Good Day!
This is in continuation to my teaser earlier on my experiments with experiences.
I am throwing a pebble in the pond and ruffling a few feathers but I feel it is always better to have a constructive discussion to redesign the future….
This topic has intrigued many and I am sure over the last 10 months or so, we have been hearing of the so called “New Normal”. The industry leaders and Gurus talk about an era which would be led by a DIGITAL New Normal.
The “Normal” of the future is envisaged to be having the digital world come to life. A world where interactions are driven by the Video Conferences, Touchless business functions etc. etc.
I agree to disagree with this thought.
I agree that this entire episode of the Pandemic is both unfortunate and devastating for a lot of business and economies. It has crippled well oiled businesses running for hundreds of years like hospitality, travel etc. However, on the other hand, it has hastened the adoption of digital by a couple of years. The business functions which were hampered, quickly adapted and experimented on new ways of working like using Teams for meetings, electronic files and e-signatures for review of physical files, app based ordering of veggies and staples etc.
Things changed… Conferencing platforms, online movies, eShopping, eBanking benefitted from this episode. Organisations gave up physical offices in lieu of this. Infact, many a governments and tax authorities imposed DIGITAL TAX and in turn made the most out of this.
What am I trying to imply through all this. And how has it anything to do with banking.
My point.
In the past there have been such events.. The Black Death, The Spanish Flu, Asian Flu, Ebola, SARS etc. Each time the human race evolved victorious.
“Humans are Social Animals” and with all these, we learned, evolved and got back to the socially normal way of working. We did not shy away and sit at our homes. We did not stop embracing people we meet. A warm hug in some cultures is the way you greet. A handshake is still the norm and the way you shake hands goes a long way to determine your intent.
All of this goes to highlight one thing… Humans stumble, fall, evolve and eventually get back to the way that they were programmed to be… WARM and IN-TOUCH, literally. Just slightly more enlightened with each experience.
Getting back to my point.
I feel this pandemic has taught the importance of friends, family, kids, parents, professional connects, holidays, festivals. In short, the importance of social interactions and balancing the work and pleasure.
So far they have had too much of work. It is time for the balancing act and people to have some pleasure. Pleasure with friends and family.
Hence, irrespective of the culture and geography that one is in, the entire system would bounce back. The loaded spring effect, would make the things bounce back stronger. People have had too much of staying at home.
I see the travel and hospitality industry getting back much stronger. Obviously, with the right measures in place. The parties would be wilder, festivals grander, holidays rejuvenating and marriages and birthdays, grander.
Banking would also see a new light. While the concepts of e and vKYC have been approved by the various ministry of finance and central banks, they would be seen as an alternate channels as any other. It would be an alternate to portals and mobility/ agent based onboarding. It would go a long way in financial inclusion, which many an economies so badly miss. Malaysia, Kenya, Vietnam, India would benefit a lot by these norms.
I feel, the day to day functioning on the bank would jump back to the OLD NORMAL with a few enhancements. With masks for the mean time, people would still like to interact in person. The corporate relationships would have relationship managers playing a much more important role and I think, it is a brilliant opportunity for them to kindle those personal ties that everyone is so genuinely craving for.
Would the branches be shut…. NO!
Branches would evolve. They would no longer be just teller or generic operations. Those can be moved to digital. The branches would mostly be places for social interaction. A place where you can sit, enjoy a cup of coffee with the empathetic bank employee, look at future investments and finally close a deal in a more congenial environment. EMPATHETIC is what the new branch would be.
While people can still utilise the Open Banking for availing personal unsecured loans, for secure loans they may still like someone Human to suggest the right product.
This episode has also led to a lot of insecurities in the minds of people. Banks would play an important role in eliminating these and making the clients to plan for the future. After all, for a layman, Banks know how to handle their as well as others money. Banks can actually “benefit” from this situation. With a lot of empathy and consultative mindset, designed for the customer policies and procedures can be implemented resulting in a win win for both.
In a nutshell, the New Normal is not entirely Digital. Digital would definitely be a way of life moving forward. However, the basic human nature of socialising would prevail. And even maybe in a bigger way.
These are however, my thoughts from my experiences.
