Article

2014: The year of the seamless transaction?

A great, cross-channel customer experience is the gold standard for FIs. So why is it so hard to deliver?

January 3, 2014

Commentary by Brad Zaystoff
Director of marketing, INETCO Systems Ltd.

I don't think anyone would consider me a sage if I were to suggest that people around the world will increasingly move to (or at this point, keep) banking online.

Some might say my predication that mobile banking application use will skyrocket is a bit 2010. And ATMs — if you took me back to the '80s so I could suggest that more people will use these rather than go up to a teller — then maybe I'd be offering something insightful.

So instead, I'll cheat a little bit. I'll make the prediction that, yes, while we'll see use of all of these banking service channels grow in 2014, with mobile banking applications continuing to be the most rapidly growing access point for financial services, the real advancement will come as all these channels start "speaking" with each other.

This will happen in several different ways, including in traditional service delivery and in the delivery of targeted marketing.

For example: Imagine that you're depositing a check at an ATM — without an envelope, of course, as the ATM will be enabled for check image capture. This year, rather than automatically getting a printed receipt, you'll also more often get the option to have the receipt "pushed" to your mobile device.

This message might let you know that your deposit has gone through and that based on your banking profile, the bank wants to offer you a special interest rate on a line of credit. And to take advantage of this offer, all you need to do is follow a link to start completing an application ...

But wait — you get a phone call while completing the application on your phone. No worries, once you check your email at home, you find that your bank has sent you a link to the halfway-done submission so that you can finish filling it out.

With these advances in both technology and connectivity, banks and financial institutions will be able to service and interact with their clients far more effectively ... but will they be able to do it reliably?

As more people start using banking apps to make deposits and bill payments, we'll see transaction volumes soar. And given customers' demand for a friction-free banking experience between the all of a bank's service channels, we can also expect to see exponential growth in transactions following non-linear paths (i.e., fewer straight shots from branch ATM to account and back).

So, here's my second prediction: Leading institutions will recognize the need to monitor transactions as they move along all their multiple "hops" (from ATM, to switch, to server, to third party backend, to mobile network, etc.) so that they can be alerted to transaction slowdowns and security threats before these can affect customer experience.

I believe that more financial institutions will see the limitations in their siloed and home-grown monitoring solutions, and will make the move to robust business transaction management software to counter "transaction-blindness."

BTM will allow institutions to resolve transaction issues more quickly (up to 75% by our studies), as this software can pinpoint problems no matter whether they arise from within an institution's own core banking environment (app, server, or backend) or that of a third party service provider.

As millions of customers start taking advantage of new banking services, FIs will take on greater transaction complexity. And they will look to new monitoring and analytics technology to help them gain the operational efficiency and reliability they need.

Read more about transaction processing.

Photo: brandon design

ATM Marketplace is pleased to present new blogger Brad Zaystoff, director of marketing at INETCO Systems Ltd. The company specializes in business transaction management software for the financial services and payments industry. Zaystoff will write about transaction management issues and solutions in his blog.