Recently, Volante hosted a webinar titled “Elevate and accelerate: Unleashing business growth through exceptional customer experiences.” The webinar brought together payment experts to discuss the latest trends, best practices, and innovative strategies that create a cohesive omnichannel experience that delights customers, streamlines operations, and boosts performance.

This is the first in a two-part series summarizing the main points of the discussion. This article will focus on the integration of multiple digital channels and payment rails to enhance customer satisfaction, drive growth, and stay competitive.

From consumer to corporate: A cross-pollination of experience

The shift towards a seamless omnichannel strategy is not just a trend; it’s a transformational shift that is redefining how financial services operate. Corporates seek the same level of simplicity and ease that individuals enjoy in their personal banking—an embedded, seamless experience.

Financial institutions are now tasked with translating the streamlined operations of consumer banking into the corporate domain, where moving money entails a higher degree of operational and regulatory complexity. This challenge underscores the importance of offering integrated services that cater to the digital evolution without creating cumbersome processes for clients who are accustomed to the convenience of logging into a single interface.

Banks shifting away from technology management

Simplicity on the front end requires operational efficiency on the back end. As a result, there’s a move away from the ‘best of breed’ single rail solution, where banks offer different solutions for different payment types. Instead, a more holistic ‘payment hub’ approach is gaining traction, with institutions advocating for a unified payment system that can handle all transactions.

Secondly, banks are transitioning out of the technologist role and focusing more on their role as business partners to their customers. This shift has given rise to ‘Payment as a Service’ (PaaS), where banks leave the complexities of hosting, infrastructure, security, and compliance to specialized providers. Offloading these more technical elements enables banks to concentrate on delivering unique experiences to their customers.

Vendor consolidation for simplified operations

The introduction of instant payments like RTP has prompted many banks to consolidate vendors to streamline operations and embrace simplicity. This consolidation is driven by the desire to offer personalized experiences only possible when the backend technology is agile and modular enough to support such customization.

Financial institutions (FIs) are now looking to simplify their ecosystems and future-proof their operations in anticipation of new digital currencies and payment rails. FIs are looking for ways to integrate these new systems with existing ones, such as ACH and wires, without extensive overhauls in the future.

Partnering for the future

Modernization is pushing FIs to seek out partners that can support both quick time to market and ongoing support. Financial institutions need collaborators, not just providers, who can bring high-tech, fully API-driven solutions that accommodate the unique requirements of different client segments. This partnership approach is critical because it goes beyond offering technology—it’s about working together to create distinct experiences for various customer bases.

Banks are looking for immediate functionality, emphasizing the importance of time to market and total cost of ownership. They also prefer an incremental growth approach, starting small and expanding as their business needs evolve. As they modernize, FIs are not just updating technology; they are seeking to enhance the customer experience in significant and measurable ways while future-proofing the entire ecosystem.

With an increased reliance on vendors, due diligence becomes paramount. Banks are scrutinizing security, resilience, and compliance more than ever before as they entrust vendors with critical infrastructure management. This scrutiny is essential to ensure seamless and secure operations as banks delegate more responsibilities to their partners.

As financial institutions navigate this transformative landscape, the focus is clear: create a seamless, personalized ​, omnichannel experience that resonates with both individual and corporate clients. Achieving this will require strong partnerships with technology and software providers equipped to navigate the complexities of the digital payment ecosystem and respond in real time.

Stream the “Elevate and accelerate: Unleashing business growth through exceptional customer experiences” webinar.