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The return to office is here, so what’s next for the financial services industry?

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By Sof Socratous, VP for Northern Europe at Poly

 

Offices around the globe have welcomed employees back. And after some false starts, the finance industry is hoping that the return to office will finally stick. Banks including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Bank of America have all brought in policies and eased restrictions to encourage people to come in.

However, there is a challenge facing the financial services sector: employers are expecting employees to come into the office four or five days a week, to strengthen collaboration. Whereas employees want far less time in the office, pointing to first-hand experience that working remotely is both convenient and productive. In fact, 96% of financial industry professionals say they would prefer a mix of office-based and remote working in a post-Covid environment.

Research also shows 54% of the finance sector are fully prepared for the future of hybrid work, whilst 34% are only prepared in the short-term. And many firms are concerned that hybrid working could have an impact on customer relationships, with questions being raised: “How can you build trust without meeting clients in person? How can you look and sound your professional best on video? How can you train new remote employees in the art of managing relationships and closing deals?”

What they need to realise is those who get it right can actually earn a new competitive advantage in retaining talent, boosting client relationships, and optimising collaboration workflows.

Customers want hybrid too

What firms must realise is that employees are not alone when it comes to reaping the benefits of hybrid working. Clients too are embracing hybrid work schedules and choosing to do more meetings virtually for convenience.

Many years ago, the only way to access finances would be to visit a bank in person and have a conversation over the counter with the teller. But in today’s digitalised world, there isn’t a need to physically venture into a bank, given the time that can be saved by interacting online. Times are changing and clients will reward firms that can expedite decision-making, provide immediate access during crisis moments, and streamline routine and procedural matters via on-demand video calls.

It’s time to meet employees’ needs

Hybrid working is also an essential perk in a competitive market with a talent shortage. By offering employees the option of hybrid work and providing them with the technology to be able to do it successfully, firms can attract and retain top talent. After all, research shows that over half of organisations (56%) believe that if they don’t address their hybrid work plans, they’ll start to lose staff and will be unable to attract new talent.

It’s in employers’ best interests to ensure that the work-from-anywhere culture they create is one with equal opportunity and experience for all at its core. The goal should be to provide a consistent, professional, and friction-free experience regardless of location so everyone has an equal seat at the table. This means understanding each employee persona and taking a people-first approach to then equip workers with the right enterprise-grade headsets, desk phones, and video conferencing devices – no matter where they decide to work from.

The financial industry is composed of many different types of businesses, so enabling hybrid working should not be viewed as a one-size-fits-all situation. For example, sales and contact centre agents have very different needs to client-facing deal teams in M&A. Call centre agents need to be comfortable, with hands-free headsets that prioritise clear audio and enablement of a distraction-free environment while deal teams need embedded technology to track speakers as they talk so they can hear every nuance and give equal weight to all those involved in the interaction. No single communication and collaboration style fits all.

Concerns around training new remote employees can also be eliminated, as the right meeting technology makes it easier for mentors/managers to find that human connection for guidance and continue nurturing skills when they’re off-site. And not only will this adoption of technology create an equal collaboration experience among colleagues but also maintain the same level of professionalism as they would meeting with customer in person.

Taking the leap to hybrid will reap rewards

By its nature, the financial services industry is risk-averse, and that can get in the way of making changes. But, the benefits of blending on-site and remote work are rich. Firms that can make the shift to hybrid with the right technologies can build stronger customer relationships, improve operations with better communication and collaboration, and attract and retain top talent. Ultimately this will separate the winners from the losers in this challenging market.

Business

How app usage can help brands increase their online revenues and customer retention

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Arunabh Madhur, Regional VP & Head Business EMEA at SHAREit Group

 

Brands are continuing to invest heavily in the e-commerce market despite current market and economic challenges – and they need to. Indeed, the current global e-commerce market is valued at around $5.5 trillion. Further to that, estimates show that online retail sales will reach $6.7 trillion by the end of 2023 – and e-commerce making up 22.3% of those sales.

So despite the economic and market climate, businesses must still plan for success and cater to customer demands to make the most of the global e-commerce opportunity.

 

Mobile apps are key

Mobile apps are now a fundamental component of retail, as they provide customers with a convenient and engaging way to shop from their phones. The past couple of years has been rocket fuel for digital transformation, providing an opportunity for the retail industry to innovate. Whilst global trends continue to point to the user growth of Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, the trends underneath the headlines highlight significant opportunities to drive new customer acquisition, which in turn demands a targeted customer retention strategy from companies.

According to research from Baymard Institute, 69.82% of online shopping carts are abandoned and with demand expected to continue, pressure is growing on retailers to expand current offerings and create personalised experiences to tackle this. One of the big challenges e-commerce companies face, though, is analysing and maximising the behaviour of users, and bringing down the cost of their marketing and engagement against how much is earned through a customer making a purchase.

To meet customer demand, mobile apps offer a variety of features such as push notifications, product recommendations, exclusive discounts and offers, and easy checkout processes, to make the shopping experience easier for customers. By leveraging the power of mobile technology, brands can create an immersive shopping experience tailored specifically to their customer’s needs, and this in turn helps increase customer loyalty, customer return rates, and maximise online revenue.

