Digital Signage For The Banking Sector? Of Course!

May 24, 2022 by guest author, German Talon

Guest Post: Germán Talón, Nsign.tv

The pandemic has brought about big changes in many sectors, and banking is no exception. But before the pandemic, we were already seeing lots of high-level changes in the sector like, for instance, in major acquisitions and mergers. Many of these operations resulted in closures of offices and in the transformation of others in search of a different experience for clients: more open spaces, offices with cafeterias and co-working, more customer-friendly settings, among others. The pandemic arrived in the middle of this process of transformation, and customers started to look toward those entities with the easiest online operations.

Another example of digital transformation accelerated by the pandemic: banking institutions looking to transform their offices started to focus on digital platforms. For many entities, the pandemic was just an accelerator of this paradigm shift in customer attention. The generational change and their relationship with technology was already driving this transformation. With all these different factors coming together, the concept of the traditional bank branch called for a facelift.

At the moment, there is nowhere near the same number of offices as there was in the early-1980s (put like that, in writing, it seems a long time ago … but it went by in a flash!).

We now have bank branches that look anything but, fewer offices, and a shift to online platforms. In other words, a transformation in off-line customer service and the intensive use of platforms to improve online operations. Not everyone wants to go to a bank office everyday, but at the same time, not everybody wants to deal with their bank exclusively online.

So, what is happening on the boundary between the two? Well, the answer is that digital signage offers a huge range of options that straddle both physical and online spaces, with its usual fluency, flexibility and power. To remind ourselves, digital signage uses physical communication devices in physical locations but runs from digital platforms (and, optimally, integrated with other systems).

Is it a question of closing all offices and pushing customers online? Absolutely not. The intermediate solution is offering an experience that seamlessly combines both strategies. What theorists and we in the business call omnichannel and phygital ecosystems, or in plain English, a user-transparent combination of physical and digital experience.

After all, a digital signage system is designed in such a way that the content produces an impact, seduces, informs, and is useful for customers.

So, how can a digital signage system be useful in the banking sector?

Let’s take a look at the case of a hypothetical branch. Imagine that we are passers-by and we see an enormous display informing us of the services and promotions of a specific bank, but the same display also shows the bank’s social media posts or a campaign which includes clients from the branch in question. This kind of communication catches our attention and maybe makes us think about changing banks or it might inform us about a service we were not aware of.

In one way or another, we end up going to the bank’s website to look for more information. And as a result of that, we end up downloading an app that allows us to do practically all operations online without the need to physically go to the bank. But, for whatever reason, there is some formality that requires our physical presence in the bank. That’s ok, because on your app you can arrange an appointment with your nearest branch.

On the day in question, you turn up for your appointment and there, as soon as you enter, on a discreet display, you are automatically given a personalized welcome and informed at what desk and what person will attend to you, as well as providing the expected waiting time.

And while we are quietly waiting in a well-lit, comfortable and pleasing space, we can see that there are displays to keep us entertained with videos, social media feeds and news to occupy the time. This content can be personalized, using AI-driven cameras, in order to show communication geared towards the audience waiting, at that time, in the branch. At a given moment, one of these displays will inform us, again in a personalized fashion, that we can go to the assigned counter position, desk or office. Once your visit is over, and you are back at home, the app will thank you for your visit and inform you about the content of the meeting with the corresponding employee.

The arc of this whole process, the very stuff of a digital signage system, seamlessly combines both experiences in a unique client-bank relationship, independently of the medium in which it takes place. It is important to bear in mind that in this example the digital signage system and the system used by the bank in the digital environment are integrated. When this integration runs smoothly, the bank will not only have access to the app’s data analysis, but also to the visits made to the bank branch, which means that it can then analyze what profiles use digital options more, which ones lean towards physical options and which ones mix the two.

From this point, the system can evolve toward more complex scenarios, for instance using sensors in branches or sending the same content to displays and mobile apps from the same platform. For a banking entity, it means even greater knowledge of and insights into their customers, and for customers it means a better user experience.

The only limit is the imagination and creativity of marketing and communication departments which, knowing what digital signage is capable of, can continue creating new experiences that attract new clients and improve the satisfaction of existing customers.

About The Writer

Germán Talón is the CTO of Nsign.tv, a Spanish technological start-up based in Barcelona which won the 2021 AV Award for “Digital signage technology of the year”. He was previously CIO at Veritas where he was responsible for designing and implementing the digital transformation strategy of this organic supermarket chain. Technical Engineer in Computer Science from the University of Las Palmas and a graduate in Business Administration and Management from the Oberta University of Catalunya, he is also a professor in the master’s degree in E-Commerce Management and Digital Marketing at the University of Barcelona.

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