What's Happening in Digital Banking?

A few weeks ago, Alogent joined the ranks of some of the most influential in digital banking at American Banker’s Digital Banking conference in Austin, TX. The annual event grows each year, and 2019 surely did not disappoint. In addition to the conference’s namesake, “digital banking,” the nearly 2,000 participants also buzzed about mobile and online solutions, AI, robotics, cloud computing and other technologies that help organizations gain efficiencies and deliver on their customer-focused strategies. 

Over the course of the three days, speaking with fellow solution providers, financial institutions, and members of the analyst / media community, some key topics continued to surface. Below are five, and insights into the discussions had... 

1. Although technology and self-service capabilities are abounding, the human touch is still needed and wanted. Everyone agrees that self-service capabilities are great, but bank customers and credit union members still want to engage with an expert for more complex transactions – like opening a new account, financial advice, and other non-routine actions. How can we as solution providers facilitate the happy medium that delivers the newest capabilities but also enables a human touch? 
    
2. Growing the digital channel was undoubtedly a focus for most, but ensuring the digital channel “plays nicely” with other workflows and systems was equally as important. More times than not, the question about exchanging data between various banking platforms for business intelligence was asked, highlighting the understanding of, and need for, actionable data.
    
3. Closely related to the desire for the human touch, capabilities that help build engagement between users and their financial institutions were more of a focus than they had been at past conferences. Video banking and other conversational interfaces that are more commonly deployed in Europe were top of mind for many this year in Austin. Will chatbots and robots be a “must-have” tomorrow? 
    
4. Security. As data breaches become everyday news, it’s no surprise that data and platform security is on everyone’s radar. What methods and tools are being used to reduce user friction but still create enough that the integrity of the application is not compromised and users feel confident in their usage? 
    
5. User experience is still paramount. With such a competitive landscape, financial institutions are looking to differentiate themselves from the moment a customer or member opens their app or web portal. Talk of a single UX across all devices and platforms is becoming more mainstream, but platforms that execute on this and truly streamline the user journey will surely prevail.

Austin provided a great forum for those in digital banking to exchange ideas and hear use cases about pioneering capabilities in the market. The Alogent team looks forward to sharing best practices around how to innovate and bolster your digital channels while still capitalizing on these new offerings. Contact us for a personalized consultation and discussion.