One of the more interesting pieces of news this week was the NCR acquisition of uGenius. I had the privilege of seeing this technology a few years back in some work with the great folks at Coastal FCU in Raleigh.
Video technology presents institutions with the opportunity to extend hours of service in existing locations and extend institutions physical footprint to locations that can’t support a traditional branch. Banks and credit unions have also used the technology to increase efficiency during traditional banking hours by shifting volume away from on-premise tellers to agents in a centralized location, maximizing resource utilization.
With the proliferation of Skype, Facetime, and other video services, isn’t the endgame going to be decoupling the physical point of presence from video capability? In other words, why should a customer need to drive to the branch to video chat with a representative? That of course begs the question about what kinds of issues are better resolved with video or in-person contact vs. the traditional call center.
The answer lies in sales of more complex products. Maybe it’s a video session with a financial planner or working through various loan options with a mortgage originator or business banker. The face-to-face communication aspect is nice but video technology also offers sharing of on-screen information with customers and prospects. Product specialists such as financial advisors are more scarce within a financial institution–enabling video delivery is a win for everyone because it makes those resources more available to customers, enabling more sales.
I believe video has a place in financial services and the uGenius deal is consistent with that. The next step is to take video outside of a branch/kiosk context.