Developing customer-facing applications requires a different set of skills and requires businesses to rethink the end-to-end customer experience. Give developers modern development tools, let them get closer to customers so they can find out what customers want, and allow them to become creative problem solvers. Empower developers with greater freedom and autonomy, but most of all: Seek their input and listen to their ideas.
New fintech startups already operate this way. At one challenger bank in the U.K., developers found out the CEO was traveling to continental Europe and came up with a new feature to use GPS data to find out where the customer is, give them the option to pay in local currency, and tell them where bank branches and ATMs are located. All their developers had to do was tie together data that already existed and surface it to the customer in an app. This is just one example of what can happen when you unleash developers’ creativity.
Fintechs and challenger banks are small, nimble and tech-centric. However, incumbents have strong reputations, customer trust and loyalty built over many decades. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but creating seamless user experiences makes for a powerful combination and creates a sustainable competitive advantage, regardless of your business size.
For years, many banks treated online banking as an afterthought. A website and a mobile app were necessities, but creating a digital channel that could fully service customers was not a priority. When COVID-19 struck, customers fully switched to online banking -- and most are never going back. Digital banking is no longer just another channel. From now on, digital will be the default.
The banking industry will undergo more change in the next few years than it has in the past few decades. With COVID-19’s rapid digital transformation breaking down barriers to innovation—such as executive buy-in, lack of engineering support and reluctance to replace legacy software—the future of finance is being defined right now. Organizations that seize this opportunity can gain tremendous competitive advantage.
The good news is that SaaS-based applications, cloud technology and API development make it possible to deliver online experiences that are more feature-rich with an intuitive approach than what banks have been able to deliver in the past. Now, banks can create true omnichannel offerings that allow them to connect with customers over the channel of their choosing. Organizations are looking to leverage SMS/texts, voice and video to deliver high touch experiences with high tech. Moreover, banks can now offer additional self-service capabilities that help customers access the information they are looking for on demand and around the clock.
It may seem paradoxical to look to digital solutions to regain personal connections, but when used correctly, technology makes businesses feel human again. For example, a text can also allow a client to request a voice and/or video connection. Say you want to walk through account setup with your relationship banker or wealth advisor. They can text you a link that pulls up a secure video chat. From there, the bank employee can share their screen and walk you through setup just like they would do in person. The whole process gets recorded, transcribed, archived and securely integrated. Better yet, all of it is personal, digital and simple.
A fully digital experience is not a theoretical future vision. All of the technology exists today and is relatively easy to adopt. The first step involves adopting a new way of thinking. When banks first invested in technology, they thought about back-end systems, focusing on automation and efficiency. Now, businesses must focus on the customer-facing side of the business, embracing technology as a potential profit center and a source of growth, instead of as a cost center.
As banks look to grow the top line by attracting and retaining new customers, it becomes critical to build integrated, front- to back-end digital workflows. Great online experiences attract millennials and Gen Z customers. Another opportunity involves creating new services for people who are currently unbanked and underbanked.
