让银行业爱上平板的神秘推手

    谈到Fjord和花旗的合作，沃伯格-斯多克非常激动，这是花旗方面首次详细谈论这项合作。 “我们学到很多东西，其中之一是，我们的内部研究和技能并不总能跟上步伐，并及时解决技术难题，”沃伯格-斯多克告诉《财富》杂志（Fortune）。“作为一家喜欢创新的公司，我们学到的一课是，我们需要外部意见来抵消神经反射式的妥协。”由于对iPad应用软件外包项目非常满意，花旗后来又邀请Fjord设计了其Kindle Fire应用软件，成为亚马逊（Amazon）平板电脑上发布的首批金融应用软件之一。这款软件已于上月发布。

    BBVA远程频道和新数字业务全球主管路易斯•乌吉纳在谈到该行与Fjord的关系时，印证了沃伯格-斯多克的很多观点。“在与新设备打交道时，银行必须作出调整，如果在全球范围内拥有11万名雇员，这种调整可能会相当艰难，”乌吉纳一边在电话上热情地说着，一边在马德里街头赶着去吃深夜的晚餐。“大银行在设计应用软件时很难像一家小公司那样行动迅速。”

    乌吉纳和沃伯格-斯多克都对Fjord避开个人电脑或智能手机银行的传统线性表格、开发iPad应用软件的能力给出了很高的评价。过去的数字银行表格是基于传统枯燥的明细账系统，将数值和其他信息列于整整齐齐但又令人困惑的一列列表格中。“我记得过去我们内部设计应用软件时，每个人想到的都是制作一屏有差不多100个信息域的表格，”乌吉纳称。“后来Fjord的设计师说‘这毫无意义！’他们给了我们一个例子，说明如何重新设计我们的应用软件，用屏幕上大大的数字让客户很很快找到我们的呼叫中心号码。”BBVA非常中意Fjord的设计理念，已请Fjord重新设计它的几家实体分支机构。

    2001年，由著名互动广告公司睿域营销（Razorfish）【现已并入阳狮集团（Publicis Groupe）】前创意总监谢柏格森和他在睿域营销的同事马克•柯蒂斯以及迈克•比斯顿共同创立的Fjord正在不断扩张。这点值得一提，因为在本轮经济衰退中顶级设计公司都在缩减人员。七年前，Fjord只有18名员工；如今，其员工总数已是当年的10倍多。Fjord还在快速开设新的办事处；巴黎的第九家办事处很快就将开业。2005-2010年间，Fjord年营收增长超过了10倍，从区区190万欧元（252万美元）增至2,360万欧元（3,142万美元）。公司预计2011-2012年的营收增幅将接近21%。

    Wolberg-Stok is effusive when speaking about the collaboration between Fjord and Citi a partnership that the bank hasn't talked about in detail until now. "One of the things we learned was that our own internal research and skill sets don't always scale in a timely enough manner when tech disruptions take place," Wolberg-Stok told Fortune. "And one thing we learned as a company that likes to innovate is that we need external opinions to counter the typical knee jerk reactions of compromise that come up." Pleased with outsourcing the iPad app, Citi hired Fjord to design its Kindle Fire app, one of the first financial apps released for Amazon's (AMZN) tablet. It was released last month.

    Luis Uguina, Global Head of Remote Channels and New Digital Business at BBVA, echoes many of Wolberg-Stok's opinions regarding the bank's own relationship to Fjord. "When dealing with new devices, a bank has to adapt, and that can be difficult when you have 110,000 employees worldwide," Uguina says, speaking animatedly on a mobile phone while heading to a late-night dinner in Madrid. "It's hard for a big bank to be as fast as a small company can be when designing apps."

    Uguina and Wolberg-Stok both speak highly of Fjord's ability to create iPad apps that eschew the traditional linear format of PC or smart phone banking. Those previous forms of digital banking were based on the traditional -- and boring -- paper ledger system of listing numerical and other information in neat, but confusing, rows. "I remember when we were designing an app with our own business unit. Everyone wanted to make a form with, oh, what seemed like 100 fields of information on the screen," Uguina says. "Then Fjord designers said 'nonsense!' And they gave us an example of how to redesign our apps to quickly point customers to the number of our call center, with large digits on the screen." BBVA was so impressed with Fjord's design philosophies that it has just hired the firm to remake some of its physical branches, too.

    Founded in 2001 by Schybergson, a former creative director at the revered interactive agency Razorfish (now owned by Publicis Groupe(PUBGY)), with Razorfish alums Mark Curtis and Mike Beeston, Fjord is growing. That's notable, given that top design firms are shrinking their staffs in the wake of the Great Recession. Seven years ago, Fjord had a staff of only 18; today, that number is more than ten times that. The company is establishing new offices rapidly; a ninth, in Paris, is just opening its doors. Between 2005 and 2010, annual revenues increased more than tenfold, from a mere 1.9 million euros ($2.52 million) to 23.6 million euros ($31.42 Million). Estimated revenue growth between 2011 and 2012 will be near 21%, according to the company.