Industry Insights: The More Things Change…
According to McKinsey&Co, “A second wave of automation in banking will increase capacity and free employees to focus on higher-value projects. To capture the opportunity, banks must take a strategic, rather than tactical, approach.”
We couldn’t agree more. For years, we’ve been promoting the idea that banks and credit unions can use technology to put valuable employee time to better use than busywork. We’ve been helping them streamline deposits, give consumers a consistent experience across all channels, amp up their mobile, workload, and communications tools, and eliminate paperwork across their entire enterprise.
You know the old saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” In our industry, you could say the technologies change, but the reason you need them—ultimately, to keep your customers with you—is as important as ever.
In the face of relentless change, our customers often bump their noses against departmental walls and the inertia of timeworn practices. Ouch. But more all the time are demanding sophisticated technologies that do one important thing: free up employees to do the things only they can do. Things like knowing your customers. Listening to them and engaging them with more of your banking services. Like responding to what they need, even if that’s not what you thought it was.
Lately, these ideas have been filtering into the industry press (among all the hype and worry about goings-on in Washington), and today, we’ve rounded up a few thoughtful articles that may fill in a few gaps for you.
- The transformative power of Automation in Banking, McKinsey&Company. First, the McKinsey article itself, which recommends six building blocks for institutions who want to master the next wave of automation and AI. This is advanced stuff—but the strategic principles apply to every financial institution.
- Bank of America’s Experiment with Robo Branches, Financial Brand. It’s hard to talk about the best use of employees without mentioning Bank of America’s grand experiment with employee-less “robo branches.” And it’s hard to talk about robo branches without talking about their 3,500 digital ambassador positions, all added within the past year.
- Digital Validation and the Human Connection, CreditUnions.com. Do personal encounters matter when processes like home lending go online? This article argues that the human factor, embedded in an omni-channel environment, is a key success factor.
About the Industry Insights Series
Alogent’s Industry Insights—this blog and the companion newsletter series—track insights into transformative financial technologies as they happen. Our diverse team of experts pulls the threads together and weave in thoughtful—often actionable—analysis to help banks and credit unions keep their competitive edge and meet new generations of consumers where they’re going next.
