The Evolving Approach to Strategic Corporate Foresight at Swiss Bank PostFinance in the Age of Digital Transformation

Abstract

At Swiss bank PostFinance (PF), foresight has been a key driver for strategic discussions and innovation in banking for decades. Today’s approach to foresight, as strategy development, has evolved over the past two decades, with the initial introduction of early warning management in 1998, a new strategy process in 2000, a contemporary foresight framework in 2005/2006 and a future-oriented, foresight embedded digital transformation strategy in 2016/2017. All efforts were or are designed to support PF’s ambition to become a digital powerhouse. PF’s foresight framework today includes all major components from environmental scanning, scenario-building, and action setting based on open conversations from scenario workshops. The key outcomes from corporate foresight are successful strategies via an established foresight framework through socially constructed planning practices, especially the network of future agents/trend scouts, and the foresight continuum which fosters debates and supports flexible decision-making.