Making banks better
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http://www.cutimes.com/2015/11/08/virtual-reality-banking-gamifies-gte-financial?page=1
Virtual reality banking? Now that IS science fiction.
Virtual Reality
noun
- a realistic simulation of an environment, including three-dimensional graphics, by a computer system using interactive software and hardware.
- Dictonary.com
Back in early February 2016, Facebook uploaded a photo of CEO Mark Zuckerberg walking through what seemed like an army of VR headset wearing drones. The overall look and feel of the picture has been dubbed ‘disturbingly Orwellian’, but it’s easy to see why VR headsets are becoming so popular. By 2020, according to the study conducted by the Analysis Group and commissioned by Facebook, $14.6 billion in revenue is due to come from Virtual Reality based technology. That’s based on low adoption rates. It could be as high as $126 billion.
Looking at these figures, it’s a wondering why Banks and Financial institutions aren’t jumping at this opportunity? It seems, there are a number of challenges that are recurring for banks, especially in this technologically sophisticated era:
1. Consumer expectations.
Since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, our expectations of everything have changed. Everything from our local grocer to our favourite restaurant is relegated to the age of the dinosaurs if they have no online presence. Banks are no exception to this. We expect a more personal touch to everything and everything to be about us. The customer expects everything to be up-to-date about them. The demographic of millennials would be the best example of this. 66% of millennials say they would rather lose their sense of smell than give up their technology. If one is willing to lose one of their 6 senses for their phones, that’s an expectation that you will have to live up to.
2. Increasing competition
The advent of the Internet has given the ability to allow virtually anybody to enter the market and become a bank. Banks that have a digital presence can compete with Tier 1 banks on the basis that they know their customers better. The days of huge fleets of ATMs and everywhere branches needed for every bank are no longer here. Banks can complete with a cashless alternative and an intelligent spread of their network.
3. Revenue streams
The grand majority of banks garner revenue through traditional streams i.e. mortgages, loans, ATM fees etc. It’s becoming harder and harder for banks to gain revenue through the traditional means as the market is becoming quite competitive. For example, online banks like Rabo, Atom and Ally, provide many of their services with low, sometimes no fees. That’s hard to compete with. So, as a result, many banks are looking for new ways to gain revenue through newer, more novel and interactive means.
So, how can VR potentially change the game?
A completely immersive and engaging experience
The future of banking is moving towards a more self-service, automated platform. Plenty of banks are investing their capital in mobile apps, Internet banking and expanding their ATM fleet in order to remove the branch as the primary method of banking. Ergo, banks are trying to ensure that their apps and ATMs emulate the services in the branch. The keyword being ‘emulate’. In order to facilitate the transition from bricks and mortar branches to fully virtual branches, we need to be able to do more than what you can do in the branch. For now, both will work side-by-side, but we want to be able to avoid having to build brick and mortar branches in future. But, by using VR, we can combine a self-service platform with a more tactile feel of the branch. You can give the overall experience of the branch (seek advice for mortgages/loans, open accounts etc.) without having to make the investment in brick and mortar. In the future you could even go as far as to create artificial tellers using the motion capture technology currently used in Hollywood films like Avatar.
Pure segmentation
With VR, you can create more than segmented adverts on the mobile app. You can now create whole environments. Mobile apps have allowed adverts to be a twoway street, allowing us to interact with them unlike say a T.V advert or a billboard. VR can do even more, as seen with Google’s “Tilt Brush” (right). Objects, images, entire environments can be created virtually to suit the customer. Like any object in a virtual environment, templates can be created to suit certain segments. But the possibilities are endless. As banks begin to obtain more information from Big Data companies like Facebook, environments can be created based every aspect of the personalities such as hobbies for example. Any environment is possible.
Cheaper than bricks and mortar
Bricks and mortar is slowly beginning to disappear. We are now beginning to move online. VR can give you the Brick and Mortar feel without the major cost of not only building but maintaining the branches with manpower, light and heat etc etc. You can have a virtual branch which has no maintenance and can be coded and shaped however you like in an instant.
Still wondering how VR can address these challenges?
Read More
https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/13585/virtual-reality-banking-now-that-is-science-fiction
