How a chosen information system/s is used by NatWest - Essay Example

They have only been maintaining such systems without upgrading. A time has now come when banks, just like any businesses, have to embrace digitisation or risk losing to their competitors who have adopted such technologies. IT has become the bank nowadays, and not just a commodity you can pass to another firm. Since many customers only interact with their bank via technology, it has become core to banks’ operations. Even though some senior business management think IT is a complex and expensive thing that is not affordable in the ideal world, change is inevitable.

The technology has opened the ways for start-ups to get in the banking business and erode the market share for the big banks. The new technology of mobile banking has increased the need for more secure and all-inclusive mobile systems. Nationwide banks such as NatWest tend to renew their systems now and then, especially after periods of system failure (Ukai, 2005, p.154). NatWest was acquired by RBS in 2000, but has failed to satisfy its customers as far as mobile banking is concerned. Their information system faces serious challenges that need to be addressed if they are to remain relevant in the market.

It seems that they are giving consumers the impression that their banking systems are up-to-date and fit for purpose in the internet and smartphone world. In the real sense, a lot remains to be done. Nat West forms on of the largest banks in the UK. The bank is a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The bank aims at providing a comprehensive range of banking services and related products to the personal market. It is one of the four largest clearing banks in the UK, having a network of more than 1,600 branches and 3,400 cash machines.

The bank has made use of e-strategy and adopted e-technologies in its operations of cash machines, e-savings and online banking. Through the use of the e-strategies that were introduced in line with its other competitors, it has provided