3 Challenges Crippling Mobile Banking Today
CHICAGO — Mobile banking has got some problems.
After attending the afternoon sessions of Net.Finance’s mobile focus day today, a number of challenges facing the industry’s efforts to successfully utilize the channel for new revenue and cost savings struck me as, well, annoying. Here are three hurdles highlighted in various sessions today:
1. Finding talented mobile developers for a bank is somewhat akin to finding someone at an AA meeting who has never had a drink.
“Mobile talent is incredibly scarce,” said Matt Lehman, mobile business leader at Progressive Insurance, during a panel. Still, he said there is probably some talent lurking within the organization. The challenge, then, is uncovering the talent pool from within. Tom Poole, managing vice president of digital channels at Capital One Financial Corp., however, pointed out during that same panel that tech savvy people are less inclined to work within finance. Because of that, Poole believes a bank often needs to look externally for raw development talent.
2. “Discoverability” of mobile banking is still plaguing the industry. In other words, consumers aren’t even aware of their ability to use their phones to bank. Consequently, a pressing issue facing financial services players is how to get marketing resources behind mobile banking rollouts. (We’ll have more to say about “discoverability” in our inaugural Bank Innovation Monitor report on mobile banking due out soon.)
3. Banks need to position text alerts better, as consumers report they are one of the most important mobile banking features. SunTrust Bank’s FVP Mobile Channel Manager Kristen Rankin credits text alerts’ marketing deficiency to the tendency of FIs to first prioritize rolling out banking apps, leaving alerts temporarily in the background. The prioritization has a lot to with the cheaper cost of entry. Plus, Rankin blamed the industry’s inability to communicate the value of text message alerts to consumers as the reason why usage is low. This also begs the question: are alerts easy enough to enroll in?
