More exacting integration of third party add-ons and features in ECM solutions bring with it a more effective way to facilitate interoperability between banks and their customers.
Support can come from both sides of the customer-bank relationship. Many consumers are turning to individual financial tools — like the Mint app — to better handle their day-to-day finances. Banks are looking at third-party platforms that might help them better understand customer behaviors and look for fraud or risk.
Many banks currently face concerns due to obsolete software that is behind both in its normal functions as well as its ability to work with other platforms. This disrupts the ability to balance profit and loss, striking a deeper discord within an organization.
Delivering Sector-Specific Features
Enterprise content management systems can be designed and implemented to boost the financial sector by specifically addressing gaps in companies of all sizes. Most gaps are a result of poor document management and an inability to properly track customers as they move through product cycles and the buyer’s journey.
Traditional document management creates multiple exposure points for any financial sector business, creating undue risk. These flaws also introduce inefficiencies because your staff will need to process and manually verify large amounts of information.
An ECM can provide integrated, unified management of products and financial documents including:
- Commission contracts
- Deeds of trust
- Escrow waivers and agreements
- Grant deeds
- Home inspection certificates
- Mortgages and related notes
- Powers of attorney
- Transfer deeds
- And many more
These benefits enable financial sector firms to take better care of their customers by adopting the services that customers demand. This interoperability yields improvements in payment options and security while reducing operational costs through a unified platform.
It also establishes a core line of technology at the heart of a company’s internal document management. This paradigm creates the baseline where all future advancements can plug in and ensure mission-critical security across the enterprise’s entire data warehousing and storage system.
“Fintegration” Grows as Banks Adapt
The old debate of banks vs. fintech providers is becoming a thing of the past as most brands look to interoperability as their best path forward. The new combination of traditional banks and financial technology is being called “fintegration” and is allowing established players to take advantage of the latest innovations.
At the end of 2015, as many as one-third of bankers[1] felt that interoperability and technology integration is the next stage for banking growth.
Enterprise content management platforms might be a top place to start for this integration because it would create a structure for each company to follow. Collaboration is designed to address problems, especially those that face fintechs looking to scale up and take on thousands to millions of transactions — plus record and collect all of the related data.
ECMs give startups a way to manage growth for startups while banks can use it to manage the data shared across its data systems. Interoperability is best achieved where there is a clear path for integration, data security is addressed from all platform connections and regulatory compliance is observed during every step.
Building a Frictionless Experience
Technology integration is often centered on the back-end of operations, but it can perform well for banks when focused on the consumer experience.
Customers operate across multiple channels and want a seamless transition between each method. Mobile apps deliver the same data and provide similar functions, but they can be optimized to present menus and buttons that allow consumers to quickly access functions.
Undoubtedly, banking leaders are now thinking of the major security and privacy concerns that come with each new channel, or a truly omnichannel experience. Interoperability will help financial companies test new user experiences and mange offers from a centralized platform.
ECMs can manage document delivery and overall adherence to proper regulations. It facilitates a testing and learning architecture that’s needed for the right development of the experience. Beyond just A/B testing, this allows you to make a variety of technologies available to consumers.
Using a system like an ECM will expose many new touch points for banks, and it will present them with both opportunities and highlight areas to guard against. The more touchpoints and services offered by a bank, the more friction that can occur.
What’s Next for Banks?
There is no crystal ball for the financial sector. We know interoperability and technology integration will play a large role in who the winners and losers are in the coming years. Enterprise content management platforms are poised to be a positive because they provide support for future integration while creating a secure cloud environment.
Consumer interaction is already becoming more frequent, which necessitates a higher level of documentation. Compliance requirements grow with each new touch point, so it makes sense that restrictions will continue to tighten and grow across new sectors as banks do. An ECM presents one of the clearest ways to manage customer expectations, deliver quality experiences and avoid overstepping relative to regulation.
[1] http://fintechnews.ch/2043/fintech/banks-vs-fintech-fintegration-smartest-move-says-new-survey/