What do #AmazonGo, #Uber, #AirBnB, #Revolut, and #Transferwise have in common? Beyond offering groceries, transportation, hospitality, or financial services, they offer an experience in which friction and payment do not exist.
What do most #banks have in common? They offer more or less the same products, in which friction and payments are the focus of the customer’s experience.
These days, customers seek instant, frictionless and rewarding experiences. Either you have it and offer it, you win! Or you don´t, and it’s game over.
Every day a new #FinTech arrives on the banking scene. Why? There is money to be made. Yes. There is talent, indeed. But, there is mostly friction, which means opportunity.
New entrepreneurs (BTW, have you noticed how many gray-haired entrepreneurs surround you?) show up daily and decide to create frictionless experiences and further challenge incumbents.
What is their success secret?
· A mobile-first (if not only) mindset
· All on data and social media
· A simple mono-product
· Little or no infrastructure, so no need to migrate to cloud of have an APIsition strategy, “cloud” and “API” were godmothers at their christening.
How do banks still exist? What is the bank of tomorrow?
Ask #Nokia. Today, a resurgent Nokia is profitable by giving access to a unique asset built through years and years of investment: a fantastic portfolio of patents.
What if the bank of tomorrow changes its traditional “customer ownership” paradigm and replaces it with “customer access?” Banks will struggle to win the expertise game but can protect and strengthen their position as reference point, assets custodian, and payment rails provider. They have been building these assets for years and have all the expertise, knowledge, and recognition.
Some future-focused banks have already embarked on this route, while still fighting the customer experience battle. APIs are now open to third parties (look at #BBVA and watch it in action).
The new banking paradigm will need orchestration and essential mastery of #InnovationAndTechnology to make it happen effectively and efficiently. Game on.
