Five stages of digital transformation: Stage Four
Blog: Kofax - Smart Process automation
There’s an app for that … right? When it comes to your bank’s offerings, there better be. 
According to 2015 Smart Insights findings, apps now account for 89% of mobile media time.
According to the 2015 Forrester North American Technographics Online Benchmark Survey, the percentage of global smartphone owners who used apps at least monthly increased from 29 percent in 2011 to 64 percent in 2015. A “2016 Special Report: What Millennials Expect from Their Banks” from Salesforce finds that 75 percent of Millennials are at least “somewhat reliant” on a mobile banking app, and 27 percent categorize themselves as “completely reliant.” What if their bank’s mobile app isn’t up to snuff? Millennials aren’t afraid to go searching for one that is. The 2015 North America Consumer Digital Banking Survey found 18 percent of Millennials switched their primary bank within the past 12 months, compared to 10 percent of those 35 to 54 and just 3 percent of those older than 55.
And it isn’t just Millennials who are becoming increasingly mobile-reliant. Customers of all ages are depending more and more on “mobile moments,” as Forrester refers to them – those instances in which a consumer pulls out a mobile device to find the answer he wants, immediately and in context. These critical touch points in today’s consumer journey, when added together, ultimately determine how the journey unfolds. Simply put – the more your customers are able to do via mobile, the more they are going to do, and the more likely they are going to stay with your organization.
Now that we’ve made it to the fourth stage of assessing digital transformation for your organization, you’ve likely realized the importance of allowing users to engage at their convenience, via their preferred channel, and guide themselves through all the services they used to expect only from a branch location.
If you’ve determined your mobile website is optimized to allow for this level of self-service, you’ve reached the fourth stage of digital transformation: the mobile app stage. A mobile app provides a self-contained, personalized mobile experience that even the most optimized mobile site just can’t match. Examples of activities customers want to be able to complete from your mobile banking app include:
- Using: Depositing a check, changing personal details, setting up and managing alerts, paying bills, making payments, checking account balances, registering for services, viewing past transactions
- Asking: Seeking advice, looking up the location of a branch ATM, getting in touch with customer service
- Engaging: Using a money management tool, receiving alerts, getting a quote
- Discovering: Researching financial needs, exploring your brand
- Exploring: Researching product details, comparing financial products, looking up internet rates, deciding which product is the best fit, reading ratings and reviews
- Buying: Applying for a financial product, buying a financial product
Building an app that allows customers to do all that can take time. Don’t be discouraged – your app can start small. Answer these questions to assess your organization’s stage four progress toward digital transformation:
- Is your onboarding experience frictionless via your app?
- Does your app use biometrics and does it offer the latest native mobile technology?
- Does your app provide appropriate out-of-the-box feedback to a user, including alerts when there are credits and debits to their account?
If you answered yes to all three questions, you’ve achieved engaged status and are ready to move on to the stage five assessment questions (at which time you can consider your organization truly innovative in the digital transformation realm). If you answered no, it isn’t too late. You can begin building an app that takes the best pieces of your bank’s mobile presence and makes them even better. No matter what your customers want to do via mobile, you can create an app for that and increase customer engagement and loyalty.
Interested in learning more? 
Download your free copy of Banking on a Digital Future: A Guide to Digital Transformation in Banking.
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