Adrenaline presents insights at Community Bankers of Iowa Peer Connection Forum to help community banks reimagine banking and brand experiences in a disrupted marketplace.
On June 1, D. Christopher Howe, Adrenaline’s SVP of Experience Design, presented at the Community Bankers of Iowa 2017 Peer Connection Forum. In Omnichannel Banking: ?Is the Branch Dead?, Chris and Josh Banta of Data Business Equipment focused on how community banks can meet customer expectations and manage experiences across numerous customer touchpoints or channels. Whether it’s a mobile app, online banking, ATM, social media interactions or in-branch transactions, customers today demand an experience that is fresh and functional, innovative and interactive.
Probably the biggest challenge facing financial institutions today is how to respond to a disrupted marketplace. Most banks know that the way they’ve always done things won’t keep pace with customer demand driven by technological innovation. When properly deployed, technology can enhance customer engagement, but innovation doesn’t exist in a silo. Customized experiences that are propelled by brand strategy are vital. Howe says, “The customer journey is far more complex today as customers have increased choice through digital and physical channels. This choice provides the opportunity to leverage each channel for its strength, streamline business, and deliver an optimal experience. Integration points and consistency across channels becomes the challenge.”
Howe says that what we’re seeing is that it’s not just technology that’s driving disruption, but culture as well. “In our opinion, two primary drivers of change across all markets are technology and culture. There’s a unique relationship between the two. As technology changes the way we share information and interact with the world, it is also shifting culture and customer expectations.” Technology today impacts everything every consumer brand does and sets up a customer expectation for meaningful experiences everywhere a brand and consumer meet – both today and into the future.
What we’re witnessing is disruption across all industries and financial is now focused on catching up. Howe says, “There are massive potential opportunities our clients can realize if they evaluate the predictable aspects of their business. Uber, Netflix & Eatsa are great examples of emerging brands that redefined entire service categories. They were able to reimagine what an industry could be, and that’s a major advantage. Rather than being tethered by preconceived notions of legacy business models and systems, these disruptor brands are able to create without constraint.
But what about banking? Some of the biggest threats and challenges for the financial services industry are evolving beyond their legacy model. Howe says, ”We hear it all the time, ‘…We have always done it that way…’ Any existing brand that’s already in an industry is burdened by delivering a business model based on how they’ve always done it. For any industry, it’s a massive hurdle to jar yourself out of that kind of thinking, so that you can come at your industry from a fresh perspective and reimagine or reinvent it. But we can guarantee that some are saying that banking today is not an enjoyable experience. Those who can break free and reimagine the banking experience will change the industry.”
To learn more about responding to disruption and creating cohesive omnichannel experiences, contact Adrenaline at [email protected].
