Why experience (usually) matters more than technology
It sounds obvious, but sometimes we have to remember that the best experience we can offer to members is truly to be there when they need us. In his closing keynote at our 2021 Innovation Spotlight, Rahm McDaniel, Vice President of Strategic Solutions at Q2 explained how technology isn’t what separates the leaders from the followers in the competitive financial services landscape. It’s still experience, and how we apply those technologies to experience, that matters.
Consumer experience is one of my favorite topics, so I want to highlight a few key takeaways:
- The disruption from the last 18 months won’t change our course, even if it changes our velocity. The last major economic crisis sent a wave of institutional failures rippling through the system and shook confidence at all levels, from individual members to multinationals. Even institutions who played by the rules and observed good practices had to pull back even further in ways that hurt consumers. Rahm pointed out that in “2008-2009, everybody went from a sales mentality to a risk management mentality. [Today] people are just doing more of what they were doing before COVID.” This time around, he says, the main focus is on extending and expanding digital services that were already on the radar. That means member experience shouldn’t need to take a back seat to belt-tightening, as it did a dozen years ago. “The quality of their technology does not determine their excellence as a financial institution. It’s experience that differentiates your brands.”
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