The Shift to Digital Payments: How Do Large Institutions Fare?

Despite the rapid development of scientific and technological progress, not all spheres of human activity are implementing the fruits for these advancements. The traditional banking system is still cumbersome and clumsy, making any large-scale failure problematic. The fact is that companies in the financial industry need to be as flexible and loyal to customers as possible, and that means a complete overhaul of programs, services, and offerings. It is often difficult for large banks and financial institutions.

Implementing innovations will help reduce costs for customers and the company itself because it will improve the company's reputation and become more useful to consumers.

Financial Industry Trends

Innovation in finance is an improvement for customers, but it could be more problematic for traditional market players. Because of the large scale of the organization, they need a lot of time and money to implement them, which creates an additional inconvenience.

If you don't innovate, you could be left without customers, who are now looking to get as many services online as possible:

• payment card issuance;
• account opening;
• customer support, etc.

Big tech companies like Apple and Google have already carved out a niche for themselves and started releasing software products such as lending, digital wallets, and credit cards. Unlike traditional banks, these companies are less regulated, so that they can operate more freely.

Due to actively growing competition in the market, traditional banks also began moving into the digital space, supplementing their portfolio of services with virtual options, online banking and mobile applications.

The global crisis could not but affect financial institutions. The banking industry faced rising commodity prices and a shortage of chips for making payment instruments. In addition, customers' needs fhave also changed, demanding more digital experiences and fewer personal visits to bank branches.

The global crisis and financial institutions' customers were the driving force behind the changes. This trend was one of the first to be picked up companies such as Wallester, which began offering its customers physical and virtual cards.

How to stay competitive?

To stay competitive in today's environment, financial institutions need to cut costs and improve the quality of their products. They must meet the demands of today's consumers and adapt flexibly to market changes. Here are three simple solutions to help any financial services company stand up to the competition from non-banks and enhance the customer experience for their card products.

Implement innovative software

Today's card issuance platforms are equipped with a robust analytics engine. The customer information they capture and the process can solve a host of analytical and operational challenges and improve a company's current operations.

Innovative card program launch platforms give a company the following benefits:

• increase its efficiency;
• help control production;
• enables the company to achieve production goals in a shorter time frame;
• provide data to support company improvement plans;
• help improve business processes and make the company's operating mechanism perfect.

Issuer companies invest a lot of money and person-hours in software to maintain them. Therefore, they justifiably want the management of this software to be as simple as possible, making the company more productive and its services affordable and of high quality.

Include virtual cards in your service portfolio

You can significantly reduce the cost of servicing your customers with card products by issuing virtual cards. Such card product has a lot of advantages:

• issuance is instant;
• the card is activated and ready for use;
• by the client's wish physical card can be issued in addition to the virtual one.

With both virtual and physical cards, the client receives more opportunities for payment for their purchases. They become more self-confident because they can always rely on their virtual counterpart in case of problems with the physical card.

The client can only use the virtual card. For the financial institution, it is an additional opportunity to save on materials for the plastic carrier. Virtual cards also benefit the environment since there is no waste left over.

Provide tools for self-service

The customer should be provided with tools to manage their cards. It will allow him to meet his needs quickly, and the issuing company can save significantly on maintenance. There are several standard functions that the client will be able to perform without assistance through special software:

• PIN change;
• token management;
• authentication setup;
• card management;
• setting limits, etc.

By providing cardholder management tools, the issuing company reduces the cost of retaining staff to print and send PINs or to change cards. Banks using this recommendation will be able to rethink their branch organization model. They will be needed more to build customer relationships rather than serve cardholders.