Many different industries have increased their reliance on financial technologies over the past decade, but the speed of this increase has risen exponentially over the last twelve months. The pandemic and its impact on the way many businesses have traditionally operated has changed how people communicate and how organizations access and process data. Regardless of what happens in the future, many of these changes will be here to stay.
If you are a business owner who is hesitant to make the move to fintech, consider the changes that have occurred this past year, and the strong indications that these shifts in behaviour won’t be shifting back.
As technology has become more pervasive in our day-to-day, older generations have become more comfortable using it - and that includes financial technologies. As access to brick-and-mortar stores decreased and health and safety concerns increased, seniors accepted that the time to learn about online banking and grocery delivery services was now. So not only did they learn - but they have recognized the convenience. Because of this convenience that has been gained, the chances of this group - which were often the ones holding out against adopting technology at all - reverting to their pre-pandemic buying behaviour is extremely slim.
Even legacy institutions are now harnessing the power of fintech. The big banks and credit unions have seen the customer-first focus and simple usability offered by new digital-only competitors, and they’re smart enough to be getting ahead of it. The way that people consume services is different, and these large financial institutions are recognizing the need to adapt to a changing consumer base.
On the consumer side, the popularity of online shopping continues to skyrocket. The increased consumer-reliance on internet access, digital payment services, new product-financing apps and deferred payment options that can now be applied to online retail purchases are immense. Consumers have become accustomed to having easy access to this wide array of shopping and payment options, and they will expect these options to still be available moving forward.
More consumers using financial technologies means easier access to more key data for their financial advisors to do their job better. With the right fintech partnerships, advisors can easily harness the insights on consumer behaviour that this data uncovers -- so they can provide you advice based on current and complete information about the financial landscape.
At the end of the day, you are constrained by time. You are focused on running your business, not chasing down the data that you should be reviewing to keep your finger on the pulse of the operations. Stop guessing. Let fintech harness the instant and accurate data that you need.
The time is now.