In April, we outlined some of the most powerful forces reshaping digital banking. These include breathtaking growth in the role of mobile banking, unrelenting changes in technology, a crowded field of new competitors and digital disruptors, and rising expectations among customers and prospects.

Now we’ve taken a look at 2015 and predicted a dozen ways digital banking will change in the coming year.* At the center of these predictions is what Forrester calls the age of the customer: A 20-year business cycle in which the most successful enterprises reinvent themselves to systematically understand and serve increasingly powerful customers. To succeed in the age of the customer, digital bank executives must work with partners across their organizations to use business technology — which Forrester defines as technology, systems, and processes to win, serve, and retain customers — to deliver more compelling customer experiences to bank customers.   

You can read the full report with all of our digital banking predictions here. In the meantime, here’s a sample of two:

  1. Innovation will move to the top of the digital banking agenda. Rather than standing by and watching in awe as digital disruptors reshape their industry, leading eBusiness executives at banks will be inspired to think like disruptors and start taking digital innovation seriously. Only by obsessing about customers’ needs and using business technologies to deliver more compelling customer experiences can established banks hope to avoid being outflanked by new entrants or established competitors. We expect to see many more banks establish digital innovation teams and programs in 2015. Some will inevitably fail, but many will create new sources of value for bank customers. Smart digital executives will forgo a rigid and restrictive approach to innovation by embracing open innovation — a kind of ecosystem of innovation that involves multiple teams from inside and outside of the bank (see image below).
  2. Twice as many customers will shop for financial products via mobile touchpoints. Many banks continue to have too little in the way of marketing, merchandising, and product research tools available to prospects on tablets and smartphones — and too little mobile cross-selling to current customers. This will change: We predict twice as many customers will research financial products on their smartphones and tablets in 2015 compared to 2014. The percentage of customers who apply for a financial product via mobile will also grow — though not by as much — as more banks support this option for mobile-savvy consumers.

We are also making calls on what to expect in 2015 regarding how prospects will shop for financial products, how digital banking teams will use video and other media to educate and engage customers, and how digital banking teams will incorporate wearables and connected devices into their road maps.

If you want to know more about these trends, you can either download the full report or contact us. Do you agree with the above statements? In your opinion, what will happen in 2015? Let us know!

 

[The graphic below illustrates the increased opportunity that comes with open innovation]

*Alongside these 12 predictions about digital banking in 2015, we’ve also outlined actions that eBusiness executives at banks can take to respond to these disruptive forces.