Mobility is transforming the financial services industry
Technology is a driving force for change. Customers’ and employees’ expectations are influenced by it, it’s enabling new competition and innovation, and it’s helping companies better understand customers, business
opportunities and risk exposure. Microsoft is helping financial services companies take advantage of these technological changes and grow their business with great mobile experiences, tools to be more customer-centric and by using big data to their advantage. We’re meeting with financial services firms this week at Sibos to talk more about how our technology can help them protect what they have and grow their companies. Financial services companies are transforming every aspect of their business and we’re helping them use technology to their advantage as they evolve to fully harness the digital era.
So today we’re talking about mobile innovation and how this can really benefit financial services companies. This is the future and it’s influencing how people do just about everything. It’s also raising peoples’ expectations for the companies they choose to engage – customers are now more likely to switch financial institutions based on satisfaction levels and user experience. And, financial institutions are racing to rationalize new mobile and social channels that are disrupting traditional channels like the physical branch.
To serve the always connected, financial institutions must connect with their customers through a seamless experience across channels. One of the primary areas for mobile innovation in banking is the move to extend online banking capabilities to a new generation of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps. This gives financial institutions the opportunity to reach new audiences, retain customers, and grow the bottom line.
We’re also working with companies on innovative mobile technologies designed for branch banking. In today’s branch environment, the ability to provide associates with the mobility to engage customers on a personal level is key. Imagine having the ability to receive a VIP alert, seamlessly greet the customer with a tablet, and quickly fulfill an account opening process via a touch-enabled device. Imagine front-line staff having the ability to greet customers in long lines, deal with their queries there and then with a tablet, or identify them so that when they are dealt with by another employee their requests are already logged in the system.
Windows 8 provides the technology to improve employee productivity, increase customer profitability and reduce operational costs within the branch. New Windows 8 form factors such as tablets, convertibles and all-in-ones, coupled with Microsoft Office, Lync and line of business apps that use customer relationship management and business intelligence tools, empower employees to provide faster resolution to customer needs within the branch and maximize every customer interaction as a sales opportunity.
Improving trader efficiency is a third area for mobile innovation in this industry. Data that is well-presented in a meaningful context vastly improves trading efficiency and accuracy. Shifting from machine-centric commands to natural human interactions helps optimize collaboration and transparency – and supports traders in describing trade floor opinion and market behavior to sales teams and clients alike. Windows 8, and Microsoft tools for collaboration and productivity, provide a platform for rich and intuitive content and mobility scenarios that meet stringent security and regulatory policies. Windows 8 enables a flexible trader desktop (premium real estate to be optimized for information that is critical to their business) ensuring traders are focused on what matters most - making the right calls. When milliseconds count, Windows 8 enables traders to quickly search for content, apps and data for immediate access.
Mobile banking, branch banking and trader efficiency are just three of the ways that financial services companies can take advantage of mobile innovation. And wherever Microsoft is investing, so are our partners. Today at Sibos several of our partners are announcing apps build for today’s mobile mindset. This is just one (but important) way that financial services companies can take advantage of mobile innovation to better serve their customers and to make employees more productive.
Be sure to check out what our partners SunGard, Temenos, Thomson Reuters, and FreedomPay, are all creating powerful apps for the financial service industry. Don't forget to look at this post on the Windows for your Business blog and our mobile financial services roundup press release for more on this news.
Stay tuned here for additional insight into our financial services work throughout the week. Tomorrow we’ll be talking about financial services companies’ move to more customer-centric business models and on Wednesday we’ll discuss how we’re working with companies to turn big data into useful business insight. Visit the Microsoft Business Newsroom for updates on how we are innovating with businesses around the world.