Juniper Research predicts that by 2017, there will be a billion mobile banking customers around the world. 40% of these will still take the time to get on the phone or visit their bank’s physical branches for certain inquiries. And according to research from KPMG, more than half of global banking consumers express a real desire for combined social, personalized and “human” interactions to be integrated into a bank’s online services and mobile apps.
The world is only getting smaller and the momentum of “connected networks” and “sharing economies” is increasing. With the rise of face-to-face communication tools such as WhatsApp and Facetime, it’s clear consumers expect similar experiences from their banking providers.
Banks and credit unions are forced to rethink their current offerings to evolve the way they handle customer interactions, and build relationships through platforms that provide on-demand services without compromising usability or security. Luckily, advances in communication technology afford some appealing options to provide customer-centric user experiences via their mobile apps and online services.
With Real Time Communications, financial institutions can leverage VoIP calling, video chat, instant messaging, screen-sharing, virtual presence and recording at the touch of a button — all from with their mobile banking app. This experience can be highly personalized to each individual, and multi-factor authentication allow for direct engagement with employees without compromising security.
5 Benefits of Real Time Communications
1. Seamless interaction. Moving spoken and video interaction into a banking app (or browser interface) creates a seamless experience for users, enabling data to be pushed or pulled from their screens without ever having to leave the banking platform. This also means that customers are not required to repeat information they may have already provided in the app or website.
2. Optimized communication. Every time someone uses Real Time Communications with their banking provider, they can be routed to the appropriate service rep based on criteria like their geolocation, what they were doing in the app, or even the OS/browser they were using. Linking the customers’ data with the right person helps resolve issues more quickly.
3. Secure and intelligent dialogues. At the instance each user clicks to communicate, they are already authenticated — with transaction history and relevant contextual information from the user’s mobile app readily available. The pairing of Real Time Communications with advanced biometric authentication techniques enables intelligent, secure and personalized two-way dialogue across any device. This facilitates quicker understanding of questions or issues, and enables resolutions to be provided to the customer without having the need to re-submit information.
4. Customer loyalty. Real Time Communications offers a personalized approach that differentiates a financial brand at a time when customer loyalty is at a premium. Real Time Communications technology has already been adopted by venerated institutions like American Express, Coutts, and Wells Fargo.
5. Cost savings. Real Time Communications has significant financial benefits for the institution itself. By allowing staff to provide a more personalized service that results in faster resolution of customer issues, the institution needs fewer staff to handle the volume.
Analysts have estimated that over six billion devices will be capable of Real Time Communications by 2019, which means a significant amount of an organization’s customer base is going to be able to make use of these services. There may not be a one-size-fits-all approach to solving these issues, but the incorporation of Real Time Communications technology allows financial institutions to adapt a dynamic and ever changing digital environment.