Top 10 guiding principles for a community financial institution’s mobile technology

You’ve probably invested a lot in your website to create a one stop, self-serve experience for your account holders. Are you keeping up with the competition when it comes to mobile?

As the mobile space continues to evolve rapidly, experts in the financial market continue to stress the importance of having a strong mobile presence. These individuals adamantly proclaim that every financial institution needs to have a full-featured mobile-banking app in order to remain relevant and competitive. What does a strong mobile presence include, you may ask?

1.)        App should provide a single mobile presence in the marketplace in the form of one all-inclusive app with functionality that matches as closely as possible to what a customer can currently do on your website – mobile-first and mobile-only consumers represent the future segment of financial institution customers

2.)        App should have open architecture and flexibility that supports additions/changes to mobile services, branding, and marketing

3.)        App should be available for download on all digital platforms (iOS, Android, Windows, HTML5, etc.)

4.)        Mobile channel must support and create value for your business customers – the most essential mobile banking services for businesses included accessing account info, receiving alerts, and transferring money between accounts to optimize savings portfolios or to pay off a loan

5.)        Mobile channel should maintain a consistent brand with other customer engagement channels in order to uphold a high level of trust, security, and credibility

6.)        Mobile technology should include automated self-service tools, such as knowledge management, search, chat, and SMS

7.)        App should support the ability to deliver personalized targeted messaging/offers to the consumer

8.)        App should provide a remote platform to employees with the opportunity to offer service on the go – including, but not limited to, account opening, CRM, collections, and complaint management/resolution

9.)        App should have authentication/preference management capabilities that enable customer personalization and should maintain compliance by managing customer complaints and keeping customer subscription/security preferences up to date

10.)     App should have advanced analytics capabilities to not only track who is accessing specific services from which device and when, but also cross sell opportunities and trends for various user segments

Bottom line: Your financial institution must have a mobile strategy – it is a necessary consumer channel, not just an app for mobile banking.