Image Is Everything

DENVER — Much has been made about the wonders of RDC. Much more needs to be made about the broader wonders of imaging in banking.

Let me put this simply: imaging is transforming banking.

Here at BAI Retail Delivery, the folks at FIS walked me through their mobile contactless payments offering, which was actually launched in January 2012. In the time, FIS has figured out a few things, such as adoption has to involve banks, consumers and retailers, and that branding matters — a lot. Mainly, however, FIS service centers on the QR code, which during the demo I saw worked a lot better than most of the QR apps I have used in the past. Of course, QR codes utlize imaging.

Couple all the QR initiatives with the Mitek-patented initiatives that have spawned RDC and its derivatives — see US Bank for the latest permutation of Mitek’s technology — and you realize that imaging is attacking every aspect of the banking product set. Imaging is becoming a part of everything from onboarding to balance transfers to POS payments to credit underwriting to who-knows-what.

There is good reason for this. Imaging obviates data entry and, well, data entry sucks. Invariably, I find myself on my iPhone trying to purchase something and being forced to enter my credit card number into a box the size of a pin. As the kids say in Ohio these days, “It sucks to suck.”

Imaging certainly works better, which is why it continues to become a bigger part of the banking technology equation. That why in banking today, image is everything.