Fuelled by pandemic restrictions, there’s a new generation of wealth management digital embracers

With more people embracing the digital era and accessing information when and where they want, it’s more vital than ever that wealth management organisations ensure their technology meets or exceeds customer expectations.

Robert DeDominicis, CEO at GBST, who has navigated the global FinTech company through the pandemic, said while a younger generation adapted to remote working and an even younger generation to remote learning, “It’s the older generation that surprised us the most.”

“We’ve long heard of millennial and gen z digital natives who have grown up with technology and expect a digital-first experience from the companies they deal with. Now, fuelled by the restrictions of the pandemic, we have a new breed of digital embracers: older generations who are comfortable using technology for a wide range of activities,” DeDominicis said.

This growing familiarity with instant access to information means customers expect the organisations they deal with to provide this access. And that doesn’t just impact organisations that operate online. Increasingly, people are demanding a smooth customer experience (CX) regardless of how they interact with an organisation, whether that’s face-to-face, by phone, or online.

“The problem is that too often, wealth management organisations aren’t meeting these customer expectations – there’s a CX gap – and that gap can hit your bottom line. These organisations are no longer just competing with one another on the standard of their CX, they’re up against the benchmark set by leading companies.”

Unless you know each of your customers personally, or if your systems aren’t underpinned by modern technology, it’s hard to deliver to every individual a customised, fully informed service that anticipates their needs in the moment. Organisations need to be able to analyse and interpret client data into actionable insights, which is difficult if that data is stored in unwieldy spreadsheets or systems that don’t talk to each other.

With reduced barriers to entry in the financial services sector, challenger brands are launching propositions free from the legacy system issues faced by many existing organisations. New entrants recognise the importance of the customer experience and are building technology architecture with CX at its core.

“Digitising what you’ve done in the past is just not the solution to the future,” said DeDominicis. “As an example, microservices hadn’t arrived five years ago, and now they’re changing the customer service experience.”

Using modern functionality like real-time personalisation, enhanced payment options and artificial intelligence, organisations can deliver an exceptional, end-to-end customer experience that inspires confidence, cultivates trust, and wins customers. These developments can also reduce costs and improve efficiency, for instance, by handing off customer details between departments so time isn’t wasted in repeating information or using AI to anticipate customer needs and proactively push information electronically, rather than waiting for the customer to contact you.

“Not making the most of your CX can seriously impact your ability to compete,” DeDominicis said.

GBST has recently published a whitepaper entitled “Closing the CX Gap: How wealth management organisations can bridge the customer experience gap to improve revenue”. It is available on GBST’s website here.