Digital transformation in banking post COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly one of the worst challenges faced by the banking industry. The current crisis has made it challenging for banks to manage their daily operations and customer expectations while dealing with the new normal. However, this pandemic has acted as a catalyst, accelerating digital transformation across business models, channels, and touchpoints. Banks, being one of the core pillars of the economy is among the major areas that have seen a huge digital transformation and technology adoption. With the right digital tools and technologies, the banking industry could mitigate the losses and economic damage that is being caused by the coronavirus and can even find the right strategies and measures to recalibrate for the future. Here is how digital transformation is helping the banking industry.

Cloud adoption

In the digital world post-COVID-19, the banking industry has to deal with increasing customer expectations, ever-evolving technologies, and the emergence of new business models. To ensure their business continuity and viability in this digitally advanced and competitive landscape, banks need cloud technologies. As more and more customers are encouraging digital transformation, all the banks have to migrate their current applications to the cloud to ensure that their services are secure and accessible to their customers via multiple platforms. Cloud technology enables banks and other financial institutions to scale according to their needs, launch new products and services while keeping costs and operational risks low. Thus, cloud adoption brings in more efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and enables banks to stay flexible and agile in the new normal. 

Leading cloud solution providers like Speridian Technologies help banks and other financial institutions adopt best in class solutions to meet industry needs and to satisfy the demands of your customer base in this digital era. Speridian’s Beacon is an industry-leading suite of banking solutions that caters to various needs, such as Core Banking, Loan Management, Loan Origination, Credit Monitoring, Collection solutions, Banking Analytics, and Financial inclusion solutions. Beacon helps accelerate the digital transformation journey of financial institutions and helps them stay relevant in the digital age.

Digital workspace

Almost all the sectors, including the banking industry, is taking several safety measures like suspending large-scale gatherings, making arrangements for remote working, segregating teams, establishing a central task force and even refreshing their external-vendor-interaction policies to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. With remote working and work-from-home on effect in banks, employees are multitasking at a much greater level, handling multiple tasks and using several work-related applications on multiple devices. Moreover, they face the challenge of communication and data transmission while working from home. This not just affects the productivity but also the work experience of employees. This is why it is critical for banks to bring forth comprehensive digital workplace planning to enable sharing, management, communication, collaboration, governance, and controls to achieve higher overall business performance. 

Internet of Things

Today, as billions of smart devices are connected to each other, IoT is in its most disruptive form. The applications of IoT have penetrated several sectors and banking is no exception. One of the main areas in which IoT will play a huge role is in customer management. For years, one inevitable thing that we have all faced in banks is waiting in long queues. Bust as social distancing norms and COVID-19 precautions gain importance all over the world, the customers would expect more sophisticated and safe methods to accommodate customers waiting in the bank. With the help of smart IoT devices and advanced Machine Learning algorithms integrated with the bank’s operational infrastructure, the banking industry can deliver excellent customer support. For instance, the customer’s smartphone can act as a beacon for notifying managers when the customer enters the bank. IoT devices can send notifications and personalized messages as the customer arrives. These devices can also give real-time feedback about the status of their meeting with the executive and notifies them when it’s their turn. IoT is also taking digital payments to the next level that are not just fixated around Personal computers and smartphones. As more devices obtain digital interfaces, digital payments are conducted on wearables such as smartwatches. This way, with just internet connectivity, IoT is creating new endpoints and opens up more possibilities for the banking industry to streamline their functions in the post-COVID-19 world.

Cybersecurity

It is certain that the world has gone digital and customers are evolving to be more reliant on digital technologies now more than ever. Even in the banking industry, in the past few months, there is a significant increase in the usage of electronic payment methods, internet banking, and mobile banking among customers. But as digital transformation has accelerated, so have the security risks. Cybercriminals today are using this heightened dependency on digital footprint and traffic to find vulnerabilities, steal data, or to siphon off money. Fraudsters and cybercriminals and luring customers via ‘phishing’ emails connected to COVID-19 and stealing their account details and money. It is not only customers that are at risk, there is increased risk with the bank staff as well. As employees adapt to this new digital environment and remote working policies, attackers target the vulnerabilities in their home network and launch malware and ransomware attacks. So, it is crucial that banks have to protect their entire digital operations without compromising on their efficiency. With the right Cybersecurity measures and strategies in place, banks could increase the breadth and depth of cybersecurity protection rapidly. 

The COVID-19 crisis is likely to significantly accelerate the shift to digital and refine the overall banking landscape in the coming days. To continue to deliver steady returns amidst these challenges, the banking industry needs to reimagine its business to stay relevant in the digital age. Banks will therefore need to successfully integrate these technologies and exploit their synergies to ensure future competitiveness. As a global business and technology solutions provider, Speridian Technologies, helps financial institutions modernize their business through digital transformation.