As technology continues to forge changes in banking, it is also offering banks a perfect, though small and closing, window to a thriving digital future, says global management consulting and professional services company Accenture.

Now is not the time to wait and see what happens, Accenture said in its new report entitled “Banking Technology Vision 2017”. Banks can direct today’s technology innovation to shape the industry, their workforce and their partnerships in ways that find value in the disruption and deepen their role in consumers’ lives.

Trend 5  - The uncharted

Pioneer new bank rules of engagement yourself, or risk being regulated out

What lies ahead for banks is, in many ways, a blank page. Major aspects of the future are waiting to be mapped out. Fast-movers will pioneer—and reap the advantages of—the uncharted terrain and steer resulting new behaviour. Proactive banks will be the ones to help reshape the industry, set new standards that competitors will be expected to follow, redesign processes to be on pace with change and form innovative cross-industry partnerships that capitalize on technologies for the good of people, progress and profits.

Trend 4  - Design for humans

Rethink customer journeys which now run inside and outside the bank

Bankers are beginning to recognize the importance of adapting for unique human behaviour to shape the quality of the customer journey and the effectiveness of technology solutions. Designing technology capabilities to fit unique human behaviour and customer experience takes on new meaning in the face of modern, digital banking models, such as ecosystem platforms. Within such models, the amount of time that banks have to sway consumers grows shorter and shorter. Design-cantered thinking must be surgically precise. Interactions are hardwired into the technology. As design thinking changes, the bank’s technology must be agile.

Trend 3 - Workforce marketplace

On-demand talent as a true banking innovation

Banking in the digital economy requires innovation at speed, sustained by a lean core workforce with built-in flexibility and scalability. It means embracing freelance workers and open talent marketplaces that offer broader access to sought-after skills, knowledge and experience to organize around problems quickly and maximize efficiency. Identifying and making the right staff roles appropriate for a more agile, yet compliant, approach can help produce a truly impactful workforce and a bank fit for the digital revolution.

Trend 2  - Ecosystem power plays

Platforms are the ties that bind bank people, partners and technology

Banks are increasingly integrating their core business functionalities with third-party platforms to help customers achieve their goals. It’s a smart play for banks in carving out their digital futures and growing business. Of course, it means a new way of thinking and running the bank—designing future value chains, choosing the right partners, retooling workers, protecting the brand and engaging with customers to increase loyalty.

Trend 1  - AI in the new UI

Readying for banking’s shift from mobile-first to AI-first

Artificial intelligence (AI) in banking is not new. Banks are already using AI in heavily-manual processes for accuracy, efficiency, speed and cost benefits. What is new, however, is the move of AI beyond process to interaction. The next stage of AI in banking will be toward simple and smarter interfaces: drawing on machine learning that adapts to data and interactions to improve areas like fraud detection, and tapping AI-enabled tools (like centralized platforms/assistants or messaging bots) to better converse with and offer services to customers in the front-office. Relying on AI for some internal and external interactions will help elevate the customer experience and move staff to more judgment-based and higher value added roles. – TradeArabia News Service