Javelin Strategy & Research Announces Winners of 2021 Digital Banking Platform Vendor Scorecard

By: Javelin Strategy & Research via Business Wire

December 02, 2021 at 09:10 AM EST

Backbase emerges as Best in Class winner. Apiture and Q2 also earn top honors as Overall Leaders.

Javelin Strategy & Research announced that the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform has been named Best in Class in the 2021 Digital Banking Platform Vendor Scorecard. The in-depth analysis delves into the myriad choices available to financial institutions among platform providers and helps them select the best combination of features and support to deliver a more personalized and engaging digital banking experience.

Eleven vendors were evaluated on over 260 criteria across three essential pillars of digital banking platforms: Functionality, Experience & Engagement, and Development & Delivery.

Backbase topped the scorecard and earned “Best in Class” honors with its solution that enables a high level of customization by its banking clients. While not a classic “plug-and-play” solution, the Backbase platform anticipates the overwhelming majority of consumers’ retail banking needs and provides pre-configured flows that can be mixed, matched, and combined to deliver a unique experience for each bank.

Apiture, based in Wilmington, N.C., is a powerful newcomer in the space and ranks second overall on the Javelin scorecard. Apiture’s Xpress platform tightly integrates account and transactional data to provide consumers with forward-looking advice and actionable account insight.

The other overall leader on the scorecard, Austin, Texas-based Q2, excels through a strong focus on customer experience. Q2 considers design and experience reviews as integral parts of its delivery, and its extensive messaging and targeting tools provide an optimal platform for engagement.

Jacksonville, FL-based FIS was the only vendor outside the top three overall winners to be named a category leader. FIS posted the top score in the Development & Delivery category, reflecting its comprehensive support infrastructure and a well-developed API program and marketplace.

Other vendors evaluated in the scorecard included Alogent, Alkami, CSI, Finastra, Fiserv, Jack Henry, and NCR.

“Smaller financial institutions require a platform that is mature across all three categories of the Scorecard,” explains Emmett Higdon, Director of Digital Banking at Javelin Strategy & Research and the author of the report. “To remain competitive, functional parity alone is not enough. FIs need a platform that integrates customer data with marketing and messaging tools to target and engage the next generation of digital consumers.”

In addition to identifying and evaluating the top features of digital banking platforms, Javelin’s scorecard contains detailed write-ups on the platform providers, highlighting strengths and weaknesses for each, and calling out common gaps among the group. Furthermore, the report provides strategic recommendations for banks looking to accelerate their digital transformation, with a particular eye for the challenges faced by smaller institutions in competing with national banks and large digital banking organizations.

More information on the scorecard report and ranking can be found HERE.

About Javelin

Javelin Strategy & Research, part of the Escalent family, helps its clients make informed decisions in a digital financial world. It provides strategic insights to financial institutions including banks, credit unions, brokerages and insurers, as well as payments companies, technology providers, fintechs, and government agencies. Javelin’s independent insights result from a rigorous research process that assesses consumers, businesses, providers, and the transactions ecosystem. It conducts in-depth primary research studies to pinpoint dynamic risks and opportunities in digital banking, payments, fraud & security, lending, and wealth management. For more information, visit https://www.javelinstrategy.com. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.