Yesterday I brought to you some of the best thoughts from Day One of the Bank Innovation conference held last week in San Francisco. It was a great event filled with some of the sharpest minds in financial innovation. Today, I bring you some of the best ideas from Day Two, plus a few of my closing thoughts.
Channel Agnosticism: Being Everything to Every Customer
“Multi-channel strategy is solving issues that exist in a single channel world…Think full service vs. self service, not traditional vs. alternative (channels)”
—Ginger Schmeltzer, SVP, Digital Channel Management, SunTrust Banks
“Be the right things to the right people in the right channel…Focus on optimization, not migration…” Think in terms of an analogy to eating:
- Snacking- wherever, whenever = check your balances, transfers
- Lunch- diverse, habitual and regular = online banking, bill pay
- Fine dining- staff assisted = important and meaningful decisions”
—Geoff Knapp, Vice President, Online Banking & Consumer Insight, Fiserv
“Mobilize and optimize– don’t miniaturize…Continuously evolve the experience as devices change…so many mobile capabilities to leverage– maps, GPS, messaging, speech input, camera, video, etc., etc.”
—Brian Pearce, SVP, Head of Retail Mobile Channel, Internet Services Group at Wells Fargo & Co
My Closing Thoughts
- There continues to be a tremendous amount of innovation in the payments and transaction space, both from within the banking industry and from disruptive forces outside the industry.
- Several speakers talked about moving beyond the efficient utility of flawless execution to creating more engaging experiences.
- There was also increasing talk of creating more consistency in functionality and experiences across multiple channels (web, mobile, apps, mobile web and “real life”)– what Steve Jobs would have called an “ecosystem”.
- Accordingly, financial institutions are beginning to integrate Big Data into the ecosystem (and vice versa), but most have a long way to go.
- Most financial institutions are still in the early stages of integrating digital marketing and social media into their overall strategies, and many are still struggling with more basic concerns of sales and revenue growth, talent management and trying to figure out how to take market share from one another.
- As far as I know, I was the only person in the room with a background in wealth management. I continue to be energized by how much white space there is to explore at the intersection of leadership, advice and technology.
Related articles
- Where Banking Meets Innovation: Innotribe (bradleyleimer.com)