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Magali De Reu
Magali De Reu

Storyteller & interviewer

The KBC Developer Portal, as its name implies, is a portal through which merchants (developers) can provide the bank’s own services as part of a seamless offering to their clients. It has already established itself as a huge added value and a frontrunner in this area. But to stay ahead of the game and continue to grow along the right path, input from independent external specialists and Agencies in the Developer Portal’s Expert Board is of paramount importance. Time to find out what Jonathan Dupont, member of the Expert Board and co-founder of brand activation agency, Engaged, has to say about it.

It takes two to tango

Jonathan Dupont is technical director and co-founder of agency Engaged. “We work for clients with anything related to digital, primarily digital activation. KBC is one of our clients, and we try to give their abstract—and sometimes dry—material a slightly more fun angle. As an example, for their insurance products, we organized a special game for Friday the 13th of November. My role is ultimately to be as innovative as possible in the field of technology”.

Dupont is both an entrepreneur and a techie, which are the Developer Portal’s two target groups. His input, therefore, is indispensable in the Expert Board. “We mustn’t forget that the Developer Portal has to be appealing to developers too,” he says. “It takes two to tango”. “With my technical hat on, I have critically evaluated whether the site content is relevant and whether the APIs and integrations are easy. With my entrepreneur hat on, I have another point-of-view: making sure the content isn’t too technical. It’s a constant balancing act”.

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Keeping a competitive edge

It is very rare, according to Dupont, to see a Developer Portal that’s so accessible to both target groups. “In other cases, it’s usually either-or”, he says. “These portals often only focus on APIs too, whereas KBC also offers widgets and QR codes. That is important to attract the less technically inclined businesses and for keeping a competitive edge. Then, the sky’s the limit!”

Another facet where KBC makes a difference is low-threshold accessibility. Dupont considers this a must. “The fact that businesses can plug in to a bank’s services is relatively novel in Belgium”, he says. “It is good that KBC has thought this through and carefully set out business use cases. The result is that the widgets that already exist have a simple user-interface, which brings these services within the reach of all”.

Engaged sees itself including the KBC’s API services in its offering to clients. “In terms of digital branding activation, I could see opportunities here for our clients in the short term”.

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To infinity and beyond

Although Dupont is already a fan of the current set-up, he is equally as enthusiastic about the future. “KBC has made a good head start”, he believes. “They have the APIs on the one side but equally, the Developer Portal really works as a distribution channel. I can see plenty of opportunities in the mobility sector. In fact, the possibilities could reach to infinity and beyond”.

“The one who stands to benefit the most is, of course, the consumer. APIs take friction away, and mean that consumers need to go through fewer steps to get what they want. The momentum is centralized, which makes for faster decisions. This has a knock-on effect on conversions. There will naturally be a transitional period for consumers to fully adopt this new way of working. However, the Coronacrisis has already had a hand in hugely accelerating digital services. It is down to organizations like KBC to ride that wave”.

Want to know more? Or would you like to become a partner yourself? Check the Developer Portal integration options here.

 

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