According to NCR Voyix Chief Product Officer of Digital Banking Doug Brown, the post-pandemic years have ushered in the age of digitally connective, and interactive, banking.
Consumers may have been banking before the great digital shift. But now, the tools and channels are in place to use digital offerings in combination with the branch settings — where interactive ATMs and teller stations have led to a better experience no matter where the consumer opts to fulfill their day-to-day financial needs. And they’re taking a page out of the retail playbook to do so.
“You look,” he said of the new expectations, to experiences “with Amazon, with your favorite restaurant or Delta Airlines. They have complicated delivery models … and we have to be deliberate about embracing the customer relationship in the banking models.”
Brown discussed the shift in banking with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster as part of the “What’s Next in Payments” series focused on the question, “What is a bank?”
According to Brown, the connectivity of digital may have become even more critical in the current environment, but this doesn’t mean anyone has said they don’t or won’t ever need to talk to a banker or go to a bank in person.
“Optionality is the key here,” Brown said. “Having that optionality is the full spectrum that needs to be present in relationship banking. … There’s less reliance on the physical footprint, but there’s not a total abandonment of the footprint.”
If there’s Connected Banking 2.0, it lies with the expectation that convenience is a key component of service — and that banking is not confined to banker’s hours.
Brown said that consumers now want to go to a branch location after hours to enable access to foreign currencies in the event they are traveling, for example. In some cases, banks are offering self-service lockers, like the lockers that are part and parcel of Amazon’s identity.
These offerings are as convenient “as anything you can do on a phone,” he said.
As for the in-branch interactions, consumers now expect their banks to know who’s coming into the branch and to have everything on hand that they need to make the visit efficient and effective. Personalization is paramount so data can help the banks be aware of what the customer wants and when — while setting an action plan to address the banking client’s concerns even before they set foot in the lobby, he said.
For NCR Voyix, helping banking clients deliver an omnichannel experience rests with real-time data — and right now there’s a pressing need for financial literacy and financial wellness. Credit scores might not have an immediate need or benefit to the bank or credit union, but those metrics will help a consumer advance on their financial journey.
Consumers and households are taking stock of the financial fallout through the past few years and the current inflationary environment, and value the expertise of their banks, where once they might have relied on social media channels for advice and wisdom during the pandemic.
Banks need to know what their customers need in the moment — Zelle for example, rather than bill payments. And there’s ample opportunity for banks to issue wallets and replace credentials as they seek to cement “top-of-wallet” status with clients.
As Brown noted, the connected banking continuum is optimal when there’s been a “digital infusing of the experience no matter where it happens to take place.”
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