Voice banking without voice commands? Welcome to the new #USAA #Alexa #skill. USAA members will now be able to bank via Amazon Alexa, skipping all of the typical command memorization necessary for learning a new skill, thanks to #conversational artificial intelligence built out by AI platform #Clinc, the companies announced today. Rather, USAA members will […]
Bank Innovation
By making the process simple and #online, which hold down prices, CUNA Mutual Group has provided $ 500 million in term #life #insurance in less than a year since the product launched.
Financial Technology
Microsoft’s Bill Gates knows a thing or two about #technology. As part of his foundation’s education work, Gates has also learned a lot about how technology can improve the quality of schools. One of his observations is that “technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important … we will still need to make sure every student has an effective teacher, and every teacher gets the tools and support to be #phenomenal.”
The same is true for banking. #Digital channels now allow most banking transactions to occur online anywhere and at any time—and at a much lower cost than face-to-face interactions in branches. Yet despite #salesforce transgressions at a few retail #banks, a human salesforce remains a critical asset in the fight to attract and retain customers.
Accenture’s recent survey of nearly 33,000 consumers in 18 countries shows that two-thirds still want human interaction in financial services, especially to deal with complaints (68%) and get advice about complex products, such as mortgages (61%). While digital channels can effectively provide information, most are still a long way from providing the type of personalized advice and guidance that converts a complex and often ill-defined customer need into a meaningful action.
Banks that want to compete and win against pure digital players need to #create differentiation and competitive advantage by investing to integrate their human salesforce and digital channels. The right digital tools and training can make #bank sales people trusted problem solvers, brand ambassadors and advisors who can orchestrate the best combination of in-person and online banking.
Apple is recognized for product innovation and design, but it’s also mastered the art of physical retailing, creating spaces where customers can both interact with products and also receive tailored, personal sales advice and on-the-spot problem resolution from engaged and well-trained staff. Those interactions have now become as essential to the Apple brand as the features and functionality of the products they sell, and that is why Apple stores have the highest sales per square foot of any major retailer in the US, including Tiffany’s.
To create a phenomenal, highly productive salesforce, banks need to adopt a markedly different talent strategy that focuses on developing new digital and social traits.
An enthusiastic, friendly and welcoming attitude will still be important, but bank executives we spoke to say that the top two attributes banking employees will need in the future are proficiency with digital technologies and an ability to quickly learn new skills.
To enable this workforce, banks will also need to equip sales people with relevant and simple-to-use digital tools that will help them create truly personalized and multi-channel customer interactions. As the digital customer experience has improved, customers have noticed that branch staff often have less access to information than the customers themselves do on their phones, hence their satisfaction with ‘seamless omni-channel’ banking has been in steep decline over the last couple of years.
To be phenomenal teachers and advisors, bank staff will need to be enabled with not only the latest technology and most up-to-date information, but also use automation to liberate themselves from repetitive back-end tasks, so they can focus on the quality and impact of their interactions with customers. They also need to work within a sales culture that values the quality of interactions and the emotional connection with customers, not just the quantity of sales made. Just as in an Apple store, bank employees need to be committed to evangelizing the digital revolution, while still recognizing the unique value added by human interactions. As technology continues to improve, the number of human interactions will continue to decline, but the value of each human touchpoint to the bank’s brand will continue to increase.
In a world where many bank staff are worried about branch closures and the migration of sales and service to digital channels, the role of leaders is to convince them that they can be phenomenal—and to provide the training, tools and incentives to lead the digital revolution in banking, not be victims of it.
To find out more, read the recent Efma and Accenture report, The banking sales force—now what?, which summarizes the outcomes of three interactive think-tank meetings with senior bank executives.
The post Using digital to create a phenomenal bank salesforce appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.
PayPal’s CEO explains how digital can bring new people into the banking fold and create opportunities for them to spend, save, and make charitable contributions.
McKinsey Insights & Publications
It only takes AI, #chatbots, and #blockchain to make #banking a #social activity. That’s why one soon-to-be bank in London has them all. The goal of #BABB (which stands for Bank Account Based Blockchain) is to make everyone a bank by #using blockchain, but also by applying tools and technologies like machine learning, chatbots, biometrics, […]
Bank Innovation
It’s not just for financial institutions; government agencies can use this digital ledger #technology to protect trusted records and simplify interactions with citizens.
McKinsey Insights & Publications
It’s not just for financial institutions; government agencies can use this digital ledger #technology to protect trusted records and simplify interactions with citizens.
