A recent multinational study by the Cloud Security Alliance showed that financial services firms are improving adoption of the cloud. The top 3 reasons stated for cloud adoption in financial services were: Flexible infrastructure capacity (68%) Reduced cost for provisioning (63%) Reduction in TCO (57%) The top 3 wish-list items revolved around audit, compliance, forensics and encryption. The top applications that […]
How should we arrive at the best match for mobile in retail? How are customers using their mobile phones, and are we gearing up to meet their expectations? In the frenzy of the digital revolution, we’ve all probably heard about the concept of retail clienteling . The world is abuzz with meeting retail customers where they are, interacting with them on […]
Predictive analytics and big data are critically important today both for customer engagement and operations. As competition heats up in the age of mobile and connected devices, we need to innovate rapidly to present the right offers in real time, and also improve customer engagement. This means we need to use predictive analytics in real time, rather than models being run offline, […]
As mobile takes off, there are predictions by Forrester on how the mobile gap will become insurmountable for some, while some will lead the charge. In addition, one simple fact remains – we are still using mobile as way to push promotions and deals, instead of creating customer experiences. That’s not wrong, and it’s keeping in line with traditional marketing […]
In a recent article on American Banker (Don’t Give Away the Store When Enabling APIs), I brought out three best practices for banks to adopt as they think of leveraging the Fintech and Banking API phenomenon. Even as Banking API are being touted as a must for banks, the common position of argument is from the perspective of emerging companies and […]
The Retail Design Institute’s 2014 Store of the Year award was presented to a concept for Umpqua bank! Some banking myths were definitely broken here. What’s really going on with banking in this digital age? what kind of transformation is in order for retail branches? While a lot has been said about this trend – operational efficiency, the death of […]
Every business needs loyal customers. Loyalty means customers choose to buy products from us rather than our competition. Promotions and discounts are universally followed to garner this loyalty – incentivizing customers to buy from us through cash value rather than creating any long term differentiation. Sometimes, and much more effective, these offers are a means to get customers to try out […]
Discussions on customer experience and customer engagement are everywhere. Technology vendors as well as service providers and consultants are all jumping on the bandwagon with the promise of targeted and contextual experience for customers. Consider these targeting scenarios: Following up on website visits with an email with an offer on the products that were browsed Sending mobile coupons on the […]
The Internet of Things holds fascinating possibilities. Connected homes, better healthcare, proactive equipment maintenance, smarter shopping, contextual customer service, and the list goes on. In Thingalytics, Dr. John Bates provides very interesting examples from all walks of live about how the phenomenon of connected things is poised to change how we live our lives and do business. It’s a must […]
The media is full of reports on how banks are under threat from upstart and technology companies that are disrupting the banking model. Thrown into the mix are Millenials, the mobile revolution, branch efficiency, P2P payment companies, P2P lending, and many others. Terms like digital disruption and customer experience are sprinkled liberally to drive home the analyses. However, we need […]
The world, especially financial services, has been abuzz with the discussion of how Blockchain is set to transform everything. How should we need to tackle the adoption of Blockchain? What is the alternative to Blockchain? Is this discussion draining away management attention from other important things that are set to disrupt these industries? First, the claim of complete transparency that Blockchain provides is […]
I’m sure every one of us is looking at how our banks are going to respond to the winds of change. Disruption and disinter-mediation is in the air. The following is a summary of an article on this topic on BAI Strategies. The most important task for banks in the age of Digital Disruption in Banking is to look beyond the traditional […]
What happened to URLs such as www.facebook.com/yourbrand? Is the great promise of building a community through social media effectively over? Just as brands were starting to figure out how to improve their social investments ROI, and how to attribute success to their social media efforts, prominent networks such as Facebook have pulled the rug out from under our feet – […]
The term digital strategy has to be the most confused term ever. Is it digitization where we try to convert existing processes to the digital format? Think document capture, automated workflows etc. Is it development of digital channels such as websites, mobile and social media where everything online or latest is considered the world of digital, and everything else considered “not digital”? Is it […]
The world is mobile today, and having a mobile strategy is critical. However, a vast majority of mobile apps see dismal adoption rates. Lets understand why: First, it is critical to understand that every app must provide tangible value to the user. And value comes from primarily two sources – utility, or entertainment. Consider a banking app, the CVS app, Amazon, Facebook, […]