It was a wave. Now it is a TSUNAMI. The Digital Tsunami. The digital revolution is becoming a big influence on any and every business on planet Earth. There are businesses which are the innovators who pave way for the rest to follow and accrue the unending benefits. Then there are the laggards who ‘wait and watch’ to make sure it is not another ‘passing fad’. And then there is another category which is willing to adopt the digital path but is plain skeptical to embrace it owing to reasons like security, consumer resistance to change and maintenance related to digitizing. An example of the same is the Banking industry.
Though there have been rare exceptions within, the banking industry has traditionally been on the slower side to embrace newer technology. The principal issue being that of security. It did take some time to overcome this skepticism and enter the age of technology driven banking which has made banking a pleasure for one and all. But, the banking world seems to have got stagnant with the initial upgrade when the rest of the world has already gone a few notches ahead. Banks are still in the ‘smartphone’ realm when the rest are innovating themselves with smart wearable devices.
The Wearable devices like any other innovation took time to become common. But with technology giants like Apple, Samsung, Sony, LG, etc. going all guns blazing into the wearable device segment with a gamut of products like the Apple watch, Google glasses, health band, etc. it is only a question of time before this already popular technology becomes ubiquitous. The banking industry is skeptical about the adoption of the wearable devices technology due to the anticipated customer resistance to the fledgling technology and security. But despite all these concerns wearables possess immense potential. The wearables take the bank closest to the customer that it ever has been with regards to the context and locality based offerings. The consumer resistance to new products and technology is part and parcel of a change. The consumers will start adopting the change once they get the feel of the better functionality, ease of use and most importantly the security.
Businesses are trying to be one up on their competitors by getting as close as they can to their customers by leveraging digital technology for an efficient and personalized CRM system. Banking cannot afford to disregard its always implicitly demanding yet security conscious customer. The wearables seem to be the answer for the banks to stay abreast with the customers for their short as well as long term demands. The banks may not be able to go with it right away but it is high time they start thinking on it because a change cannot be implemented overnight. Sooner the better, gone are the days when it used to be ‘Midlands or Barclays’.