Recent experience, better technology, and greater levels of societal adoption of that tech have brought great changes in consumer expectations – and how banks and others in the financial sector seek to fulfill them. This now includes the expectation that services be immediately available, at all times. Adopting a digital strategy from the beginning enables banks to fulfill the expectation of their customers in this regard.
Younger demographics skew ever more toward a preference for digital services. This trend is unlikely to be reversed anytime soon (if at all). As younger people acquire more financial firepower, their needs and desires must be front-of-mind for all financial service providers. This isn’t to suggest that only younger people appreciate a digital financial offering: consumers across age groups are verifiably open to moving their financial lives online, provided they are given well-designed, secure options to do so.
In line with this trend, traditional service providers, including banks, have had to reposition themselves from being primarily physical entities with nods to a digital presence, to fully fledged digital entities that see consumer journeys as a mix of physical and digital, or “phygital.” To acknowledge this reality is to get on board with the Digital First paradigm.