Video provides tremendous benefits to banks and credit unions, but beware of meaningless “video science projects”. By that I mean a deployment that merely proves that a team can get video to work, to see if people will use it, or to model the branch of the future.

Don’t get me wrong, I get just as excited as anyone when an experiment works. However, technology is only as valuable as the business problem it solves.

I’ve worked with Gene Pranger for 10 years now, and our goal has always been to use video to transform the bank or credit union business. Video banking, when done right, offers much more than a Skype-like experience. It solves business problems.

In particular, video banking can substantially improve operational efficiencies and service. Here are four ways:

1. Convenient branch hours

For most credit unions and banks, providing convenient branch hours is extremely expensive. According to a 2017 Gallup poll, only 30% of Americans work remotely, which means 70% of your consumers find it inconvenient to visit your branch during working hours. That results in heavy branch traffic early in the morning, during lunch hour or at the end of the day. And it’s not just your consumers who are inconvenienced; your branch employees must manage their time around the ebb and flow of branch traffic. POPi/o Video Banking solves this problem by providing face-to-face service from wherever your consumers may be, at their own convenience. You can extend these face-to-face service hours by using employees at a centralized, secure location without incurring the cost of extending or increasing staff in each branch. And, longer service hours can help with recruiting, especially among millennials, who want flexible work hours that don’t conform to typical 8-to-5 workdays.

2. Compliance Assistance

Does your bank or credit union struggle to collect documentation required to process a change of address from remote consumers? What happens when a borrower submits all of their loan documentation… except one last thing? And then there’s Reg D, the dreaded federal regulation that limits account holders to six electronic transfers per month. Complying with regulations, policies and procedures can be difficult for consumers who struggle to visit a branch due to business hours or because they live in another state. POPi/o Video Banking can provide substantial compliance support because the service supports document and signature collection.

3. Loan Workflow

Market research firm Forrester reported online loan application abandon rates were a staggering 97.5% in 2016. POPi/o Video allows you to provide personalized product expertise during the online application process to reduce abandonment rates. We also offer a structured workflow that ensures all forms are consistently signed and completed as efficiently as possible. So not only can POPi/o reduce your online abandon rate, but also provides a superior experience for consumers and your employees.

4. Security

POPi/o Video Banking provides face-to-face service for your consumers without compromising the security of your tellers. Video banking representatives have reported that they provide better service, particularly to irate consumers, because they know they are physically safe. Whether the consumer is angry because of an error, overdrawn account or loan denial, your employees have the confidence to handle the matter calmly and professionally.

As an industry let’s stop video science projects and start deploying video solutions which solve meaningful business problems. POPi/o Video Banking collaboration is a great place to start. Not only will your bottom line experience relief, your employees and consumers will thank you too.

Jan 01

What is Video Banking?

By Tim Pranger | Benefits, Blog, branch, mobile, Video Banking, Video Banking Features, web | No Comments

What is Video Banking?

What is it and where did it start?

Video banking is the concept of utilizing video collaboration services to deliver live agents to you consumers from anywhere for the purpose of serving, selling, and completing banking related transactions remotely through video without the use of a physical meeting place.

Video bankings first introduction in an assisted service format came when Gene Pranger created uGenius technologies. uGenius began to develop the PTM (Personal Teller Machine) which delivered patented video-assisted services to ATM devices and allowed the ATM to expand its functionality based on the video interaction. Gene Pranger and Jed Taylor ultimately sold uGenius Technologies to NCR in January of 2013.

Gene Pranger’s vision was to ultimately take video banking across channels and deliver video-based virtual branches, web Video Banking SDK’s, native video banking applications that include white labeled apps and mobile SDK’s that can give any mobile application full video collaboration functionality.

Channels for Delivery

In-Branch

Full-service branches are currently limited to the amount of space and the number of experts available based on the branches size and location. With micro-branches becoming more and more popular video banking enables you to deliver full-service branches across your branch distribution channel. Video banking centralizes your workforce allowing you to reduce the number of employees it takes to serve a single branch, continue the micro-branch strategy, and reduce overall branch banking costs while delivering full-service experiences. You can read more about retails journey here: Retail’s Digital Journey

Learn more about in branch implementations here.

