Buy Your Team a Ticket to Hawaii. Video Banking Is Here

You can shut down your brick-and-mortar branches and focus on video banking. Video conferencing is taking over, leaving behind the old ways of doing business. Remote services are taking the market by storm, addressing the few most important issues that clients have. One of them is convenience. You can take your team to Hawaii on an indefinite workation and talk to the customers from there. They won’t notice and still be satisfied.

Sure, it’s an exaggeration but it proves a point. Video conferencing has become an integral part of our everyday life. So much so, that 10Clouds created Virtual Branch – an online banking product to strengthen the bond between banking institutions and their customers.

How video banking became a key channel for customer interaction

In the Global Retail Banking Report 2021, the Boston Consulting Group shares a point that:

“the pandemic incentivized customer’s shift away from traditional branches to digital channels”.

That’s exactly right. The report shows that consumers are now using video calls to communicate with businesses and service providers 67% more than a year ago. That forces businesses, especially in the financial sector, to think outside the box and drive internal changes in organizations.

Video calls are now #9 in the Top 10 omnichannel CX channels. In the banking industry over 90% of customer interactions had already shifted from in-branch to remote channels such as online banking, digital wallets, and mobile banking before the pandemic, in 2019. In 2020 online banking increased by +23%, and the use of mobile banking went up by +30%.

From 2025 onwards, remote contact channels are estimated to become the preferred channel to explore new banking products for 65% of customers (compared to 35% of customers preferring to visit a physical branch, still Boston Consulting Group).

This clearly shows how much interest lies in remote banking services, and video conferencing. The focus shifts to convenience and a one-stop shop for services.

Online banking suddenly became not an option but a major choice.

Hybrid communication is not a threat to video banking

According to BCG, 77% of financial customers still prefer face-to-face interaction with bank employees. This is true especially when they want to discuss in-depth topics and they need a friendly face. To trust, to know more, to connect. Video conferencing banking services are very important but they will not, at least not right now, replace physical branches. Not entirely.

Banking online is a way to combine digital and personal interactions and give people a choice. With automation and all background functionalities under the hood, these types of services act as a natural supplement, not a competition. In time, its role will only grow but for now, it’s a complementary option.

Use cases of virtual branch online banking

Video banking makes sense for both B2B and B2C customers. Both groups benefit, just in a different way.

B2C customers use personal banking, engage in mortgages and loan processes, and use investment banking. They also process insurance claims.

B2B customers engage in account management, SMB loans and credits, business banking, and business assurance. They also use corporate lending options, to finance and drive innovations.

The maturity model

To describe the advancement of services in the area, we can talk about a maturity model that consists of four different elements:

• data
• workflows
• customer journey
• channel governance

Each of them contributes to the overall success of connecting with customers. There are four stages in the model. They are progressively advanced, adding to the overall complexity and integration of online banking solutions.

The available stage. Here, data is very basic, workflows are standalone. The customer journey is led by a bank agent and the video functionality complements face-to-face or phone contact.

The offering stage. Here data is used for scheduling insights and reviews. Workflows are still standalone but already supported by process automation. Customer journey is process-driven and video acts as an alternative to face-to-face contacts or a phone.

The driving stage. At this level, data turns performance insights into action. Workflows are embedded in key applications, the customer journey is customer-driven and video is a preferable channel for communication with the bank.

The transforming stage. This is the most advanced level. Data is used for foresight, video is fully integrated with the product and the offer, and the customer journey is driven by the journey itself. Also, the experience is seamless across various channel journeys.

Brace yourself for Hawaii!

The brick-and-mortar branches will not disappear overnight. Customers are accustomed to them. The sense of security provided by face-to-face meetings will not go away so easily. However, the times are changing, forcing financial organizations to meet expectations for banking online.

Here at 10Clouds, we know what’s what. We will gladly guide you through the process and implement the necessary solutions.