Designing Enterprise Software in a Bot-First Banking Environment

Target

NORD/LB is looking for well-reasoned approaches & expertise to understand and shape how internal enterprise interaction should evolve in a bot-first environment. The bank sees multiple viable paths to achieve this and explicitly welcomes complementary perspectives — ranging from strategic interaction models and experience concepts to platform- and technology-driven approaches. Across all contributions the foundation should be an analysis of how chat-based interfaces, bots and classical enterprise systems should interact and be orchestrated in a regulated banking environment.

Tracks

Applicants are asked to select one primary track that best reflects how they can add value:

1 Strategic Interaction Frameworks: providing strategic perspectives, frameworks and decision logic on how internal enterprise interaction should evolve in a bot-first reality. Typical inputs may include:

• trend analyses on bot-first interaction, unified interfaces and enterprise AI
• benchmarking of how other enterprises approach internal interaction today
• strategic frameworks or decision models (e.g. when to use chat vs. UI)
• clear recommendations on what to pursue — and what to avoid as a regulated bank

2 Interaction & Experience Models: proposing concrete interaction and experience models that describe how employees could work with chat-based interfaces, bots and classical enterprise software in a coherent and intuitive way. Typical inputs may include:

• interaction or experience models illustrating the interplay of chat, bots and UI
• principles for usability, trust, transparency and user control
• conceptual user journeys or interaction patterns (no UI design required)
• experience-driven assumptions and hypotheses to be validated

3 Enterprise Interaction Platforms & Layers: presenting platform, layer or system-based approaches that connect chat, bots and enterprise applications, potentially building on existing products or solutions while focusing on integration logic, scalability and governance. Typical inputs may include:

• platform or interaction-layer concepts based on existing solutions or products
• architectural approaches for integrating chat, bots and enterprise systems
• perspectives on modularity, governance and low-/no-code enablement
• lessons learned from real-world implementations and constraints

A fully functioning or production-ready concept or solution is not required. Existing technologies & tools may be used, as long as the approach can be adapted to NORD/LB’s regulated enterprise context.

Solution Requirements

Must-have: A valid submission must include:

• a concise and tangible output that makes the approach discussable & actionable (e.g. a framework, model, interaction pattern, reference architecture or decision logic)
• a transparent explanation of the underlying assumptions and logic behind the proposed approach (analysis-part)
• a clear description of how the approach relates to internal enterprise interaction (chat, bots, UI, systems)
• a consideration for existing technical, organizational and regulatory frameworks at NORD/LB (see tab Problem Space), including established enterprise platforms and widely adopted assistant systems that already act as primary user entry points (e.g. Microsoft Copilot).

Nice-to-have: These elements strengthen a submission but are not required:

• references to real-world examples, benchmarks or implementations
• perspectives on scalability, governance or organisational implications
• reflections on how low-/no-code enablement could be balanced with enterprise control
• visual or conceptual artefacts (e.g. diagrams, sketches, simplified models)

Not in scope: To avoid misalignment, the following are explicitly out of scope:

• pure tool or product pitches without conceptual or architectural reflection
• customer-facing use cases or end-customer software
• generic AI, chatbot or UX concepts without a clear enterprise interaction focus
• isolated automation or efficiency use cases without interaction relevance

Partner Requirements

NORD/LB welcomes contributions from a broad range of partners, including strategy and research teams, specialised consultancies, startups, scale-ups and technology providers.

Different organisational sizes and maturity levels are explicitly welcome. Partners should bring:

• experience with complex enterprise environments or regulated industries
• the ability to work conceptually and explain assumptions and trade-offs
• willingness to engage in a collaborative and iterative process
• openness to adapt their perspective or approach to NORD/LB’s specific context
• compliance with applicable EU data protection (DSGVO) and ethical standards