 

Re-targeting and re-engaging customers

Brands should focus on re-engaging with returning consumers through a personalised strategy as this can help increase the lifetime value of users, which in turn helps brands bring the cost of their marketing down knowing that brand loyalty has been achieved. According to research from Google and Storyline Strategies study, 72% of consumers are more likely to be loyal to a brand if they offer a personalised experience.

Optimising the online shopping experience is crucial in retaining customers. Today, consumers need a more ‘human’ touch, i.e., smart product suggestions based on buying history & behaviour that helps build a one-to-one relationship between brand and buyer. In particular, push notifications haven’t just enhanced personalisation but also increased app engagement by up to 88%. Push notifications have also proven to get disengaged users back, too, with 65% returning to an app within 30 days of the push notification.

Another strategy to consider is the option of adding buy now pay later (BNPL) options at checkouts for customers. Brands that add the option of financing at the checkout allow customers to spread the cost over time, which according to Klarna has resulted in a 30% increase in checkout conversation rates.

Publisher platforms allow brands to leverage their reach and sticky user base. Especially with open platforms such as SHAREit, which can help e-commerce brands create a strong revenue conversion with higher average order value with unique retargeting and user acquisition solutions. Because users are not just sharing product links, but also sharing e-commerce apps and deals among their community. Users of these publisher platforms are also encouraged to share products and apps through platform activities.

 

What the future of e-commerce holds for brands

E-commerce is positioning itself as a key facet in retail, and its future. With Advancements in technology, customers can access various products and services worldwide through their smartphones – making shopping more accessible than ever. Brands must put consumers at the heart of everything they do, like never before. Offering incentives and payment options, personalising customers’ experiences and re-engaging them, as well as targeting new customers, in an effective and un-intrusive way, are all ways in which they can influence purchasing decisions and improve retention figures.

 

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Business

Does the middle market have a financial edge?  

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Ilija Ugrinic, Commercial Solutions Director at Proactis

 

Companies tend to look up the ladder when searching for ways to improve efficiency and business performance. What are larger competitors, or others outside their industry, doing right that they can learn from and implement?

What smart technologies or bright ideas do they have that could create efficiencies for them, too?  

As we enter yet another likely volatile year for business, punctuated by recession, should businesses continue to only look up? And could the approach of a slightly smaller business offer more of a competitive edge? 

Large corporates tend to pioneer innovation in automation by simple virtue of the resources they have. Home to transformation directors and departments, with the ability to implement large overarching software systems, they pave the way for others and are often the first to digitise their source-to-pay cycle at pace. 

Ilija Ugrinic, Commercial Solutions Director at Proactis

While growing businesses understand the merits of full automation, implementing it is often too expensive and it doesn’t bring the rapid realisation of benefits that they need. They need to consider what will bring them the biggest return on investment – and the reality is that those in the middle market don’t necessarily need all the elements of an ‘all-doing’ piece of software. What’s more, without dedicated personnel to project manage a transition, they frequently lack the currency of time to be able to comfortably transform working practices, and take staff with them on the journey, without taking resource from other areas of the business.  

For SMEs, digital transformation has never been quite as seismic a shift. Instead, they tend to take a modular approach, employing digital solutions only for particular areas of their finance department, where they need them. This has never been a particularly strategic move. Rather, for a growing business that values quick results and watches their outgoings with greater scrutiny than their larger counterparts, it’s something that suits them better. A modular approach also comes with very little disruption and can be implemented relatively seamlessly into their existing organisational setups. 

But while growing businesses are opting for a modular approach because it’s the most cost and time effective option for them, the benefits go far beyond that. The beauty of a modular approach is that it is agile. The last three years – with pandemics, an increasingly challenging climate and shifting geopolitical tensions impacting our global economy – have only served to remind us of how suddenly, and drastically, a business landscape can change. The companies that have weathered the storm are those that have reacted and adapted quickly – those that have been capable of changing the way they do things with little impact on day-to-day operations. A modular approach can offer just that.  

Businesses using modular finance technology can integrate small solutions that sync up with the rest of their processes, quickly and seamlessly – and these systems can be integrated into their existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), too. There’s no restriction of a monolithic or aging piece of software either – finance teams can add and update small solutions to their daily operations without the upheaval of having to replace or update large IT infrastructures or wider working practices within the business to accommodate the new software.

Unrestricted by entrenched and hard-to-change systems, the speed with which SMEs are able to react to market changes is miles ahead. A prompt software add-on to manage risk, or create a quick fix in response to a market shift, can be virtually a knee-jerk reaction. SME’s abilities to bend and flex to today’s world efficiently is seeing them reap the benefits of a modular approach. It’s lean, it’s fast and it’s facilitating their growth with a strong competitive edge. And as some of these companies’ growth propels them into the large corporate sphere, they’re choosing to keep a modular approach to finance.  It will certainly be interesting to watch those middle-sized companies which grow to the extent that they find themselves competing in the same space. With no financial remodelling to assume a large ‘all-doing’ piece of software, they’ll be competing against their counterparts with completely different tools in their arsenal.  

With technology, working life and business needs continuing to change day to day, we have another year ahead of us that will see companies running to keep pace with each other – and fast-growing companies’ approach to finance could be the silver bullet that enables them to catch up with, and even take on, big enterprises. It might just give them a competitive edge against large corporates in these turbulent times.

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