Challenges Banks Face Before Moving to a Touch-based Banking Technology Application
Banks and other financial services that are still holding dear to the traditional ways face myriad of problems when trying to capture new and young customers.
As a consequence of the rapid evolution of home and mobile banking, paired with the emergence of digital banks, the number of daily transactions taking place in conventional bank branches decreased substantially in recent years. With that being said, bank branches still hold an important spot in banks’ strategy and, at the same time, on the balance sheet – due to substantial real estate and staffing costs.
Young customers tend to have higher expectations for technological prowess and level of digital banking integration displayed by the companies they choose to interact with. However, the way the banking technology is deployed better add value to the customer’s experience or it will have the reverse effect. Big bright displays inside a branch can be visually impressive but, if that’s all they do, their true potential is being wasted. The impact of such displays can be multiplied if there is a chance for interaction through touch helping the customers move towards the answer to the problem that originated the visit.
The onboarding process is a pivotal point during the acquisition of new customers and it creates a long-lasting impression. That impression, good or bad, has a rippling effect through the customers’ family, friends, and even business partners. Every bank knows the saying “time is of the essence,” and it’s clear that those who decide not to use technology to streamline the onboarding process, show a lack of respect for customers’ time, which is often considered an asset more valuable than money itself. Hand-written forms that require the teller to transcribe the information into the system, drawn-out verifications of documents and signatures still plague the banking industry, but they are no longer viable.
A by-product of this outdated approach to banking is the massive trail of paper it leaves behind. An enormous amount of paper that is also inconvenient for the customer that needs to handle and keep copies of everything.
The world today is a digital place where people are online at all times, clicking away on screens of various sizes, even at school with the adoption of interactive learning. One way or another, banks have an online presence where commonly a customer learns about products and campaigns for the first time. Walking into a bank branch with no interactive banking technology creates an acute disconnection between online and offline experiences and humans are not programmed to be fond of inconsistency.
Required Levels of Integration for a Successful Interactive Banking Experience
Multiple fully-digital banks are gaining popularity, entire countries are adopting cashless payment systems, and more customers understand that money has been reduced to 1s and 0s. It makes sense that all financial institutions set in place an ever-evolving digital banking strategy or prepare to face the consequences of a heavily connected era.
Following the rationale presented above, the customer journey often starts on a website or a social media platform. That’s the top level of a digital banking strategy for any bank, so it deserves a great deal of attention to make sure customers want to go down the funnel and start using the bank’s services.
The next component is having a responsive home banking platform paired with a robust mobile app. These are the two places most customers will use for budget management, daily operations, and simple transactions. It’s hard to retain young customers without honing down these two aspects. Considering that an overwhelming percentage of the internet traffic today comes from mobile devices, which essentially is as a touch screen with almost limitless capabilities, how come banks still don’t have touch-screens inside their branches? The familiarity of touch-screen displays helps the customers feel at ease when visiting a physical location.
If everything is executed correctly on the top level, customers should only feel the necessity of visiting a bank branch with complex questions or when it’s time to look for more advanced solutions that require counseling or expert guidance. On stepping foot inside the branch, customers should have the chance to interact with a touch-screen display, quickly selecting the appropriate department for their current situation. In case there’s the chance to go a step further and use this interactive screen to communicate “who,” “what,” “when,” plus anything else that proves valuable to smooth out the process that will be very much appreciated and noticed by all customers.
When it’s time to sit down with the teller, go through contract details, and sign the dotted lines, an interactive banking experience should include a tablet. The multitude of functions it allows, include drawing and making annotations to explain or point out the most critical areas, sign and save agreements and exploit the added security layer of biometric data as well as sealing documents and automatic email a copy to customers’ div.
Depending on the location and size of the branch, it might make sense to add the extra level of interactivity by allowing customers to have a live conversation through the screen with a specialized bank teller working from a central location.
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Source: ViewSonic
