up retail banking. Today, we can see the start of this trend through the use of
remote advisors over video into branches but, tomorrow, it will be remote
advisor to the lounge, study or mobile phone of the consumer at home.
The
fact that 3G telephones and Skype webcams allow you to connect visually with
friends and family is already commonplace. The fact that this has not been
extended to business services yet, surprises me.
But there are
some examples out there. For example, some Australian banks connect with
customers through home-based broadband due to the long distances between towns
and villages. There's a French bank that offers domestic broadband video
advisory services. And a UK bank trialled video services to 3G telephones last
year.
Therefore, if I were a clairvoyant, I would claim that videobanking
will be commonplace by 2012. But this will be a big challenge as banks will
need to think carefully about the style, presentation, look and feel of their
video-based services.
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
