“Snappy, funny and painfully true. This is both user manual and emotional support for anyone stuck in the messy reality of core modernisation” – Dr Leda Glyptis, Author of Bankers Like Us and Beyond Resilience
Rip Out the Core started as a collection of ideas that had been knocking around in my head for a few years. The first real foundation was, of course, the dishwasher disaster. Because apparently nothing says “banking transformation” quite like a flooded kitchen.
Leda has been a close and good friend for some time, and when I first shared the idea for the book with her, she did not respond with polite encouragement or vague interest. She was direct, firm, and wonderfully Leda about it.
“You must do this, Pål.”
That was the nudge I needed.
With her support and encouragement, I started the process properly. Eighteen months later, Rip Out the Core is close to being published.
When the final draft was ready, I shared it with Leda for feedback. What came back was generous, thoughtful, and deeply meaningful to me.
She also gave me her blessing to use it as the foreword to the book.
So, what did she say?
If you read the acknowledgments and/or already know us in real life, you know that Pål and I share a couple of things.
A slightly quirky sense of humour (we think we are funny, that’s all that matters).
A deep fascination with and long tenure in core transformation.
And, now, a publisher.
And although I can take very little credit for how good this book is, I can take a little bit of credit for the fact that the book… is… because in the very early days when the idea can go either way… right time, right place and a conversation led to the introduction to the publisher and the rest is, as they say, history.
But not before I had the exact same conversation… first with Pål and then with our publisher: is this topic too niche?
Most ‘real life’ people don’t know what ‘core transformation’ means and they may come to the volume hoping it’s a new ab workout.
Most business folks, most bankers, would be hard pressed to name what their core is, inside their bank. Who their provider is, what the architectural choices may be.
And yet, every business folk makes decisions on the basis of that core system’s limitations… every banker (whether they realise it or not) has been conditioned by years of committees saying no and quarter after quarter of proposals being rejected or reframed to work around certain… givens… certain constraints… certain sacred cows.
And those cows?
Your core estate.
The thing that is literally at the core of your bank. Doing stuff that is not exciting or differentiating but without which you don’t have a bank.
So it is… core.
It is important.
And although it has not historically been an area of widely-held knowledge, that is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Because the world is shifting, banks keep failing in their transformation efforts and the reasons for the failures as well as the answers for what is needed for the future are invariably found (at least partly) in the core banking infrastructure that each bank carries.
Transforming that technology estate is hard work.
It often fails.
And no decision-maker in their right mind would choose to transform their core.
And yet, no business leader in their right mind would choose to take on the future with legacy problems and residual operational risk literally at the heart of their business.
These are not easy decisions.
And even after the hard decisions have been made, these are not easy projects.
Help is needed but, thankfully, help is at hand.
This book is part user manual for those engaging on the journey and wanting to genuinely learn from the successes and errors of the past… and part self-help book for those who are navigating the journey ok but would like to feel less alone in the process occasionally.
It is snappy. It is funny. It is… true.
And in its truth, I hope, it will support and sustain those doing the work. And hopefully also inspire those still sitting on the fence.
Because core modernisation is a scary choice.
But a necessary one.
So read this book if you are about to start the journey. Read this book if you are on the journey and definitely read this book if you need that final push to get on the journey.
