New Revenue Feature Editorial

How is the Mobile Wallet Augmenting and Replacing Traditional Banking

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Consumers today are doing everything on the go. Mobile access to information, eCommerce, banking, social networking, etc. is a priority for users and carriers who cannot maintain the right level of data access will be left out in the cold. What does this mean for traditional retail banking and business models deployed by these organizations?

In short, traditional banks have to change with the market in order to meet the demands of the consumer base. The challenge is that the financial services sector is changing very rapidly and the future outcome is increasingly difficult to predict. One thing that is for certain in all outlooks is the move toward mobility. Alcatel-Market Advantage conducted end-user research into the eCommerce and mobility space. The company discovered that as long as privacy was protected, this platform offered significant promise. 

Along with privacy, the financial services sector must also be able to protect information and secure transactions, but that is assumed. The harder part is assuring customers that these expectations have been met. Banks most certainly have to successfully implement a variety of technology solutions in order to meet the consistent demand in the market. In doing so, they are more likely to realize the objectives of continuous performance improvement, compliance, security and customer loyalty through consistent service, business processes and key interactions. The ability for customers to choose their mode of interaction with the bank is changing the way the banks must approach the customer base. 

Clients want the freedom to contact a personal advisor through live video stream or receive detailed interactive advice that may be aided by customer relationship management (CRM) technologies while also co-browsing web-based resources. Banks may want to offer video support from contact center personnel, which means they would have to hire and train those who can access multimedia tools online. 

As this technology will be key to maintaining a person touch in remote banking, the financial services sector will have to invest significantly in this space. Retail banks will have no choice but to implement a communications network architecture that helps to enable agile communications between the various components of the distributed organization. This will demand a shift from legacy TDM networks to more flexible and scalable IP-based networks that have the capacity to support new modes of working and multiple media options. 

The reality is that mobility and the mobile wallet is changing the way consumers conduct business across the board. Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) can help the retail banking industry to make the necessary internal changes to support this trend to meet customers where they are and where they want to find their financial information.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Erin Harrison