Can Today’s Banks Become the ‘Bank of the Future’?

While the banking industry understands the need to more digital, considerable changes will be required in order to make this a reality.

Source: Can Today’s Banks Become the ‘Bank of the Future’?

As the consumer is becoming more digital, the banking industry is being transformed. Consumers are becoming accustomed to instant communication, one click service and real-time contextuality. This comes at a time of increased competition. A study looks at how global bankers are responding to these increased expectations.

By Jim Marous, Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand and Publisher of the Digital Banking Report

Now more than ever, banking needs to step out of its collective comfort zone, digitizing and diversifying in response to the changing consumer. While branches aren’t vanishing as quickly as some predicted, banking can no longer follow branch-centric models. Instead, the ‘Bank of the Future’ represents an omni-channel, client-centric, self-directed digital model that many banking executives admit may be beyond their scope.

A report from Oracle titled, “Banking is Changing … With or Without the Banks,” surveyed more than 100 executives at major retail banking institutions globally, which revealed a desire amongst banks to invest in digital strategies … but also stark differences in progress.

According to the report, digitization of the entire banking organization is viewed as the primary enabler of banks’ business objectives. Regardless of whether the focus is increasing revenues or profitability, decreasing costs or meeting regulatory guidelines, digitization is seen as a central investment priority.

Overall, 94% of banking executives interviewed say that having a digitized omni-channel customer engagement strategy is important to their future success, with 37% admitting that future success of their business is ‘entirely dependent’ on digital customer engagements. Despite the recognition that digital technology initiatives are urgently needed, 88% told Oracle they see significant challenges in moving toward digitization.

The Fintech Challenge

Every publication talks about the transformation of banking and that today’s retail banking competitive landscape is far removed from what existed a decade ago. Much of this change has been highlighted by the rising influence of new digital competitors that are impacting all levels of banking.

“No longer do retail banks simply vie for customers against other retail banks. Instead, we are witnessing an influx of new, tech-savvy, digital competitors – FinTechs – all eager for a piece of this lucrative financial pie,” the report said.

The foundation of these changes is caused by changing consumer demographics and expectations. “The world’s largest demographic, born after 1980, are now millennials. These customers have grown up in the era of Facebook and Amazon; an era of instant communication, one-click purchases and 24 hour delivery. If a supplier can’t provide a service, they don’t wait – they find someone else who can,” says the report.

More than half believe that both private label banks, alternative payment providers and even credit card providers will be major competitive threats – a greater percentage than are worried about other traditional high street players.

The Digital Delivery Gap

The banking industry is not standing still as these changes in expectation and competitors occur. Most organizations recognize that digital customer engagement is the way to respond to the changes in the industry. Key services that are among the most important to adopt, as noted by the respondents in the report, include mobile payments and real time data synchronization, spend analytics and even digital advisory services.

Despite all being recognized as important by over 80% of banks, there appears to be a failure to commit to delivery of these services, with only 24% providing real-time synchronization, 19% providing location-driven services and only 30% currently providing real-time analytics. In other words, the gap between importance and ‘ability to deliver’ is more than 60% for three of these capabilities. And while the importance of providing mobile payments is viewed as the most important component of digital engagement, the gap in capabilities is still 50%.

Oracle believes one of the reasons for the lag in delivery of digital capabilities is the comfort of current relationships. While these relationships served banking well in the past, banking needs to change their underlying processes to accept these new forms of data specially in the content of real-time digital processing.

“Omni-channel customer engagement is not a ‘bolt-on’ product that can simply be added to existing systems to give a little bit more functionality”, says the study. “It needs to take a fresh perspective – wiping the established ‘offline’ board clean and asking ‘how should we be doing this in a digital world’?”

Unfortunately, only 23% are currently approaching omni-channel customer engagement with a fresh, digital mindset. Instead, a ‘bolt-on’ approach is how the majority of retail banks (77%) are approaching digital channel engagement, either replicating offline banking capabilities online, or adding a small amount of additional functionality. Change is happening however.

For instance, while 74% of banking organizations aren’t yet able to facilitate the digital on-boarding of customers currently, within the next two years this figure is expected to drop to 24%.

