The Evolution of the Financial Institution: The Invisible Customer

The Evolution of the Financial Institution: The Invisible Customer

Most of the discussions concerning a financial institution’s customers migrating to the internet, focus on how to offer more functional services online, such as loan applications, deposits, bill paying, etc., which is necessary. However, the true evolution taking place is the offering of online digital touchpoints, to an invisible customer. Although the movement began slowly, it is now evolving into a revolutionary conversion of thought. As the business minds have begun to focus on the inevitable reality of the evolving transformation, the revolutionary change has begun. Understanding that the financial institutions’ customers have a cloaking device called the Internet has brought awareness to a major issue, how does a financial institution make the invisible customer visible? In a sense, the visibility of every customer is not dependent on visually seeing them but rather knowing and understanding them. In today’s invisible world of the Internet, invisible touchpoints do exist. The change will be dramatic as this revolutionary thought process becomes systemic within financial institutions’ business processes.

To understand the revolutionary change occurring, consider the calculus for transferring touchpoints from the branch to the internet. Develop a dynamic online digital process which will automatically acquire knowledge and information, through an inherent grouping of facts, normally gained through physical interaction. While experiential knowledge, commonly depended upon in our day to day interactions, is difficult to translate to the online digital world, the dynamic use of that knowledge at the appropriate point in time is even more demanding.

While we cannot duplicate the physical presence and one to one interaction, we can, through our innovative technology, produce more opportunities to invoke in the customer the desire to identify needs, interests and goals, allowing a financial institution to know their customer. This revolutionary calculus will change a financial institution’s perspective on how they transact business as they learn how to deal with an invisible customer. Personal contact, except as required by regulation, is seldom a part of any financial institution’s online business transaction. Online technical services are the new handshake and feel good interaction that most customers want. Our technology uncloaks the customer with identifiable characteristics, needs, interests and goals, that will be facilitated through digital services online.

Facilitating is the new selling. The online generation does not want to be sold, they want their financial institution to facilitate their needs. The invisible customer doesn’t want to have a personal relationship with businesses that are supplying a service or product, they want a service that facilitates their requirements invisibly and the internet affords them that luxury. Consider Amazon, basically a service and a facilitating company, great service that facilitates your buying, they don’t sell. Yes! Facilitating is the new selling. As a financial institution, innovative services and the ability to facilitate a customer’s requirements online is vital.

The financial institutions’ online digital world needs invocative functionality, where the interaction is between the customer and the digital world, through technology. The technology that will unmask the customer’s needs and facilitate the solution. The algorithm is obvious, the more opportunities created for digital touchpoints the more knowledge and understanding of the customer base and the more business facilitated.

This is not a white paper concerning itself with maybes, this revolution is upon us and will have an impact, limited only by vision and innovative technology. We believe that IFRS 9 has been the catalyst. It is no longer a question, it’s only a matter of how soon a financial institution is ready to compete in a new world of banking. With the online world expanding its reach and capabilities, it has become increasingly demanding to make decisions in seconds not minutes or hours. The banking world is now a product of the revolution, information is turned into knowledge which is translated into understanding, by which decisions are made. The ability to analyze information, make decisions based upon a predictable outcomes, is part of the revolutionary change in how the banking business will be transacted.