As consumers now turn increasingly toward digital banking channels, building relationships has grown more complex and dependent upon how the financial institution meets account holder needs as a whole. Consumer emphasis on experiences underscores a growing need for the personal touch in a rapidly escalating digital environment. Often times, consumers’ loyalty is dependent upon positive experiences rather than rates. Financial institutions therefore need to simplify access to the information members need, while also using those digital experiences as a starting point for deeper and more engaged interactions.
In this environment, credit unions and banks will need to transform the core banking system from a mere system of record to the source that drives member engagement. Fortunately, modern technology is leading the way, simplifying digital transformations and making it easier for financial institutions to earn loyalty.
In earlier days, consumers were delighted with simple services, such as checking account balances. Then, they began to expect the more complex transactions, such as paying bills or applying for a loan. Now, consumers are demanding experiences from their banking applications. For example, the simple act of paying a bill morphed with the Instagram mentality to create PicturePay. Or, consider how a digital payment combined with social media can create a company, and a verb, like Venmo.
Using Digital To Personalize Experiences
Digital tools are merely a starting point for financial institutions, rather than an end point, as consumers and businesses alike expect a more personal touch. They need to know their financial institution understands their needs throughout their financial lifecycle. For example, merging money management within digital banking is a way to support financial health, or providing a chatbot to assist when and where they need it offers the immediacy people are looking for.
Offering next-gen solutions is a way to deepen engagement and loyalty. What if you could make personalized loan offers through an automated recommendation engine? Providing relevant offers makes for better experiences, empowers account holders, and helps grow your business.
Meeting Shifting Expectations
Consumers now expect credit unions to show respect for their time through superior omni-channel service. Traditional core systems can impede a financial institution’s ability to deliver this connected customer experience. Originally built as an all-encompassing engine, these rugged workhorses performed efficiently for decades when customer channels were limited, and banking functions remained relatively unchanged.
In the digital realm where data must flow seamlessly between in-person and online channels and also across multiple products, many core systems have become outdated, incompatible with the speed and agility required in the modern banking environment.
Harnessing Data For Good
The next-gen digital banking platform easily connects to the existing core, utilizing open and continuously evolving APIs to stream data between all associated products, whether owned by the financial institution or gained by partnering on fintech innovation. This enables faster, more efficient interactions and a connected, easy-to-use banking experience that builds customer satisfaction and loyalty.
As consumers engage with online tools and services, financial institutions can gain valuable information about habits and preferences. Analytics draw actionable insights from patterns in data that can be used to identify product and efficiency gaps. Financial institutions need to then have the flexibility to rapidly act on the insights and augment products and services to meet the identified needs or niche market segments. Core-agnostic, next-gen digital supports this type of agility. Using data to support the needs of your different segments is crucial to being able to differentiate through personalized banking.
To thrive in an open banking environment, credit unions need to learn how to use digital to initiate and grow personal connections. Using this approach, the loyal banking account holder of today could easily become a loyal user of multiple products in the future.
Allan Brown has served as Vice President and General Manager of Digital Banking since January 2019. In this role, Allan is accountable for driving Finastra’s Digital Banking business in North America which includes Malauzai and Cavion.