Challenge to Digitalization

Why are so many banks yet to develop a real-time, digital customer engagement offering when there is an acknowledgment of the importance of this capability? The key challenge lies in legacy systems, with nearly all banks (89%) mentioning the challenge of overcoming their legacy systems as a barrier against omni-channel engagement. The high cost of implementation (89%) and lack of suitable technology (75%) were also seen as hindering efforts to become truly digitized.

Beyond the innovation and investment needed to change legacy systems, Oracle blames the banking industry’s defensive mindsets, with banks focusing on preventing customer defection, complying with legislation and reducing the cost base, rather than actively seeking growth and improvement. Currently, retention of customers is prioritized above revenue as the key impetus to digitization, with 83% claiming customer loss as a prime motivator.

Is Delivering the ‘Bank of the Future’ Possible?

The banking model for the future will be customer-centric as opposed to being driven by products and services. This model will enable an information-driven and value centric relationship as opposed to being based on the bank’s needs. While 48% of the banks believe that customers in the future will want to use a bank where tasks can be completed in real-time across multiple synchronized digital and offline channels, there is only a limited belief that the industry will be able to live up to this challenge.

Nearly one third believe that most banks will be operating with disconnected digital channels in five years with 22% believing that most banks will have failed to adopt digital at all. The discrepancy between what banks think customers’ will want, and what the market will be able to deliver, is greatest in North America and the European markets, but no more than one third of banks in any region believe that banking will be able to provide truly synchronized, digital omnichannel banking within five years.

According to Oracle, “Failing to meet customers’ expectations is dangerous in any industry; it could be lethal in an environment where the competitive landscape is becoming ever-more congested.” While there is clarity of what is expected by the consumer, there is definitely less assuredness if banking will be able to keep pace with expectations given the level of investment and commitment required.

Foretelling The Future Of Digital Marketing

Foretelling The Future Of Digital Marketing.

November 24, 2014 Posted by Lyana San Pedro to Digital Marketing Trends

Everybody wants to know what the future holds. Only a few of us go to great lengths – like fortune-tellers and oracles – for any hint at what’s to come. We’re not here to make judgements or snide comments, but no crystal ball can predict the future of the always-evolving digital realm. In order to understand what the digital marketing world has in mind for the coming years, we must look at facts, data and trends. With our latest digital marketing infographic, we examined the writing on the wall and took a shot at foretelling the future of digital marketing.

The truth is, nobody knows what the landscape of digital marketing will look like this time next year. We can make speculations and educated guesses based on the information we have, but nothing is certain. At the end of the day, trying to predict which tactics and strategies will put marketers ahead of the curve (and their competition) is what sets the great ones apart from the rest. Maybe the future we foretell with this infographic will be accurate or perhaps it’ll be way off base; either way, it’s the effort and experience of trying that matters.

Content marketing will rule budgets, priorities and customer attention. If you’ve read anything at all about digital marketing in the last three years, then this shouldn’t be a surprise. Content marketing is so hot right now. On a data-backed front, 71% of marketers report that they’re getting an increased content marketing budget for 2015. These kind of predictive stats are exactly what you’re looking for if you want to define your digital marketing strategy based on what’s likely to happen in the future. And it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to load up on content marketing in 2015.

Companies can and should use the same statistics to make different conclusions. For example, a content marketing company would use the aforementioned statistic to prepare for an uptick in sales conversations and meetings. On the flip side, a company whose competitors are already knocking it out of the park with content marketing might pivot toward a channel that’s untapped in their industry. It’s that old adage we’re always talking about: it depends. The combination of tactics and strategies that works for one business may not be the right mix for other brands.

Personalization will earn you some serious cred amongst your customers. As a marketer, the one thing you should always be doing is listening to your customers. You won’t be able to please every customer and you shouldn’t let a few disgruntled people dictate your strategy, but you should always listen. When reports say that 67% of consumers state that custom content helps them make better purchase decisions, you should take notice. In digital marketing, how you use stats like these matter more than just being able to spout them off when somebody asks.

