Arun Jain, the Chairman & Managing Director of Intellect Design Arena spoke to FF News about how First Principles Thinking and Design Thinking are revolutionizing financial technology.
By breaking down complex problems to their core and focusing on customer needs, Mr. Jain discusses how Intellect has developed eMACH.ai—a platform transforming financial institutions from product-centric thinking to customer-centric ecosystems.
Watch now to find out how banks can step into the future.
First Principles Thinking and its Importance in Technology Development
First Principles Thinking is a problem-solving approach that involves breaking down complex problems into their most basic elements and building up solutions from there. Mr Jain contrasts this with management thinking, which focuses on resource maximization and optimization. In the context of design thinking, which emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes understanding unmet needs to create opportunities, First Principles Thinking involves questioning fundamental assumptions on banking processes and user journeys, in view of the value Banks intend to provide to their end customers. This approach is vital for innovation, as it allows for a deeper understanding of the underlying principles governing a system, leading to more effective and novel solutions.
Mr Jain explains that the evolution of financial technology which has defined banking thus far —from mainframes to cloud computing—has led to an increase in complexity. Design thinking helps simplify this complexity by focusing on the core values and needs of banking systems. By distilling these values, organizing the right thinking spaces, and expanding performance frameworks, technology can more effectively impact business outcomes. This method ensures that technology development aligns with the essential functions and values that customers seek in financial services, thereby creating more intuitive and effective solutions.