Traditional banking operations rely heavily on frequent face-to-face customer interactions many of which are obliged by financial authorites (e.g. investments services, loan origination). Well before today’s worldwide health crisis the number of these customer interactions were decreasing, while the health lockdowns provided a major motivation for banks to pursue less frequent interactions and implement the so-called Digital First Approach (DFA).
Digital First Approach
Digital First Approach refer to a shift in organisational culture away from favouring traditional channels to prioritising digital ones.
Self-serviced Customer Interactions
Remote Digital Access
For Banks and Financial Institutions the Digital First Approach could be utilized in several diffent fields of operation, from internal back office operations to providing online banking channels for customers (omnichannel banking).
What's Omnichannel Banking?
Omnichannel banking lets clients perform and execute the same banking operations through various channels, e.g. a website, a mobile application, even letting them start an operation on one channel and finish it on an other by performing real-time data synchronisation.
Connect anywhere, anytime
Multi-device applications
Enhanced Security (PSD2)
For making a succesful approach from tradition to omnichannel banking, banks have to internalize the digital-first approach in product management, which also posed many challenges to the IT landscape - sometimes with the necessity of upgrading outdated electronic channels (Internet Bank, Mobile Bank applications). This is where our standardized Omnichannel Banking service product can help.
How does Advocate OB - Omnichannel Banking works?
Advocate OB is a set of standardized services in an established service framework with proven track record of success in several Hungarian Financial Institutions. With Advocate OB framework our customers were able to introduce a true omnichannel banking solution which provides online banking services through Mobile, Internet Banking with being fully compliant with the PSD2-obligations (strong customer authentication, Open APIs, fraud detection and monitoring). Advocate OB framework uses standardized steps that are fully capable of serving any client:
1. Filling out our questionnaire
Our questionnaire has a simple goal: assess the company's requirements and strategy regarding the omnichannel and digital first approach.
2. Taking our digital readyness test
The digital readyness assesses the company's current IT architecture landscape and the product portfolio. Based on the results our consultants are able to provide a detailed transition project plan.
3. Choosing the right solution
Advocate OB framework provides you many readily-available options and scorecards for choosing the right solution: procure a white-lable application family sign, choose an outsourced custom-built solution or try for an in-house development.
4. Project and Test Management
Built from industry-wide lessons learned, the Advocate OB framework contains Project Management, Business Analysis, Testing and Test Management services making sure your company's transition runs as smoothly as possible.
5. Roll-out
After a succesful testing phase the roll-out can be made easily with Adovcate OB's pre-release checklist and prerequisites that also covers necessary in-house staff trainings, and provides the necessary know-how for customer communication materials based on our ever-growing list of past projects.
Advocate OB is a standardized framework that could be used for any Bank or Financial institution. The framework relies on the 20+ successful projects in several Banks throughout Europe that used our consultant's knowledge in technologically diverse IT landscape.