User experience on mobile devices will improve drastically. With the stats suggesting that ONE BILLION people will use their smartphone as their only form of Internet access in 2015, it’s time to start thinking about mobile first and everything else second. This is a big shift, even for those on the cutting edge of digital marketing, so the sooner you can wrap your head around a mobile-first approach, the quicker you’ll jump ahead of the competition.

Professionals everywhere will find and channel their inner marketer. A company’s marketing material is a direct reflection of the company itself. If a brand’s marketing is bland and too focused on self-promotion, customers will quickly realize they’re dealing with a selfish, bland company. These days, nobody wants to purchase from brands who are all about themselves. In fact, customer-centric companies gained 43% in performance ratings compared to a 40% decrease for companies who’ve neglected customer experience. That’s a big deal. If your business hasn’t had discussions on customer experience, make it a priority early in 2015.

Up-and-coming trend: it’s all about the digital best dressed list. 2015, the year of Google Glassand Apple’s Watch. If we’ve learned one thing about the rise of smartphones and tablets, it’s that technology has the power to drastically change the digital marketing landscape in a very short period of time. When it comes to technology, pay attention, adopt and experiment early, and embrace change. It’s the only way forward in our increasingly technical world.

Print vs. Digital in France: 59% of internet users in the country chose paper when they wanted to read information thoroughly.

• Jul 29, 2014

France’s readers haven’t kicked print media to the curb yet—at least when they want to get all of the details. According to a May 2014 study from Syndicat de la Presse Sociale conducted by SEPREM, 59% of internet users in the country chose paper when they wanted to read information thoroughly, compared with just 16% who turned their eyes to the digital screen. On the flipside, when readers wanted to jump right to the points and answers they were looking for, the overwhelming majority went digital.

 

While it seems like digital devices would be better for saving information to access later when on the go, France’s internet users preferred hard copy sources for storing info. However, when it came to sharing information with friends and family, digital screens were far more popular, favored by 49% of respondents, compared with 18% who chose print. 

It remains to be seen whether the adoption of digital devices—specifically, mobile ones—will push print readers in the opposite direction. eMarketer expects 30.5 million people in France to use a smartphone this year, which works out to about 61.4% of the country’s 49.7 million internet users and 46.0% of the population. In addition, we estimate that there will be 22.8 million tablet users in France in 2014, representing 46.0% of web users and 34.5% of all residents. While eMarketer includes individuals of all ages who use a smartphone/tablet at least once a month in its estimates, Syndicat de la Presse Sociale/SEPREM looked at ownership among 18-to-65-year-old internet users only and found relatively similar results: 67% owned smartphones, and 35% had tablets.

 

– See more at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Print-vs-Digital-France-What-Wins/1011053/2#sthash.csHjJSdM.dpuf

Rather Than Opt-Out Of Google, German News Publishers Demand 11% Cut Of Revenue

Rather Than Opt-Out Of Google, German News Publishers Demand 11% Cut Of Revenue.

Jun 20, 2014 at 2:25pm ET by Danny Sullivan

• inShare38

German news publishers are picking up where the Belgians left off, a now not-so-proud tradition of suing Google for being included in its listings rather than choosing to opt-out. This time, the publishers want an 11% cut of Google’s revenue related to them being listed.

The news comes from Jeff Jarvis, who writes that a group representing about half the major news publishers in Germany have a started an arbitration process demanding that Google pay 11% of revenue related to listing links to and descriptions of their content.

The actual suit (in German) from the VG Media industry group is here, which demands up to 11% of all gross sales worldwide (plus VAT!) of revenue related to its content, as of August 1, 2013.

Beyond What Leistungsschutzrecht Allows?

From Spiegel (again in German, and working off a Google translation), VG Media includes twelve publishers including giant Axel Springer. The story also suggests that the publishers feel they have a right to demand license fees because Google’s use goes beyond a new German copyright law created last year.

That law, referred to as “ancillary copyright” or “Leistungsschutzrecht,” allowed search engines free use of single words or very small text excerpts. Apparently, the VG Media group still feels there’s use happening where payment can be demanded.

