Banking on customer experience

Giants of the internet economy and social media — Google, Amazon, Facebook, WeChat and Twitter — as well as other big nonbank players such as PayPal, Apple and Samsung, have all moved into the payments space, chasing revenue expected to grow at the rate of 6 percent per annum between now and 2020.

In so doing they have changed the face of financial services forever. And their role continues to threaten to disintermediate traditional banks.

Meanwhile, a 2016 ING survey has found that the ATM is by far the most frequently used banking channel.

Trust is king in financial services and it is the trust customers have in each channel and each brand that ultimately will determine success in this battle of the giants for control of the payments space.

If any reader should doubt whether the digital age has arrived, think about this fact: Last November, the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba set a world record of $14.3 billion in online sales in a single day.

At a time when money and transactions can be so easily digitized and when there are so many nonbank providers of financial services, banks clearly are facing their most serious challenge ever. Their role as trusted safekeepers of our money is under intense scrutiny.

This is where customer experience comes in as a driver of the future of banking. Customers will go where trust is the highest and where convenience and user experience are the best. As the most frequently used channel, the ATM has a part to play in providing a safe and frictionless technology experience for customers.

As an example of the way innovation is changing ATMs under unheard-of competitive pressure, consider Irving, "the headless ATM." This Diebold prototype has no card reader, no pinpad and no screen!

Irving's aerodynamic appearance is matched by the fast cash it provides — in less than 10 seconds, using mobile phone prestaging for cash withdrawal.

This slashes three-quarters off the current average transaction time of 42 seconds. Which means that Irving's transaction time competes with Usain Bolt's world record in a 100 meter sprint.

Speed is a value for today's customers, part of a satisfying customer experience. It's that frictionless feel we're all after.

It's a fascinating time to be in financial services — a time of heightened competition and innovation. That's why I won't be missing this year's Bank Customer Experience Summit to take place in awesome Chicago in September.

This annual event will provide bank executives with powerful insights on trends and show them how to capture the loyalty and trust of a digitally savvy generation of consumers.

View the full agenda at: bankcustomerexperience.com/agenda

The speaker lineup for this high-level banking event is impressive and includes Citi, Capital One, Wells Fargo, Scotia Bank, BMO Financial Group, MasterCard, WSFS Bank and many more.

View all speakers at: bankcustomerexperience.com/speakers

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a banking summit for our times — I'll see you there.

photo istock