• Paul
• On December 7, 2017

Social media and mobile apps are constantly taking industries by storm and this isn’t surprising considering 65 per cent of iPhone users install at least one app a month. In terms of social media, relationships with clients can be built much stronger, especially within the financial services industry, and make the process of sending transactions that much easier. Now that we live in a technological age, most of our everyday activities are being carried out digitally, which is why there are businesses like NEX solely trying to apply new technology within the financial services industry to help their clients optimize their resources.

Social Media

Marketing: Now that there is a larger influx of people using their smartphones to access information, it’s significantly more important to market via social media. This forces those within the financial services industry to adopt a data-driven approach as well as a test-and-learn mind set, because digital platforms are constantly changing and adopting new trends. By enforcing a solid social media marketing strategy, financial services companies can segment their clients more effectively, conduct real-time marketing and reduce acquisition costs, as social media reaches a large market as well as keeps costs of marketing down.

Reduces Costs & Improves Efficiency: To build on the previous point of social media being a cost-effective way of marketing, it can also reduce the cost of customer services. By using Facebook as a social media platform, banks can use it as an alternative to online banking, producing an efficient method to process applications. By using Facebook credentials, banks and financial services organisations can better and more quickly verify identity, which is only one of many ways that social media is having a significant impact on financial services.

Mobile Apps

Introduction of Biometric/Contactless Payments: Efficiency and convenience is a huge factor that retains clients for a financial services company. Contactless payment apps such as Apple Pay, Microsoft Wallet and Android Pay provide a smart way for customers to perform transactions and buy products in store without the need for a bank card or form of cash. In addition to this, mobile apps can allow clients to secure biometric wireless transactions to pay their bills. Whilst it might sound minuscule, the revolution of biometric and contactless payments has also lead to preserving paper through lack of receipts, which in the long run, could save an organisation a lot of money as well as be environmentally friendly. Plus, the ability to use contactless payments can protect a client’s credit/debit card from fraudulent machines, reducing the risk of any bank details from being breached by hackers.

The Use of the Cloud: Now that technology is massively advanced, we have better solutions to keep all client financial data safe. However, elderly people in particular don’t feel as confident about digital payments as others. But, cloud applications as well as software-as-a-service solutions on mobile devices are ensuring that transitions are seamless and secure across multiple channels. This mobile method is used by many financial institutions, with banks, insurance agencies, brokerages and credit unions to name just a few. With this digital technology, these institutions can create user-friendly mobile apps to increase the amount of engagement they have with their customers as well as personalize communication with their clients.