FINTECH FOCUS: CONTEXTUAL BANKING
The banking app has potential to become customers’ #1 life management tool. But institutions must be careful not to ‘cross the line between help and intrusion’, warns Vipul Lalka from TD Bank. Here, he discusses the power of digital engagement and how to wield it with Matt Williamson and Ruby Walia from Mobiquity, and Hossein Rahnama of Flybits
Any time, any place, anywhere – there’s a wonderful world you can share… No, not the ad for Martini & Rossi, the famous Italian alcoholic beverage company that promoted its particular brand of vermouth with an incessantly annoying jingle in the 80s. In the context of financial services, ‘the right one, the bright [as in smart] one’ today is a description of our banking apps, which can transport us to a world of financial happiness and sort out our life admin at the same time, often by plugging into a mood-lifting universe of third-party tools. ‘Delight’ is an over-used word in the customer experience lexicon, but if a bank can use technology and partnerships to simulate the kind of feeling that Martini was hoping to induce – effortless pleasure – it must do more than the bog-standard.
56
TheFintechMagazine | Issue 22
Matt Williamson, global vice president of Mobiquity, the digital transformation consultancy, says it’s no longer sufficient to offer entry-level banking and financial services in our app-based and on-demand world. “App usage is a digital lifestyle enabler,” he says. “We’re moving beyond simple financial tools, like checking your balance or making a payment, and providing services such as personal fund management and other tailored advice. The bank app on our phones uses geolocation to identify where we might make a purchase. It knows, for example, if we’re at a garage and perhaps thinking about buying a car.” And, so, the argument follows, it should be intelligent and intuitive enough to pop up, in that very moment, with appropriate advice and financial options. Except – and here’s the rub – is it always appropriate for a bank to be doing that? Is the technology in fact in danger of creating moral jeopardy for institutions whose most valuable point of difference in a market of spontaneous gratification is that they can be trusted not to exploit us – especially since what powers these tools is our data? That’s the issue that innovative incumbents like TD Bank, in North America, have been grappling with, not least because there have been instances of ‘helpful’ contextual algorithms creating inappropriate suggestions with brand- damaging results. American retailer Target, for example, which tracked the consumer data it had access to, to predict where a customer was in their pregnancy, fell notoriously foul of contextual customer experience when it sent baby clothes coupons to an expectant teenager, who hadn't told her parents.
So, digital technology, by providing context-specific information, can tailor customer requirements to precise needs. The role of a financial service provider then becomes proactive rather than reactive. Needs are anticipated, desires are fulfilled, and value is added. But a line must be observed between being helpful and being intrusive.
In the early mobile days, we just offered value from a transaction perspective. Now, we have technology that creates far more meaningful context. But, take the wrong approach and you may cross the line between help and intrusion Vipul Lalka, TD Bank
“It comes down to value versus privacy,” says Williamson. “If something is unsolicited and we feel we’re being spied on, we’re not going to view it as a good customer experience. However, it’s a good experience if we’ve been helped to make a positive decision and achieve something that matches our needs – and in just a few clicks. Before, for instance, we would need to contact our bank, or lenders, and work out the best finance deal, then make the purchase maybe www.fintechf.com
