Change is the only constant today. What we’ve observed over the last few years is industries being shaken and reshaped by implementing various digital transformation strategies, customer relationships and experiences changed by disruptive technologies everyone’s talking about. In a banking, we’re witnessing another revolution in payments. China is confidently moving to become a cashless society. Already today AliPay and WeChat Pay are ranking as the top two preferred online payment methods in China. WeChat’s QR code or quick response scan or AliPay’s “pay with a smile” payment options at retail locations are making not only cash payments but traditional credit card transactions seem prehistoric. And in order to keep up with their customers, banks need to take note and get to grips with the latest tech trends. Below we took a detailed look at some of the most promising banking technology trends and tried to uncover how banks can make the most of them.
Experience Banking the New Way with AR/VR
Today it seems like AR and VR are at the forefront of customer experiences across all industries and banking is no exception of mobile technology trends.
Some of the banks are already in on a trend. Like National Bank of Oman that uses AR to help their customers locate the nearest ATM or find some offers and deals while shopping in a mall or down any street in Oman. In the meantime, BNP Paribas offers their clients VR experience that allows them to virtually access account activity and transaction records, or walk users through various and complex steps of a real estate purchase in virtual reality mode.
In 2019 Extended Reality (XR) that includes Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) is one of the most promising technology trends in banking. According to this year’s survey, 45% of tech-savvy consumers want their banks to present new ways of communicating, like wearables or virtual reality. At the same time, 80 % of respondents believe it’s important to be a pioneer in XR solutions.
AI as a Co-Worker
Artificial Intelligence is probably the most popular tech trend to be discussed in the banking industry and other financial sectors. It has been making headlines and stirring debates about its potential to cut countless jobs. Indeed, countless companies have been guilty of making shocking predictions about the number of its employees to be replaced by AI. Deutsche Bank chief executive went as far as to predict that half of the bank’s 98,000 staff will be replaced with robots.
Whether any of these predictions are anywhere near the reality only time will show. But today AI has made a very prominent place for itself in the banking industry.Chatbots and virtual assistants aside, banks can use customer profiling and algorithmic sorting to provide customized communications and decisions based on detailed customer profiles. ML & AI software solutions can also streamline processes and be entrusted with some decision-making provided it has complete knowledge of regulations and laws.
Design Thinking to Understand What Customers Need
One of the latest trends in banking technology is Design Thinking. With numerous fintech startups popping each year, the banking industry has little choice but to adapt to the new startup culture and start thinking like one. That’s where Design Thinking can help.
Having little to do with only aesthetics, its focus is more on how the product works, helps customers and solves their problems. Design Thinking achieves its objectives by applying design principles to the way people interact with the world. The process involves trying to understand a customer’s behavior, a way of thinking and behaving (empathy) in order to get to the bottom of their problem and see if there’s a common issue among numerous users (definition). It allows total freedom for brainstorming (ideation) to see through feedback on your prototypes to see which of the crazy ideas work and which don’t (prototyping) and finally verify your assumptions with real people (testing).
Data Veracity Is as Valuable as Ever
Big Data means big responsibility. The more businesses become data-driven, the more valuable it becomes for information to be accurate and untempered. It may compromise the decisions companies make or insights they rely on.
For the banking industry, where banks have traditionally possessed large amounts of important and confidential information about their clients, partners, services, data security is especially important.This means, that if banks want to build long-term, strong relationships with their clients, they require a level of trust. Some of this trust can be achieved through regulations like GDPR. But in order to truly succeed, gain their customers’ trust and respect, banks will have to go further and strengthen cybersecurity, involve technologies like blockchain to enhance transactional banking.
Blockchain to Change Legacy Banking
This wouldn’t have been a real business technology trends overview without the most talked about, in the banking sector included, technology.
Blockchain has been stirring innovation across various industries and banking is no exception. Nine out of ten banking executives say that their bank is currently exploring blockchain use. Blockchain allows to track every transaction and provides accurate information from any point in the network. When fully adopted by banks, it will allow sufficiently quicker and accurate payment processing at the same time reducing its cost. And as the technology further develops and matures, it has the prospect to replace banks’ legacy systems in the future cost-effectively.
Today’s banking technology trends show us that banks need to master how to best apply disruptive tech into their strategy in order to meet the growing need of their tech-savvy customers. Ultimately it’s the matter of winners who will learn to lead and adapt to new technologies and losers who will fail to digitally transform their institutions.
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