Published by FrankNez Team.
At present, many traditional banks are experiencing a period of crisis. Younger generations of customers, shifting expectations, and emerging technological paradigms are redefining the banking landscape all over the world.
Tech-savvy contemporary consumers now expect banking experiences that they can access 24/7 through a variety of convenient channels.
Moreover, they look for highly personalized service and support that can be tailored to their specific needs and life experiences.
Banks need to reinvent themselves, and quickly, if they are to meet these demands and remain relevant in the lives of today’s customers.
The emergence of new competitors like challenger banks, fintechs, and other nontraditional financial institutions only intensifies the pressure.
These competitors are leveraging digital technology and real-time data to offer superior customer journeys, and they are entirely capable of siphoning away traditional banks’ clientele if the latter fail to act.
Banks today must find ways to become more flexible and open than they ever have been in the past.
Many successful institutions have begun their transformation by upgrading their core banking platforms to incorporate the latest software products.
A future-ready core banking system allows traditional banks to take advantage of the following capabilities:
Interoperability and Openness
The best core banking platforms will be able to integrate into and work seamlessly with other systems and organizations from the get-go.
These banking solutions will come with open APIs and thousands of exposed microservices, making them eminently usable across a wide range of gateways and regulatory interfaces.
By leveraging these capabilities, banks will be able to address customer expectations for fast, frictionless, highly interconnected service.
The greater openness that new technology affords presents banks with two valuable opportunities.
On the one hand, they can utilize this technology internally to enhance their operational efficiency, improve their customer service, and expand their own range of offerings.
On the other hand, they can also seek more opportunities to collaborate with partner organizations across third-party platforms.
These partnerships will open additional distribution channels for banks’ own products and services, providing access to new customers and revenue streams in the process.
Efficient, Streamlined Digital Services
Customers today want to be able to access banking services round-the-clock through the digital channels that are most convenient for them.
They also generally expect to be able to use these services easily and independently, with little to no need for human contact.
By leveraging the automation features that come programmed into modern core banking platforms, banks can optimize their operations and digitize even more of their products and services with ease.
Automated decision-making protocols can take the place of manual processing cycles, effectively accelerating key procedures like client onboarding and loan approvals.
In the process, banks sidestep the costly risk of human error, save themselves abundant time and resources, and guarantee satisfied customers.
Omnichannel Customer Support
Banking clients today want the ability to communicate and transact with their bank through the platforms they find most comfortable and convenient.
Fortunately, the superior connectivity of modern core banking platforms enables banks to provide more involved customer support across a wide selection of digital channels.
This, in turn, allows them to cater seamlessly to different generations of customers with varying levels of technological literacy.
Younger and more tech-savvy customers, for instance, will probably be comfortable performing self-service functions and interacting mostly with chatbots and other AIs to resolve customer concerns.
Older customers, on the other hand, may be less adept at navigating digital banking platforms and can count on more hands-on assistance from customer support staff through voice or video call.
Superior Scalability
Today’s business environment demands that banks serve customers faster and in greater numbers than they ever have in the past.
Financial institutions are not only expected to efficiently handle millions of transactions each day, but they should also have the agility to do so across multiple discrete currencies and jurisdictions.
On top of their regular operations, they also have to keep abreast of ever-evolving regulatory standards.
Cloud-based solutions have historically been a reliable way for banks to scale their operations higher without sacrificing operational efficiency.
Cloud solutions are programmed to be inherently flexible, so they can easily be customized to grow with the business itself.
Best of all, banks can set up enterprise-grade cloud-based systems at a relatively cheap upfront cost and begin using them right out of the box.
Innovation-Readiness
Innovation isn’t just a one-time undertaking. Once banks embrace digital transformation, they must be prepared to innovate continuously throughout their lifespan in response to new technological developments and changing market conditions.
This adaptability will be their key to earning secure places in the banking environments of the future, and the right core banking systems are programmed to maximize it.
These systems are able to incorporate and deploy the latest technologies expeditiously, helping banks consistently improve the quality of their service and stay ahead of competition.
Enhanced data-gathering functions are especially important components of modern core banking systems that can help keep banks continuously innovation-ready.
State-of-the-art automation processes and artificial intelligence capabilities can help banks monitor customer behavior and preferences, as well as track how these evolve over time.
Armed with this insight, banks can then adapt their products and services as consumer demands change.
Modern core banking systems can equip banks with the openness and agility they require to survive in an increasingly digital business environment.
By capitalizing on these solutions and the benefits they offer, traditional banks lay the groundwork for a future in which they not only survive but thrive.
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