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What we see today as a booming industry that is totally focused on technological advancements started its journey way back in the 1980s with standalone PCs. The banking industry then migrated to LAN (Local Area Network) connectivity. Later, they graduated to core banking platform where their core banking solutions helped in increasing the comfort factor for customers with ‘anytime, anywhere’ banking. Today, they are totally focused on ‘Digital Transformation’ deploying high-tech technological solutions for increasing revenue, optimizing cost structure, enhancing the customer service experience, and managing enterprise risk.
Permeation of Technology with the Banking Sector
Once technology started permeating into the banking sector, banks brought about a change in their operations. They moved towards universal banking offering alternate working channels like smart cards, internet banking, mobile banking, and ATMs. They also started deploying HRM (Human Resource Management), process re-engineering, ERP management etc. to enhance their productivity and improve performance. Today, major emphasis is on paperless and cashless payment modes, which are made possible only because of technology.
The efforts put in by the banking industry as well as the government are paying off and the non-cash payments are picking up. Internet users are also going up both in urban and rural areas, which is helping internet banking. While efforts are on in the Indian subcontinent to enhance the core banking values and revamp the digital-first plans, Singapore has become a test bed in Asia for the use of new technology. Financial regulators and the government are working in tandem to take concrete steps to support innovation in the banking sector.
More and more people are motivated to use internet banking rather than visiting the branches. With the deep penetration of internet among the Indian population, this change is quite evident. India is a young nation with the country’s average age becoming 29 years by 2020. This young generation is very tech savvy and looks towards the internet for all their queries and information requirements. Thus, it is extremely important that the Indian banks work towards implementing a class-leading internet banking facility.
A Major Transformation in the Banking Industry
The banking sector of India is undergoing a vast transformation. There are new players in the arena and this has made the game much more competitive. To stay ahead of others, one needs to adopt BI (Business Intelligence) and analytics. It not only helps in driving their profitability, ut also increases control and transparency over banking business. In case of Indian banks, the ADF (Automated Data Flow) initiative has helped in submitting consistent and correct data between banks and RBI without the possibility of any kind of manual intervention.
When we talk about major transformations in the banking industry, Virtual Assistants (VAs) deserve a special mention. VAs are changing the way in which customers communicate with banks. Many banks are integrating VAs as a core part of their technologies so that they can respond quickly to simple customer queries. Readers who find it hard to believe that VAs can do a lot of wonders for the banking industry can check out this white paper, which gives a brief insight into the multi-fold benefits of virtual assistant for enterprises.
Technology can also be used in risk management, information security and for better customer management. These technological advancements and innovations are leading to an era of reforms and liberalization in the banking industry and are bringing about a positive change in the sector in a big way.