June 10, 2008
Banking 2.0 - RIAs and SaaS for Banks and Financial Services - Part I
Back in April I was interviewed by the American Bankers Association (ABA) Banking Journal for a feature they were writing on how banks and financial services firms were beginning to adopt RIAs and modernize their web presence into a full-service channel. I explained how our clients have used RIA features to drive business and help enhance self-service capabilities. In the last month, I’ve seen several other news stories on similar topics.
RIAs
ReadWriteWeb noted the significance of RIAs to banking in their post about a survey of 1000 Facebook users (admittedly a young and tech savvy audience, but definitely the future of banking). Almost half of respondents said they would use secure gadgets for personal banking if their bank offered it. A little over one quarter said they would consider switching to another bank that offered Web 2.0 gadgets for online banking. With Gears or Adobe Air this could be extended to the offline world.
CNNMoney referenced Mint.com, an AJAX-based web application built for consumers to manage home finance - a service gap that banks have left open. Mint is particularly notable in how it delivers an RIA/Web 2.0 style experience that gets adults immersed in managing their finances the way teenagers immerse themselves in playing a video game. Mint is also highly viral - customers become advocates and evangelists for the services. This level of RIA user experience will be a requirement for any financial institution that develops their online presence.
Using RIAs and web services, financial institutions can integrate online banking, electronic billing and payment, and value-added services such as graphical tools, and cash flow forecasting into an end-to-end solution. Moreover, the same web services that push electronic banking and bill payment functionality to the online channel, can also push services to mobile devices, ATMs, teller stations and call centers. Reusable interface components can be built once and shared across these different channels. Componentized, re-usable UI will increase the probability of customers trying new services, reduce training / support, simplify regulartory compliance, and save significantly (as much as 85%) on application front-end development cycles.
Part II of this post will look at how banks and financial services firms can add SaaS into the mix with RIAs, to offer corporate customers, departments within organizations, and SMBs a diverse portfolio of services, that will effectively engage existing customers and lure new customers from other services.