Submission for Accenture's Digital Revolution Challenge 2014.

1. DIGITAL REVOLUTION CHALLENGECUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN BANKING
Justin Ting

2. We live in a world where we are governed by technology, and the average user is defined by the technology they own. Social media is now one of the many things that exists at the core of our lives, whether it be in our personal lives or our professional, and there exists a vast amount of innovation in this space.
How we interact and deal with all things money is similarly integral to our everyday lives –and yet, the difference in innovation between these two is very apparent. Users should have their banking tools and utilities available at the touch of a finger – from anywhere they need on the internet.
VISION FOR THE PROJECT
Vision for the Project
What are we solving?
The solution
Alternative physical payment
Extended feature sets
Streamlined user network interaction
Technical feasibility
Cost-effectiveness and potential growth

3. When banking companies started, they had but one touch point to worry about –the physical branches. As time went on, new channels began to emerge–mail, ATM, online, nowadays, mobile, and more. And every one of these serve different purposes (which overlap).
Smaller start-ups are following the trend of decentralisation of larger business models to tackle smaller units of what banks provide –larger banks can capitalise on their sheer size and access to economies of scale to maximise the customer experience, through better integration of channelsand making the userthe creator and curator of their own experiences.
WHAT ARE WE SOLVING?
Vision for the Project
What are we solving?
The solution
Alternative physical payment
Extended feature sets
Streamlined user network interaction
Technical feasibility
Cost-effectiveness and potential growth

4. Alternative physical payment methods
Via utilising smartphones
Digital cards via NFC/fingerprint scanners
Extended feature set for physical payment methods
Reward card management
Widgets to show consolidated figures across multiple cards/accounts
Tackling competition from ‘decentralisers’
Streamlined interaction within user network
Transfers via SMS –link mobile numbers with accounts
Place queries and queue before heading into a physical branch
THE SOLUTION
Vision for the Project
What are we solving?
The solution
Alternative physical payment
Extended feature sets
Streamlined user network interaction
Technical feasibility
Cost-effectiveness and potential growth

5. Alternate physical payment methods outside of physical cards in Australia is currently still a moderately empty and uncompetitive space. While the market is growing in countries like the US, the technologies are currently restricted to their country of origin, giving potential for Australian companies to dominate the space at least on home soil.
NFC is one of the technologies with the ability to become the standard for payment via, e.g. smartphones or similar smart devices. Companies such as Samsung have employed NFC for some time now, and with the most recent iPhones containing NFC at last, that places NFC in a large percentage of smartphone users, making it a viable to deploy payment via smartphones.
This does not require deploying new or extra hardware, as it can be integrated with existing PayWavetechnology –not to mention using NFC via a smartphone rather than a physical card can provide extra layers of security through pins, passwords, fingerprint scans, etc. The mobile software that enables this should be have the ability to switch between cards on the fly, to provide convenience that mirrors that of physical cards.
ALTERNATIVE PHYSICAL PAYMENT
Vision for the Project
What are we solving?
The solutionAlternative physical payment
Extended feature sets
Streamlined user network interaction
Technical feasibility
Cost-effectiveness and potential growth

6. Where the smartphone replacementfor the credit card aims to maximise convenience, it must also take the extra step to eliminate other parts of the wallet as well. The digital wallet should extend to replace reward cards such as Flybuysand other popular cards as well. To further extend this concept, image recognition software that is already moderately advanced should be used to convert any type of barcoded card, from loyalty cards to gift cards, into their digital form.
At this stage however, this only emulates what is already available in a physical, tangible format, and given the convenience of this, more would be needed to truly provide a superior experience where the customer owns their own experience.
EXTENDED FEATURE SETS
Vision for the Project
What are we solving?
The solution
Alternative physical payment
Extended feature sets
Streamlined user network interaction
Technical feasibility
Cost-effectiveness and potential growth

7. While banking is more immune to decentralisation than some fields, it is happening gradually -particularly with currencies like bitcoin and banking startupsaiming to disrupt the field. With the volume of tech entrepreneurs, an API/platform should be built around existing infrastructure to attract innovative technology that can be funnelled to users, rather than directly compete with them, as ultimately it will become impossible to outpace the growing crowd of techpreneurs.
When it comes to using analytics, there’s been an evident explosion in the use of marketing to monetise social networks, but there is very little of it being used on the front-end to monetise or improve user experiences. Where news, posts, and stories are curated for social media users, spending data can be used for banking customers to provide curated loans, etc. that personalises the experience, while providing incentives or discounts for suggestions made through predictive analysis.
EXTENDED FEATURE SETS (CONT.)
Vision for the Project
What are we solving?
The solution
Alternative physical payment
Extended feature sets
Streamlined user network interaction
Technical feasibility
Cost-effectiveness and potential growth

8. While mobile has improved the convenience with which money can be transferred on the move, it is still a rather fiddly process particularly with when retrieval of others’ bank account details is needed.
This can be overcome by linking mobile numbers to accounts – allowing apps to draw on contact directly from contact lists and transfer money via associated bank accounts. This removes all the hassle as well as maximising convenience and encouraging use by the consumer -mobile-optimised banking apps that provide faster actions than even on a computer such as Commbank’sKaching(now Commbank) was incredibly well-received by customers.
While physical branches are a dwindling touch point, there are still a moderate number of customers using them, and another way to increase efficiency using existing hardware (and only new software)is for the bank’s mobile app to allow queuing which communicates with machines in branches to queue actions to minimise time between customers. This can add an extra layer of customer service as well, as tellers would have information on each customer just before they are served.
STREAMLINED USER NETWORK INTERACTION
Vision for the Project
What are we solving?
The solution
Alternative physical payment
Extended feature setsStreamlined user network interaction
Technical feasibility
Cost-effectiveness and potential growth

9. All the elements of the suggested solution use existing technology
NFC
Smartphones
Machine Learning (Algorithms)
New database links
API/platform for tech innovators
Wireless cards in physical branch terminals
All of these technologies are either available or applied in very similar environments to the ones needed to execute the solution. The main challenge will be the API, as all the large banks’ software are currently closed source with no developer kits, and done solely through either contractors or in-house. To fully execute a platform for developers would take several years with a dedicated team, and ideally involve individuals already interested in such a platform.
TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY
Vision for the Project
What are we solving?
The solution
Alternative physical payment
Extended feature sets
Streamlined user network interaction
Technical feasibility
Cost-effectiveness and potential growth

10. Over a quarter of bank customers in Australia now use mobile banking (over 6 million)
Increased autonomy and power handed to the customer will allow physical office space along with staff to be gradually reduced
Oftimes, customers “don’t know” what they need till they see it – predictive suggestions on services and products such as loans will increase the volume of them being taken up
Transfers via text would is new to Australia and would promote more transfers via mobile, which creates less stress on servers than doing it via a computer
Any sort of API will result in loss in the short and even medium term – but given the best platforms nowadays are ones where the community has not only a huge part but a direct one in governing the content, it will be profitable long term and attract top talent
COST-EFFECTIVENESS AND POTENTIAL GROWTH
Vision for the Project
What are we solving?
The solution
Alternative physical payment
Extended feature sets
Streamlined user network interaction
Technical feasibilityCost-effectiveness and potential growth