With an on-demand philosophy ruling the world of finance these days, the top 20 things we'd like to see from bank technology offerings in the next 20 years are, not surprisingly, more customer-focused than they are technically oriented. But they're all intended to get banks thinking about how to use technology to interact with partners, customers and, yes, even competitors.
There are now 127,961,479 unique Web sites on the Internet. Only one of them is yours. You could make it an entryway into an informational treasure trove as enticing as Aladdin's Cave, or as useless as www.tartarsauce.com, according to Netcraft. Always give the customer just a little more than he asks for, which will keep him coming back for more. With that as the guiding principle, here are our 20 picks for what the next 20 years should look like.
* 1 *
The Sublime: Call it medical banking, financial/healthcare partnership, or Doctors and Dollars for all we care. It's time for the financial services industry to take the healthcare industry by the scruff of the neck and develop comprehensive electronic payment/claims solutions; the upside for everybody is astounding. Daunting, yes, but those who claim "Healthcare is complicated" in hopes consumers will go away are those who have a vested interest in keeping it that way.
* 2 *
The Ridiculous: No more dancing George Washingtons and Abe Lincolns on Web portals like Yahoo Mail, advertising mortgages, lines of credit, or anything else too good to be true. Anybody who would click on the Two-Prez Softshoe, and any broker who uses it as their "come on in" gimmick, is probably not anybody you want to do business with.
* 3 *
No more egregious currency conversion fees at ATMs. Nobody under the age of 90 believes an extra $5 "just covers our costs."
* 4 *
Remember Kris Kringle's recommendation in "Miracle on 34th Street": that a Macy's customer should go to Gimbels if the need cannot be met at Macy's. Cross-refer each other using your Web sites. You'll gain a surprising amount of loyal customers.
* 5 *
Get going on mobile banking and payments. Yesterday. Mobile banking within your own domain is a nice shtick, but unless we can make transactions where we want, when we want, and how we want, it's of limited utility.
* 6 *
Hire some news guys. Stories and crises of overriding interest like the subprime meltdown and its aftershocks don't call for reassuring press releases to the daily newspaper; they call for straight-shooting information from their trusted bank, right on the homepage. Investors and customers vote with their feet, so facing things head on-even if they get ugly-is still preferred.
* 7 *
Make more financial advice available on your Web site instead of just hawking your low rates. Display it prominently. Real nuts-and-bolts basics about credit, how some investments work and portfolio strategies would bring people in-and likely keep them there for awhile.
* 8 *
Make electronic bill pay at most a 48-hour function. Five days of float is four days too many.
* 9 *
Share customers' data with them before they need it. A customer's credit score isn't a poker hand to hide from them. Provide them that information any time they want to look at it; it's their data and everybody's making money off it except them.
* 10 *
Instead of a toaster, how about a cell phone? Split subsidization of the cell phone or Blackberry-or whatever whiz-bang device that emerges in the next 20 years-with the mobile provider, with your software built in. Virtually guarantees a two-year relationship with your customer.
* 11 *
Tighten your lines of communications with your payment processors and clearing houses. If a customer's account is affected through no fault of their own-like the Postal Service maw chewing up a check-do not assume they will be understanding when they get late payment reminders. If technology can automatically ding them in their statement, it can automatically inform you they should be held harmless. They will not be amused if you foul this up.
* 12 *
Get real friendly with Firefox. The open source browser is already a gateway to some very interesting collaborative financial applications (think Wesabe). Know the browser inside and out; make your site compatible with it if it isn't already.
* 13 *
Online banks and brokerages have eliminated any advantage retail banks have in not offering free non-emergency one-click money transfers. Everybody in the pool!
* 14 *
Have the bank CEO start his own blog-it's what everyone wants to read anyway. If the CEO can't share some pertinent thoughts about how his or her bank is navigating the currents of the market, then maybe I don't want to share some of my money with which to do it.
* 15 *
Provide more transparency around loan repackaging methods. As the clothing store guru Sy Sims used to say, "An educated consumer is our best customer." If we feel like we know what's what in the big picture, we are less antsy when things get turbulent.
* 16 *
Partner with automakers to make EZ-Pass fobs standard equipment; eliminate toll booth congestion.
* 17 *
Provide more advocacy from financial services on an encryption key management standard. As end devices proliferate, this niche will be a crucial choke point in securing your network and reaching SOA nirvana. Vendors are working on it now, but would appreciate more input from leading verticals.
* 18 *
Allow account holders to trade currencies from your site. Allowing individuals to trade currencies is the ultimate endorsement of a global competitive ethos.
* 19 *
Accept that even some of your most tech-friendly customers will want to use paper for some things, and accommodate their needs in ways that simultaneously expand e-transactions. A case in point: small-business owners who need records for accounting purposes, and don't want the onus of printing everything themselves. Vanguard has a good idea here. They eliminate custodial fees for low-balance account holders who eliminate paper statements, yet provide a year-end paper statement for the tax man.
* 20 *
It's time for the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series. It has nothing to do with banking, and we're not Cubs fans, but they've been waiting since 1908. It's just time.
