulatory submissions and ESG disclosures.
Advantage: Stronger governance, assured data integrity and faster, more reliable reporting.
By connecting planning across all domains of their operations, financial institutions gain the agility to plan continuously, act confidently and align every part of the business around shared goals.
Joining the dots for clarity in banking planning
The Zooss team is experienced in helping financial institutions to bring clarity and control to complex planning environments through the power of data analytics and Connected Planning.
“Our approach is built on strong data foundations and practical design,” explains Steve Bows, Managing Director, Zooss.
“We help organisations to streamline their data flows across finance, risk and product systems to create a trusted, governed platform. From there, we assist them to develop scalable, transparent planning models that allow banks to model scenarios, forecast with confidence and maintain full auditability.”
The outcomes: stronger control, sharper foresight, sustainable growth
This approach has been proven at scale – from helping one Big 4 bank automate over 800 manual inputs in its external reporting and strengthen governance, to supporting another in building a modern, governed data platform connecting more than 30 product systems.
Banks working with Zooss are realising tangible benefits from Connected Planning, including:
- Significant reductions in manual reporting work, enabling finance teams to focus on strategic analysis
- Improved accuracy, transparency and auditability through end-to-end data lineage
- Faster scenario modelling, allowing leadership teams to respond quickly to changes in interest rates, capital requirements or customer behaviour
- More resilient and sustainable growth, built on trusted data and integrated insights
The result is a planning capability that delivers stronger control, sharper foresight and the agility to keep pace with change.
Uniting people, data and decisions
The banking sector’s next competitive advantage will come from Connected Planning that unites people, data and decisions. Zooss helps financial institutions achieve that transformation – connecting financial performance to purpose, and growth to governance.
Find out more
- Sustainable Business Planning – Our solutions
- Anaplan Partner delivering better planning for businesses in Australia & NZ
- Worldwide reach, local expertise: Global Anaplan Implementation Network
- Ready to start planning sustainably? Contact us.
Better Planning. Better Planet.