Digital Transformation in Banking: Why It's Time
It’s no surprise that digital transformation is sweeping through the banking industry, but most traditional financial institutions are still behind the curve. Banks have been a pillar in many people's lives- consistent in their operations, consistent in their service, but moving in slow motion even as the world (and more specifically technology) seems to rush them by. Following the success of FinTech have come changes in consumer expectations when it comes to banking.
What are FinTech’s offering that banks aren’t?
FinTechs are offering their users simple ways to interact with money, with little-to-no human contact. These easily accessible interactions can be done from anywhere, and are still secure. To stay competitive, banks need to start investing in technology that can impact their customer service experiences. Apps like Venmo, Coinbase, and Cash App are changing the way society views and interacts with money, influencing consumer expectations. Staying at the forefront of digital transformation is central to finding long-term success.
How can banks stay at the forefront of digital transformation?
Like mentioned above, banks of any size need to consider updating their technologies to stay in the game. Proactive and quick interactions are more central to the growing market’s expectations of an awesome bank - and attaining customers is only possible through the adoption and investment in growing digital channels and transformations.
Millenials and Gen Z are reinventing the banking industry.
It’s no secret that it's time for banks to rise to the challenge of engaging younger consumers through innovative new technologies. Let’s take a deep dive into Kayleigh’s story, so we can better understand what this younger generation expects.
Meet Kayleigh.
Almost a year ago, Kayleigh landed her first full-time job out of college here at NeuraFlash and was looking forward to joining fellow millennials on the journey from college graduate to young professional. After graduation, she knew there were a lot of financial decisions she had to make. A lot of her time is spent not only thinking about paying off student loans and paying for rent or groceries, but thinking about longer-term financial goals and needs: travel, purchasing a house, etc.
Kayleigh needs guidance as she makes important financial decisions, but who is she likely to go to for advice? The first place she goes to for money advice is not the bank. In fact, she can’t even remember the last time she walked into a brick and mortar bank, now that she can do it all from her phone and their support is slow. Now don’t get me wrong, Kayleigh does rely on her bank still, but more for the day-to-day services they provide, like the direct-deposit where her bi-weekly paycheck goes. Does her bank truly understand the needs, perspectives, and motivations of newly employed millennials like herself? How can banks better support Kayleigh’s everyday financial needs?
The last thing Kayleigh ever wants to do is get on the phone, or even worse, find a physical bank. In fact, she recently canceled a card because she had to call the bank every month to pay her bill. To Kayleigh, FinTech may be riskier, but its benefits outweigh the risks. They are agile, accessible and convenient. Since recently canceling her card with her bank, Kayleigh’s found other options where she can remotely open an account from her phone and jump on a chat for a quick consultation, saving her time and money.
So, how can banks win?
Experiences and convenience!
FinTechs have grown due to their focus on user experience, which is where banks have fallen behind. Convenience is no longer defined by the location of ATM’s - the need for cash is being replaced with applications. It’s about the easy service and guidance banks provide that applications can’t. That’s how they win. Digital transformations in baking are central to customer loyalty and retention. Transformations take time, money, and effort to build a truly great solution that can continue to scale, and that’s where NeuraFlash can help!
Here are 5 Tips for your Banking Digital Transformation
- Understand your end goal and how you can measure those results
As a bank, what is the end goal for you? It is to provide a better customer experience, or a simpler agent experience to alleviate employee stress due to high volume? Once you know the reasoning behind your transition, it is important to know how you will measure success. Setting clear KPIs at the beginning of your journey (even though you can continue to adjust later) is central to a successful transformation!
- Consider your entire business
Considering each stakeholder and current processes in place, and comparing that to the future state that you want, is essential to mapping out long-term success. By identifying those that will be impacted, helps set a strong foundation for a project that not only is successful the first time around, but is scalable and will get you the results you expect.
- Cater to the customer journey
It’s essential to take the time to understand your customer's needs: their current state, frustrations, and how evolving your business will impact them. How do they need support? Where do they need support? This ensures that your team is focusing on, and prioritizing, the right changes by investing in high-impact areas of your business.
- Invest in strong and effective automation
The key to an out-of-this-world customer experience is to prioritize the customer’s convenience wherever possible, and that can happen with Automation. Chatbots and Voice Solutions are key components of any transformation, from expediting the new customer onboarding process to making it easy for customers to get answers to pressing questions without having to wait for a response. Using technology leads to fewer mistakes, higher quality service, and faster service in a shorter amount of time.
- Manage the change
A full digital transformation is more than just a change for your customers, it means internal processes will have to change as well. Adoption is key to the success of any digital transformation, and there are many proven ways to help your people adopt large technology changes like this. Investing in a partner who has change experts to help with large transitions is extremely important, considering change is not something that should be taken lightly!
Ready to get started?
Here at NeuraFlash, we have 20+ years of experience in the baking industry and are one of the only Partners in the ecosystem with expertise in telephony (a central part of a full turn-key contact center transformation) with both Salesforce and Amazon. If you want to learn how your banking organization can better understand the financial needs of newly employed millennials, let’s connect!