McKinsey Insights & Publications
According to mobile analytics firm Flurry, overall mobile app usage grew 11% year-over-year, with the time spent on mobile business and #finance apps growing 43%. #Gaming apps, meanwhile, experienced a decline in usage—strange for the year that spawned the goliath Pokémon Go—with time-spent down by 4%. According to the data,Read More
Bank Innovation
It took a long time for #Fintech startups to become full #stack regulated #banks. This is happening much faster in #Insurance because Insurance is a stack with three layers and tech centric players understand stack dynamics in their bones and know how to build a sustainable position within a stack.Read More
Bank Innovation
#Half of #banking #customers across the globe are #using the products or services of at least one #FinTech firm1, according to the first #World FinTech #Report (WFTR) from Capgemini and LinkedIn, in collaboration with Efma.
The inaugural report quantifies and tracks customer response to the rise of FinTechs, includes the views of financial services industry executives at both FinTech #firms and traditional financial institutions2, and summarizes how innovation is key in the emerging industry landscape.
In particular, the WFTR found that FinTechs are gaining momentum and mindshare amongst younger, tech-savvy, and affluent customers. Emerging markets led the adoption where over 75% of customers in China and India report using services provided by FinTech firms, followed by the UAE and Hong Kong.
FinTechs have made the greatest inroads in investment management, where 17.4% of customers rely on them solely and another 27.4% use them in addition to their traditional providers. With so many FinTechs specializing in niche services, the WFTR also found that many FinTech customers (46.2%) are using services from more than three FinTech providers.
While FinTech providers continue to have a disruptive market presence, overall customer trust levels in these providers remain low. Only 23.6% of customers say they trust their FinTech provider compared to 36.6% for traditional firms. Customers noted traditional financial institutions still hold some advantage over FinTech providers when it comes to fraud protection, quality of service, and transparency.
“Rising customer expectations for more personalized and advanced digital experiences, advancements in #technology, greater access to venture capital, and lower barriers to entry have created fertile ground for growing FinTechs,” said Penry Price, Vice President, Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn. “FinTechs are largely gaining momentum by meeting needs traditional players have yet to address, but many FinTechs lack the transparency required to earn the trust of their consumer audiences to capitalize on these opportunities.”
Traditional financial institutions continue to face challenges, with less than half (44%) of executives confident in their FinTech strategy. This is not surprising given only about one-third (34.7%) affirmed they have a well-structured or proactive innovation strategy in place that is embedded culturally. The risk-averse nature of traditional firms also makes it difficult for them to create cultures that prioritize innovation, and 40.3% of executives said that theirs is not conducive to innovation.
“Financial services senior executives are seeing FinTechs in a whole new light as they see greater opportunities to collaborate, but are also making significant headways in building more agile, in-house FinTech capabilities.” said Thierry Delaporte, Head of Capgemini’s Global Financial Services Business Unit and Member of the Group Executive Board. “But with the exception of a handful of industry leaders, most firms are struggling to achieve positive results from their innovation initiatives with only 10 percent of executives stating they have been very effective at achieving desired innovation results.”
The WFTR found that traditional firms are increasingly pursuing a wide range of strategies in response to FinTechs. A majority of financial institutions (60%) now view FinTechs as potential partners, but nearly the same percentage (59.2%) are also actively developing their own in-house capabilities. Beyond partnership and in-house development, executives are exploring a full range of models, whether it be Investment in FinTech (38%), partnering with educational institutions (34.3%) or setting up accelerators (29.6%), while a much smaller percentage (18.6%) are acquiring FinTechs.
Traditional firms are in large, part responding to this shift by giving highest priority to investment in technologies which facilitate more streamlined and effective operations, thereby providing better day-to-day customer experiences.
Nearly 90% of executives report they are most focused on implementing big data and analytics, followed by the Internet of Things (IoT) (55.8%), #blockchain (54.7%), robotic process automation (52.3%), and open API technologies (50%). Blockchain technology, which forms the backbone of the popular virtual currency #bitcoin, is increasingly penetrating the financial services industry. It has numerous applications including enhanced transfers of digital assets, identity management, and better management of reward and loyalty solutions.
“Both FinTech and traditional firms still have work to do on delivering a better customer experience,” said Vincent Bastid, Secretary General, Efma. “The arrival of FinTechs has accelerated the improvement of overall customer experience in the industry but it is still not at the level that customers perceive that it should be. It is only a matter of time before BigTech3 companies and players in e-commerce and telecommunications join in to stake their claim to benefit from this industry disruption.”
To help traditional firms overcome their innate resistance to innovation and address current and potential future disruption, the WFTR has defined a four-step framework which will be essential in the face of a growing number of prospective threats to the financial services business.
According to the report, traditional FS firms can unlock innovation by: discovering new technologies, devising ideas and insights into business models, deploying aligned executives to support innovation, and sustaining innovation by improving efficiency and implementing best practices. As the “platformification”4 of the industry continues to gain momentum, it will be more and more imperative that financial institutions take aggressive action to innovate to ensure they are prepared.
The post World FinTech Report 2017: Half of Banking Customers Globally Now Using FinTech Firms appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
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