Bankers as Buyers 2016 Report Now Available

No-cost report chronicles emerging technologies and insights driving financial institution technology plans

William Mills Agency, a premier financial public relations and marketing services company, released its 13th annual financial services industry research report, Bankers As Buyers 2016. This year’s report has an emphasis on the “invisible” customer, who has been created as financial institutions do more and more business with customers through digital and contact center channels rather than through face-to-face interactions.

Download the full report here.

Leading industry analysts, banking consultants and financial technology professionals share commentary as well as insights on trends for the year. The report also includes research and articles about what technology, solutions and services U.S. bankers will likely purchase in 2016. Some findings from Bankers as Buyers 2016 include:

• Javelin Strategy & Research shared the U.S. had crossed over to having more weekly mobile bank users than weekly branch bank users.
• Celent shared that 71 percent of bankers surveyed plan to eventually use self-service technology in legacy branches.
• 21.5 percent of consumers surveyed recently by CCG Catalyst said they “forget” to use mobile payments when they go to the store.
• According to IDC Financial Services, the financial services industry spent $114 billion worldwide on mobility, cloud, and big data and analytics technologies, or about 25 percent of their IT budgets, and that figure will increase almost 30 percent by 2019.

“It’s clear that in 2016 the financial services industry will encounter a significant shift in how consumers do business with their banks,” said Scott Mills, APR, president of William Mills Agency. “The expectations of customers and how they interact with their banks is changing faster than at any other time in my career.”

Click to tweet Bankers as Buyers report available.

The findings suggest financial institutions will need to continually prospect, retain and grow customers they rarely, or if ever, meet face to face. In spite of a continued move toward alternative channels, customers seemingly expect a more personalized experience, which can generally be addressed by increasing the use of analytic data; implementing technology that helps customers conduct banking by their preferences; and the financial institutions’ strategically shifting to accommodate innovation and new competitive pressures.

Additionally, the rise of the mobile wallet, use of big data and increasing efforts by banks to remain relevant in lending are other areas of interest and opportunity for financial institutions this year. Fraud prevention and person-to-person (P2P) payments also draw attention.

Numerous interviews were conducted as well as published research and information shared at events. Some of the insights were provided by: Aite Group; BAI; Brett King; CCG Catalyst; Celent; Coppermine Advisors; Crone Consulting, LLC; CSI; D3 Banking; Early Warning; FI Navigator; FIS; FMSI; Forrester Research; Glenbrook Partners; GRO Solutions; i7 Strategies; IDC Financial Insights; Jack Henry & Associates; Javelin Strategy & Research; Kasasa; KPMG; Malauzai Software, Inc.; McKinsey & Company; nCino; Pew Research Center; Prairie Cloudware; RetailNext; RLR Management Consulting; Sawyers & Jacobs, LLC; The Financial Brand; and The New York Times.