Web

Currently, web and mobile traffic continues to grow and will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. However, based on current abandonment rates and overall delivery of solutions websites are not generating the perceived income based on the high friction users have when landing on product education pages and applications. Inserting collaboration through video banking can help guide consumers to the appropriate place while improving their experience, and increase your share of wallet.

Mobile

White-labeled mobile apps and integrated mobile SDKs can help monetize mobile channels. Current mobile conversion rates hover around 0% on applications (Read Financial Brand Article for more info) for certain products and services in a pure self-service environment. Video banking can again deliver highly interactive video-assisted interactions that will enable prospective consumers to get the information they need to make a purchase decision. Often consumers that experience friction due to limited understanding of the product or service on your site and didn’t know which service was right for them, couldn’t figure out how to apply, couldn’t ask you a financial service question or didn’t feel comfortable applying from their mobile device. Read more about friction here. Enabling experts to provide financial service advice at the moment of need can prevent abandonment and increase your conversions across channels.

You can read more about the delivery of video banking here: The Engagement Gap is Digital’s Biggest Challenge

What features that you can expect from a trusted video banking provider focused on Financial Services?

Integrated Video E-Signature: Allow consumers to sign documents electronically while talking face-to-face. Get guaranteed signatures.

Document Sharing: Share documents back and forth with your consumers. Consumers can send you documents you need such as w2s, pay-stubs, and other required documentation. Representatives can share applications and other documents for the consumer to review all while in a video chat.

Integrated Financial Service Workflows: Allow your experts to select which product or service workflows they need to go through with your consumers. This ensures that business processes are followed.

In Video Text Chat: Allow your experts to communicate with everyone. Video services that don’t offer integrated text chat are not delivering an experience that is compliant for use with all consumers of your Financial Institution.

Smart Video Call Routing: Route video calls to the most relevant experts, either to groups or individuals. You can customize call routing to the needs of your organization.

Integrated Screen Share: Allow your financial service experts the ability to share their screen with consumers from any channel: in-Branch Video Banking, Web Video Banking, Mobile Video Banking.

Co-Browse: Easily allow your reps to take control of the screen and work through items with consumers in the branch and on the web.

Emotional Recognition: Understand the emotional intelligence of your organization and how effective you are when working with your consumers face-to-face.

Seamless Video Interactions: Signature actions can happen within and outside a video call. Video calls can easily be added to signatures so questions can be answered and document processes can be finished quickly. You can read more about this here: Science of Friction Blog

Benefits of Video Banking

It is not longer just a cool science project.

Convenience

As technology continues to shape our culture travel to make purchases, complete actions or have conversations is becoming less and less relevant. Video banking takes you direct to the consumers living room, office, kitchen or nearby park in a matter of seconds, without burdening the consumer to drop what they are doing and drive 30 minutes to the branch.

Guaranteed Signatures

One of the benefits highlighted by Southwest Financial Federal Credit Union has been their ability to get signatures completed while on a video call. Anytime consumers are asked to do something outside of the first engagement drop off rates increase dramatically. Video banking can help decrease the number of steps it takes to complete applications and ultimately get signatures.

Serving the Underserved

As Pioneer Federal Credit Union started their video banking project they identified several markets that they thought would be ready for the convenience of banking from anywhere. What they didn’t expect was that underserved markets that include their senior membership and bilingual membership to so quickly take advantage of utilizing video to complete their everyday banking needs. Allowing consumers to complete actions from anywhere at their convenience is a must.

Full-Service Virtual Branches

Through video banking, several financial institutions are utilizing video to bring services to their branch network. This process allows them to offer a complete array of services at any given branch without having to have an expert located at that branch. Branch banking becomes easier when one service expert can serve the entire distribution of branches as opposed to having 10 experts at 10 different locations.

You can read more about the benefits of video banking here: 21 Benefits of Video Banking.

January 2018

POPi/o on YouTube

Below you will find a full list of our YouTube videos:

Video Banking Is More Than a Cool Science Project

1. Convenient branch hours

2. Compliance Assistance

3. Loan Workflow

4. Security

What is Video Banking?

What is Video Banking?

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