Banks must quickly embrace digital evolution
NOT so long ago, banking for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) revolved around basic transactions and loans, with relationships typically forged through personal meetings at the bank.Now, many SME customers use their smartphones or computers to interact with banks while at the same time, SME banking has grown in complexity, with customers moving away from "plain vanilla" banking in favour of more bespoke and innovative solutions.
In the last few years, digitisation has had a profound impact on how SMEs do their businesses. Mobile technology, in particular, is transforming the way that SMEs source, produce, market and sell their products. The pace of change is also accelerating, with mobile phones widely predicted to become the preferred consumer payment device within just a few years.
Not surprisingly, all of this has changed what SMEs need from their financial service providers, ushering in a new age of SME banking. With the branch no longer the fulcrum of relationships, banks must find a way to reconnect with SMEs in the digital space. Despite impressive digital strategies and the launch of multiple new channels, however, many banks have yet to figure out how best to do this.
The choice they face is stark - either find a new relevance for SMEs, or risk losing touch with an important group of customers as new competitors close in.
So what should banks do to adapt?
First, banks should see digitisation as a great opportunity to reconnect with their SME customers. By investing time in understanding the digital agenda of SMEs, and developing a differentiated digital proposition, banks have the chance to recast themselves in a new role as digital partners to small businesses.
SMEs themselves have not changed. They are still on the constant lookout for ways to run their businesses faster, cheaper and better. They still need banks to support them as they grow and expand. Digitisation merely offers a whole new set of options for achieving this and allowing customers to do their banking and to access critical information while they are on the move.
SMEs - perhaps more than any customer groups - are embracing digital solutions at speed, with digital now widely predicted to become the main customer relationship channel for SMEs in the next couple of years. To a large extent, this is being fuelled by the rapid advance of smartphones and tablets globally.
In 2011, the sale of smartphones surpassed that of personal computers (PCs) for the first time. And by 2015, according to Gartner, tablets sold are expected to equal sales of PCs.
Driven by customer demand and the ever ongoing search for greater cost-efficiency, many SMEs are now actively embracing e-invoicing or mobile payment solutions to allow their customers to make purchases on the go. You only have to look at the fast adoption of mobile payments tools such as Square and iZettle highlight to see that this is an area of priority for SMEs.
Banks should focus on developing a strong mobile banking proposition for SMEs, allowing busy SME owners to manage their banking needs from a smartphone or tablet, so that they can concentrate on running their business.
Virtual advisers can be useful, reinforcing the relationship aspect of banking, while empowering SME customers to self serve and bring down costs. Banks can also develop mobile and Internet services that would help SMEs tap into new revenue streams and markets, and also to access re-levant information beyond traditional banking services.
By extending their online platforms, for example, banks could help create virtual communities that allow SMEs to network or promote their products and find new customers or suppliers. Such services would clearly add value to SME businesses and offer banks a point of differentiation at the same time.
Most important of all, while pursuing their digital strategies, banks should not lose sight of the basics. Like all other customers, SMEs expect a seamless banking experience. They want banking to be as simple, fast, cost-efficient and convenient as it can be. For all the investment in new digital channels and solutions, banks should continue to focus on this fundamental need.
This means fully integrating all channels. It means having a comprehensive and user-friendly website, and it means helping customers save time and money on basic tasks, such as opening a new account, applying for a company debit or credit card, or looking through past transactions.
SMEs are a core client group for banks, as they have always been. Prosperous economies depend on SMEs to drive growth and employment, and SMEs depend on long-term support from banks. Getting digital banking right for SMEs, and reinventing SME banking relationships for the digital age, should therefore be an urgent priority across the industry.
The writer is the global head of SME Banking, Standard Chartered Bank
Source : New Straits Times
In the last few years, digitisation has had a profound impact on how SMEs do their businesses. Mobile technology, in particular, is transforming the way that SMEs source, produce, market and sell their products. The pace of change is also accelerating, with mobile phones widely predicted to become the preferred consumer payment device within just a few years.
Not surprisingly, all of this has changed what SMEs need from their financial service providers, ushering in a new age of SME banking. With the branch no longer the fulcrum of relationships, banks must find a way to reconnect with SMEs in the digital space. Despite impressive digital strategies and the launch of multiple new channels, however, many banks have yet to figure out how best to do this.
So what should banks do to adapt?
First, banks should see digitisation as a great opportunity to reconnect with their SME customers. By investing time in understanding the digital agenda of SMEs, and developing a differentiated digital proposition, banks have the chance to recast themselves in a new role as digital partners to small businesses.
SMEs themselves have not changed. They are still on the constant lookout for ways to run their businesses faster, cheaper and better. They still need banks to support them as they grow and expand. Digitisation merely offers a whole new set of options for achieving this and allowing customers to do their banking and to access critical information while they are on the move.
SMEs - perhaps more than any customer groups - are embracing digital solutions at speed, with digital now widely predicted to become the main customer relationship channel for SMEs in the next couple of years. To a large extent, this is being fuelled by the rapid advance of smartphones and tablets globally.
In 2011, the sale of smartphones surpassed that of personal computers (PCs) for the first time. And by 2015, according to Gartner, tablets sold are expected to equal sales of PCs.
Driven by customer demand and the ever ongoing search for greater cost-efficiency, many SMEs are now actively embracing e-invoicing or mobile payment solutions to allow their customers to make purchases on the go. You only have to look at the fast adoption of mobile payments tools such as Square and iZettle highlight to see that this is an area of priority for SMEs.
Banks should focus on developing a strong mobile banking proposition for SMEs, allowing busy SME owners to manage their banking needs from a smartphone or tablet, so that they can concentrate on running their business.
Virtual advisers can be useful, reinforcing the relationship aspect of banking, while empowering SME customers to self serve and bring down costs. Banks can also develop mobile and Internet services that would help SMEs tap into new revenue streams and markets, and also to access re-levant information beyond traditional banking services.
By extending their online platforms, for example, banks could help create virtual communities that allow SMEs to network or promote their products and find new customers or suppliers. Such services would clearly add value to SME businesses and offer banks a point of differentiation at the same time.
Most important of all, while pursuing their digital strategies, banks should not lose sight of the basics. Like all other customers, SMEs expect a seamless banking experience. They want banking to be as simple, fast, cost-efficient and convenient as it can be. For all the investment in new digital channels and solutions, banks should continue to focus on this fundamental need.
This means fully integrating all channels. It means having a comprehensive and user-friendly website, and it means helping customers save time and money on basic tasks, such as opening a new account, applying for a company debit or credit card, or looking through past transactions.
SMEs are a core client group for banks, as they have always been. Prosperous economies depend on SMEs to drive growth and employment, and SMEs depend on long-term support from banks. Getting digital banking right for SMEs, and reinventing SME banking relationships for the digital age, should therefore be an urgent priority across the industry.
The writer is the global head of SME Banking, Standard Chartered Bank
Source : New Straits Times
Date : 18 March 2013
Afternoon Highlight (18/03//13/43/741)
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