Why `digital fakers’ have nowhere to hide

I recently attended two really amazing events: the MoneyLive Summit in London and the OpenText™ Middle East Summit in Dubai. I can’t tell you how…

Monica Hovsepian profile picture

Monica Hovsepian

May 16, 20224 minutes read

I recently attended two really amazing events: the MoneyLive Summit in London and the OpenText™ Middle East Summit in Dubai. I can’t tell you how great it was to meet with people in person again. But what was even more interesting about my trip was that, whether in the Middle East or Europe, everyone agreed on two things: The pandemic has changed the world, and the Financial Services industry must take digital experience to the next level to meet customer expectations.

When Covid-19 hit and we all had to retreat to our homes, most of us adapted quickly to our new work environments. We became Zoom and Microsoft® Teams experts but, of course, personal contact was significantly diminished. Now, emerging from the pandemic, it’s so valuable to hear directly from customers again.

Talking digital experience at the OpenText Middle East Summit

 While in Dubai, I was particularly struck by something that used to be phrased as a question before the Coronavirus but has now become a statement: ‘Why can’t I have the same great customer experience I get from consumer brands from my Financial Services provider?’ is now  ‘I need that same experience.’

I think that statement reveals a huge fault line that separates what I call the ‘digital fakers’ from the ‘digital doers.’ We’ve all heard that the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation – changes that before would have taken many years were accomplished in months or even weeks. And certainly transformation was a recurring topic in both events I attended. But I sensed there was a significant difference between those Financial Services companies that quickly created a digital veneer to their business processes and those that took the opportunity to change the way they operate and improve the experience they deliver to customers.

A frictionless customer experience

The pandemic has demonstrated – cruelly at times – that ‘good enough’ just won’t cut it. Being able to deliver a digital service is a very different thing from the simple, frictionless experience that your customers want and need. If your organization is administering emergency loans, for example, customers have no tolerance for forms that don’t work, experiences that break down when changing channels and applications that take weeks to process and are not fit for purpose — even if there is an outcome in the end.

Things have to change. We’ve been calling it ‘humanizing digital and digitalizing the human,’ but it really comes down to the same thing. The people I’ve been speaking with, both customers and industry experts, say that Financial Services organizations must deliver the right, highly personalized services and products at the right time to their customers and clients in order to compete.

You have to really understand your customer and be able to provide what they want through simple, one-click services. Financial organizations need to automate and digitize whatever can be automated and digitized in order to accelerate their transition to what Deloitte describes as being ‘cloud fluent.’

Delivering customer-oriented digital transformation

I think an excellent example of a ‘digital doer’ is Close Brothers Asset Finance and Leasing. As part of its transformation initiative, the company is partnering with us to create a customer experience solution based on OpenText™ Cloud and OpenText™ Extended ECM that enables the entire organization to share, collaborate and analyze information for more informed decision-making while mitigating risk through improved governance and security. The company is using the information and insights gained to meet customers’ evolving expectations.

Monica Hovsepian and Simon Masterman discuss trends shaping paytech and fintech during the Money Live Summit in London.

Meeting customer expectations in a post-pandemic world means creating effective digital services based on fully deriving the value of customer information. Customer Information Management for Banking from OpenText™ helps customers, employees and partners engage and collaborate through any delivery channel. It consolidates and centralizes documents to offer a single customer view and source of truth that eases auditing and compliance reporting.

Share this post

Share this post to x. Share to linkedin. Mail to
Monica Hovsepian avatar image

Monica Hovsepian

Monica Hovsepian is the Global Industry Strategist for Financial Services at OpenText. With more than two decades of financial industry experience, Monica has become a trusted subject matter expert in the Financial Services Industry, having worked with numerous large and international banks in North America, Europe and Asia.

See all posts

More from the author

Predictions for the financial services industry in 2024

Predictions for the financial services industry in 2024

The word ‘rollercoaster’ best sums up 2023. We’ve experienced economic, geopolitical, technological, and societal challenges over recent months with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, high interest…

November 22, 2023 5 minutes read
EX + CX = TX

EX + CX = TX

When it comes to getting ahead in the Financial Services industry today, organizations must understand that customer experience is key. It’s also important to recognize…

April 14, 2023 3 minutes read
Effective customer information management builds better digital experiences

Effective customer information management builds better digital experiences

Delivering excellent digital customer experiences has become a defining factor for financial services organizations today. The Financial Brand suggests that banks with customer-centric cultures are 60% more…

April 13, 2023 4 minutes read

Stay in the loop!

Get our most popular content delivered monthly to your inbox.