How had technology influenced the consumer experience within the financial services industry?

While many consumers may not overtly make a connection with the latest advancements in technology and the financial institutions with which they bank, technology has always played a significant role in the evolution of banking operations. From the first ATM machine, to the wide spread adoption of credit cards, to today’s commonplace practice of mobile banking, technology has always had a seat at the table of innovation within the financial services sector.

Paying with Plastic

Consumers have been “paying with plastic” since the first modern payment card – the Diner’s Card – was created in 1950. Credit cards were (and still are), a disruptive financial innovation that significantly changed the way we pay for goods and services. Perhaps no other innovation has had such an impact on the way consumers manage their money and make payments than the credit card.

The Birth of the ATM 

The Automated Teller Machine, or the ATM, also marks a key turning point in how technology could be levered to enhance the customer experience. The first ATM was created in London in 1967, empowering bank customers to have access to their cash outside of traditional banking hours for the first time in history – and for many, marks the birth of internet banking as we know it today. This financial innovation reshaped the way we bank forever. 

Mobile Banking

Do you remember a “cash only” life? With the introduction of cashless payments in 1998 the way businesses operate was changed forever. And perhaps no other technological advancement within the financial services sector is experiencing more innovation as the mobile banking platform. In fact, more and more financial institutions are coming onto the market with the intent of building their products and services around the way consumer’s use technology in their daily lives – from their mobile devise. 

Brim Financial, a fintech company based in Canada, is making waves within the industry at a fast place, bringing the best of innovative technology to their customers through their online banking platforms – enabling the entire consumer experience to come to life through their mobile app – in real time, and when their consumer demands it. 

Digital banking has gone mainstream, and banking institutions must continue to reinvent their programs and offers around the technology as it continues to evolve, if they are to stay relevant to the lives of the customers they service.