Favoring fashion in Services

When you see anybody using her iPhone or wearing a Prada outfit, you think about fashion, status, and related things like that. Bank Services can be in that fad.  Can anyone see such a thing applied to banks? Maybe the answer can pop up in thousands of different ways.  Out there are hordes of millennials and other older technology lovers who want the services the easy way and be considered as very valuable collectible pieces for their banks, in the same way, they impulse those services like a fashion trend.

It's clear that they do rely on their expensive gadgets to access banking services. FISERV conducted a survey in 2013, where they found that Millennials use more primary banking services than other generations. For they Debit Cards, Savings Accounts and Mobile Banking is top priorities.  The  "Trends in Consumer Mobility Report" from Bank of America revealed that out of 1,000 U.S. adults, 47% admitted they would not last a day without their smartphone. About 85% of survey respondents check their mobile devices a few times a day, the report concluded. And the amazing "Believe or Not" the fact is that 96% of adults between 18 and 24 years old believe using a mobile phone is more imperative than using the Internet or taking care of personal hygiene. 

The same report shows that around 84% of interviewees declared to have visited branches but an astonishing 75% of them completed their transactions online or with a mobile device. It´s important to understand that everybody is wary about the importance of financial decisions.

No matter how much the Millennials depend on technology, they look for trustful advice. Something that leads them to branches. It's imperative for banks to bringing financial instructional programs in the form of seminaries, continuous education programs, and have the right people at hand to answer specific questions. This should be the best complement to FAQs and Chat on Line. For people, is very important to set financial goals and be advised by trusted financial sources such as branch employees. Under this point of view, the branch´s personnel will be fully trained in financial advisory, thus, the common monetary old branch transactions should be solved by other means but human intervention from the bank side.

So, what is "cool" in banking services? What does attract Gen Y to the bank? Advisory? Financial safety based on good advice? Which online services are useful on one side and profitable in the other? The profit comes from a long relationship with customers, so, does any loyal customer guarantee profitability? And every answer will find mobility as a part of it.

Customization in services can play a key differentiation among contestants for the major, prize: millennial. Since they, Gen Y, use mobile technology extensively, it is logical to think about customized service platforms and services, ranging from personalized debit cards to omnichannel experience.

Usually, we can distinguish 3 kinds of players; global banks, country banks, and small or local banks. Commonly, global banks are the first to adopt new technology. Old legacy systems often mean anchors that do not allow full deployment of new services without an enormous effort, sometimes with a bit of trial and error, the bad news is that big banks usually own those old legacy systems. Country Banks are committed to new technology and innovation in different levels of activity, but small ones are not stars for carrying out innovation as first players, they do rely on proven technology, that's because they can not afford to fail in this field, but in contrast, they use technology and services that has been 100% tested and guarantee a good user experience.

No matter if the brand new service and technology promise to catch up a lot of customers. In the end, the everlasting services and technology must be reliable. And it´s clear that when a successful service or technology emerges, it is "on fashion", and continues to transform into a classic, a commodity. Meanwhile, any effort addressed to understand Gen Y will be the best investment for future profit.