File this under trends that will rock the ground beneath your feet. The next wave in financial services will be self-direction, says Vince Bezemer, head of strategy at Backbase, whom you know from CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 110 (and the companion, 111, with Wildfire Credit Union, a Backbase customer).
Now Bezemer is back with a big message: members no longer want you to tell them how to do what they want to do. You can't offer 90% account origination online but in the last mile insist a branch visit is key.
In a similar vein, the money centers banks no longer will be able to bully customers into using digital solutions when what they want is high touch analog.
There's a revolution coming, warns Bezemer, and the FIs that thrive will be the ones that get the message that today's member calls the shots.
And for the FIs that resist this, there's the reality that at least some FIs already have heard this message and are charging ahead.
For credit unions, Bezemer's message is that it's not enough the digitize, say, 25% of your products and tell members that for the rest, come to the branch.,
It's something of a different challenge from that facing the mega banks, where cost cutting and branch closures are accelerating a drive to push digital.
Wherever you are on the digital-analog continuum, there are warnings to be had in this podcast - and action steps to take. But this isn't a stern lecture, it's a breezy, fast, fun talk about what financial services need to look like soon, like tomorrow.
Listen up.
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