The move produced two major absurdities. First, it’s incredibly difficult to even know how much revenue would be generated, if any, by these links.

The Difficulty In Calculating A Publisher’s Cut

Within Google News itself, there are no ads. So as Jarvis writes, “Are the publishers seeking 11% of 0?” But news content does appear outside Google News, within regular Google searches, where ads can be present.

To figure an 11% payment here, the publishers would apparently want to know any time their content appeared with ads on search results pages. Then, if any of those ads produced revenue, they want 11% of that.

It’s a difficult but not impossible task for Google to figure this out. It already tells publishers through Google Webmaster Tools what the visibility of their pages are like. It could clearly tell for a particular publisher if pages are showing in the top results.

More work would be required to tell if a publisher was present where there was an ad click. There’s an even bigger debate on whether a publisher being one of 10 to 30 links that might appear on a page should be given the entire credit for a click and thus 11% of revenue earned by it.

Publishers Aren’t Forced Into Google

All that is likely to get argued in arbitration. But that leads to the second big absurdity. Google isn’t forcing the publishers to be in Google at all.

Let’s do a little history.

Back in 2006, Belgian news publishers sued Google over their inclusion in the Google News, demanding that Google remove them. They never had to sue; there were mechanisms in place where they could opt-out.

After winning the initial suit, Google dropped them as demanded. Then the publications, watching their traffic drop dramatically, scrambled to get back in. When they returned, they made use of the exact opt-out mechanisms (mainly just to block page caching) that were in place before their suit, which they could have used at any time.

The case carried on for six years in total. In the end, it was settled in what’s become common when Google is in disputes with publishers. Google pledges some nebulous collaboration that will support the industry. See also the €60 million “Digital Publishing Innovation Fund” it created for France last year.

With the German papers, they can opt-out of being in Google just as easily as the Belgian papers could have done back in 2006. They even have more granular control, where Google gave assurances to Italian publishers in 2011 that opting out of Google News didn’t mean they’d be dropped from Google entirely. But even before then, to my understanding, it was always the case you could request to be dropped from Google News but still be in Google Search in general.

In short, if the German publishers feel Google is unfairly infringing on their rights without payment, Google has a good argument that they’ve been failing to prevent this using industry-standard practices that every one of those publishers absolutely has to know.

And Some Publishers Work To Increase Their “Free” Visibility

Indeed, Axel Springer’s Bild publication — one of its largest — makes use of Google publisher code to assist its appearance in Google search results:

Elsewhere on the site, there’s code showing that Bild is explicitly telling Google to “follow” links within its site in order to index them, as well as providing news keywords specifically meant to increase the chances of ranking better in Google:

This type of thing — along with any evidence that any of these publications are using Google sitemap lists, implementing Google Authorship or making use of Google Webmaster Tools — will go to demonstrating that the publishers aren’t somehow being swept up into Google’s results against their wills.

Rather, they show the publishers are actively trying to leverage Google for free traffic — and after gaining it, demanding that Google also pay them for the privilege.

Interview Z Expert (Canal Z): les défis du secteur de la publicité face au digital (28/4/2014)

Re-Invent the Future by steven van belleghem,

Many companies find themselves at a crossroads. The next few years will decide which business models will survive and which will undergo sweeping changes. Technological evolution, the modern consumer and the total market compel us to answer that one crucial question: who is prepared to re-invent their company as well as themselves? 

This deckand the accompanying presentation will introduce you to a philosophy that makes it possible for people and organizations to re-invent themselves. The objective is learning how to be relevant and successful in a tumultuous market. 

EY : La nouvelle banque – Huit tendances pour la banque du futur : L’Echo

EY : La nouvelle banque – Huit tendances pour la banque du futur : L’Echo.

Extrait d’une très belle source: http://www.lecho.be/sas/nouvellebanque/

1. Nationalisme et globalisation

Le modèle de la banque globale se heurte à ses limites. Après la dérégulation des années 80, les gouvernements montrent à nouveau les dents. Malgré l’introduction d’un organe de surveillance européen, l’heure est plutôt à un retour des tendances nationalistes et à une réglementation plus stricte, qui contraignent les banques à redéfinir leur stratégie et leur empreinte globale.

