Sunday, 14 April 2013

Future Trends



Branches
Dissenting with many forecasts, there will still be branches, because people want to see who copes with their money, it is a matter of trust. But the branches will change.
New fresh bank counter design will provide an open and trustful image of future banks. Generally the branches will look more inviting and more open to the customers. There will most probably be fewer branches and smaller ones with less staff. New technology will be provided inside. It might be possible 24/7 to get face to face assistance via monitor and teleconference. Many services can be done by the customer himself within the branch on special counters.
Further also smaller developments have to be stressed, like new design for ATMs which increases privacy.


Do-it-yourself
It is estimated, that the customer can do 90% of banking services on his own. So why not encourage the customer to do so and through this make banking faster as well as save costs?
Future branches might therefore rather resemble check-in counters at airports, where the customers can do their banking business on their own. There will only be a few people assisting these actions in case of questions or insecurities.
The most opportunities for do-it-yourself banking most probably offers online banking. It is accessible every day and during all times of the day. Further you can reach it from your home via computer or mobile phone app. These online services will be further redesigned to make it even easier in the future to do your business from the place you are at the moment. Along with online and do-it-yourself services comes mobile banking and customization.
Mobile banking
Mobile banking via the internet is definitely still a trend and a growing market. It allows the customer to transfer money from every place he is. It paves the way to 24/7 omniscient service, which also means 24/7 possibility to make business and spend money, possibly increasing spending.
Furthermore mobilization also concerns the field of assistance. The customer will connect his device to the bank and get assistance via teleconference or video conference directly on his mobile device or PC. This advantage makes assistance faster, accessible from everywhere and every time. No longer the customer has to go to the branch and queue or make an appointment if a problem appears, he gets help instantly.
Customization
A trend for the future is surely also customization. User interface will be tailored to the customer´s needs in order to make access faster, easier and more efficient. This might also reach new customer strata who are not using online services by today. The advantages of the digital age, offering much data to analyze your customer gives the company many opportunities to customize services, offers and profiles.
There will be new ways to perform research on customization. Demographics will no longer play such an important role, the trend will shift to psychographics. Nowadays many offers are tailored to life-stage banking but more efficient might be lifestyle banking guided by the customers´ attitude, values and beliefs.


Cooperation turns to co-creation
Cooperation is still essential in the future. But even more crucial is creating new services and offers. In an interconnected world this will more often only be possible in cooperation. Banks, retailers, technologists and telecommunication providers will cooperate to co-create new trends. A focus should be especially put on the cooperation between banks and telecommunication providers. Banks have the knowledge, experience and licenses for the money business while the telecommunication branch provides leading-edge possibilities to reach customers as well as an overall network and infrastructure to offer services everywhere.
Cooperation can also be regarded under the fact that people no longer strive for owning things as long as they can still use them. Car-sharing schemes or internet services like Spotify are an indicator for this trend. This might inspire some new co-creations.


Digitalization
Digitalization can be as well a blessing as a curse. Firstly it opens up new opportunities to offer services to customers and make banking mobile and therefore everywhere accessible. Secondly it provides the opportunity to gather more information in an easier way, which allows the company to tailor its services and marketing better to the demands of the specific customer.
However, digitalization and major shifts triggered by it in the market of financial services also changes the environment. New competitors in this field might appear, like for example Google. The company recently started the Google Wallet service and payment services are one of the three top priorities for Google in the future. There are already real life examples how digitalization can change whole markets and the structure in it. Apple is nowadays the world´s largest music retailer with its iTunes online store, totally disrupting the market with its initial actors.
Digitalization also means "Bye Bye" paper, which has the advantage that many tons of it will be saved, decreasing costs and having a positive effect on the environment.


Sources


Matthäus

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