During the last one decade, things have changed and changed at a rapid pace and all because of technology. The initial steps of tapping technology came in the form of adoption of core banking systems (CBS) which led to near collapse of geographical location of bank branch. How many of us really need to visit our branches to transact business?
Technology helped banks to reach the doorsteps of the customer by overcoming the limitations on geographical/ physical reach in branch banking and easing the resource and volume constraints posed by physical locations.
Then came the next revolution – mobile banking which added anywhere to the truly anytime banking. Any technology that is well-accepted and widely available at affordable costs and suitable for banking and payment services provides an immense opportunity to extend these services to all areas and all sections of the society – banked and unbanked.
For banks, the question is no longer limited to whether mobile banking will be an important part of their business but how best to approach a rapidly evolving channel to deliver better customer service, expand product range, retain marketshare, enhance revenue, drastically reduce operating expenses and above all remain socially relevant without sacrificing sustainability in ICT based financial inclusion plans.
Mobile technology scores on all these parameters and can act as a catalyst to usher in the universal goal of financial inclusion shared by all the stakeholders.
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