2. Un capitalisme dirigé par l’État

Le modèle du capitalisme dirigé par l’État gagne du terrain depuis la crise. La banque de 2030 devra plus que jamais rendre des comptes à l’autorité publique. Cette évolution n’est pas que négative. Les banques à même de faire preuve d’innovation dans la gestion de cette nouvelle relation, plus intime, avec l’État, peuvent en récolter les fruits. Nous pensons ici à des partenariats approfondis dans le domaine des pensions et des soins de santé, de l’infrastructure et du logement, ou du développement économique.

3. Croissance des flux commerciaux intrarégionaux

La globalisation nous fait souvent oublier que les flux commerciaux intrarégionaux sont plusieurs fois supérieurs à ceux de leurs pendants interrégionaux. La croissance des flux intrarégionaux mène à l’émergence d’entreprises fortes, des ” champions régionaux ” qui opèrent en symbiose avec des banques ayant développé leurs activités à l’échelle mondiale. Être à même de répondre aux attentes locales des clients avec des banques globales constituera dès lors le grand défi du futur, comme le révèle l’étude EY ” Successful corporate banking: focus on fundamentals “.

4. Nouveaux marchés, nouveaux investissements

L’arrivée à maturité des économies des pays du BRIC engendre un nouveau boom d’investissements. Leurs successeurs, les nouveaux pays émergents d’Amérique du Sud, d’Asie et d’Afrique, se démarquent déjà. Les grandes banques qui veulent participer au développement des nouveaux marchés émergents doivent d’ores et déjà prendre position.

5. Vers une génération urbaine, plus vieille

Depuis le début de l’année 2008, plus de la moitié de la population mondiale vit en ville. La population a également tendance à vieillir : la tranche des 15 à 65 ans gagnera encore en importance durant des décennies. Les banques doivent d’ores et déjà prendre en compte la future réalité d’une démographie différente et d’une génération de plus en plus urbaine. Une opportunité pour le développement de nouveaux produits et services à destination de ce groupe cible.

6. Des clients adeptes du shopping et du surmesure

Les clients changent plus souvent de banque et font leur ” shopping ” dans un nombre croissant d’établissements. Cette préférence pour un service personnalisé va encore s’amplifier à court terme. Répondre à ces attentes constitue un énorme défi. Mais d’ici 2030, les nouvelles technologies multiplieront les possibilités d’élargir et d’approfondir les relations avec les clients.

7. Paiements : conclure des partenariats

Dans le secteur des paiements, les évolutions technologiques se font déjà sentir aujourd’hui. Les banques ne disposent pas en interne des compétences et technologies indispensables pour couvrir la totalité du marché. Si les banques veulent continuer à jouer un rôle déterminant sur ce marché, leur capacité à conclure des partenariats avec diverses parties sera cruciale.

8. Investir dans l’énergie

La demande énergétique croissante, les avancées technologiques – pensez au gaz de schiste, aux nouveaux champs de pétrole en haute mer et à l’énergie renouvelable – et une dimension politique complexe bouleversent le marché de l’énergie. Pour les banques, partenaires traditionnels des grands travaux d’infrastructures, ces évolutions sont également génératrices de nouvelles opportunités.

1993 View of the Future by AT&T

20 jobs of the future

In the past, careers were stable, linear and singular. People chose one path and pursued it over the course of their lives from college to retirement. In our modern age of technology driven exponential change – this model no longer works. 

Careers are now complex, fragmented, specialized, collaborative and ever evolving. More often than not, our work life will be made up of a portfolio of micro-careers. 

This presentation will show you a snapshot of 20 careers that will likely come of age in the next 10 years. Some of these jobs exist now, but will come into greater demand soon. Others do not exist yet, but through our daily scanning of future fringe signals we see strong potential in their emergence.

From the Future…

The next evolution of the iconic “Keep Walking” campaign is a message of hope from a successful man to his younger self, brought to life through a global journey around a world full of people trying to move themselves forward, with one foot in the frustrations of today’s workplace and an eye on the potential of the future.

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