Covid-19 forced many employers to attempt remote working. It forced them to think critically about tools they could use to help their workers enhance productivity. Schools favored online classes, mobile banking boomed, and customer service continued interacting with customers from home.
Although many financial institutions survived the digital tsunami, it was clear that change is inevitable and the future… erratic. Institutions are now exploring strategies and systems to overcome obscure challenges going forward.
Here are five major trends that most people think will dominate the financial industry in the near future.
Modernized systems
In 2020, outdated core systems could not handle the high volume of traffic and transactions, and most companies struggled to keep track of their workforce’s progress. This challenged financial companies, prompting many institutions to try and modernize their systems.
Institutions must continue upgrading their systems to enhance productivity and efficiency. Top trends expected include automated accounting, cloud-based accounting, and the adoption of blockchain.
Beyond Cash
Cash transactions were fluctuating before 2020, especially in Asia and Europe. In 2020, cashless transactions increased by 27% in the US only. Many consumers have been accustomed to cashless transactions, and they claim they’ll continue using contactless transactions even after the pandemic.
Financial institutions are designing more complex apps to help end-users conduct their businesses easily. It’s highly likely that they’ll continue to modernize systems and invest in artificial intelligence, data, and analytics tools.
Personal Insurance
Faced with a major health crisis, economic distress, and an uncertain future, people sought more personalized insurance options to satisfy their needs. Health insurance companies offered premium support to reduce costs in non-essential strategies, auto insurance gave refunds and discounts, while others used analytics to provide more personalized services.
In the near future, personal insurance companies will divert offline marketing strategies to online to cut costs and offer more competitive pricing to meet the demand.
Increased Remote Worker innovations
Covid-19 has helped many companies to realize the power of remote workers. While many struggled to keep employees engaged, connected, and productive, others devised drastic solutions to prevent them from dwindling.
Although these solutions helped employees improve productivity to some extent, internet connectivity issues, security concerns, technology issues, and other limitations still hindered work progress.
Companies seeking work-from-home solutions should also consider the workers’ need for reliable high-speed connectivity, devices with high computing capacity, and responsive insights to serve their customers better.
Technological Innovations
The pandemic also introduced an uncertain atmosphere where only innovation could move us forward. There was a great need for technological advancements to propel the financial industry back to form.
One major sector that greatly improved is mobile banking. With more secure payment methods like blockchain, buying digital assets has become easier.
Companies are also looking to invest in technologies that could potentially determine the future of the internet of things, business, and trade.
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