Face-to-face interactions were once essential in the retail banking industry. But today, it’s easy to find bank customers who have never stepped foot inside a branch, with just 3% of consumer interactions now taking place in person, according to a March 2023 report. For banks, adjusting to this new reality means finding innovative ways to provide engaging consumer experiences that blend the best of the physical and digital worlds. While many transactions are performed online, physical branches are necessary, and often preferred, for others. These include securing a car loan, small business loan or getting a first mortgage. Ray Hatch, VP of Enterprise Solutions, Vertical Markets, Comcast Business, discusses how financial services organizations are using technology to create the banking experiences of the future.

How has the relationship between banks and their customers shifted in recent years, and what is driving that change?

Two important events have forever altered the retail banking space: the demographic shift of customers to Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The relationship between customers and banks was already becoming more digital, with younger clients preferring a frictionless way to bank and invest. Then the pandemic solidified the growing trend of contactless interaction. Banks have responded by focusing on their digital transformation efforts, which includes making sure they have a robust network that can support the full spectrum of digital interactions.

How is this shift to digital interactions changing the role of the bank branch? Is there still a place for brick-and-mortar banking?

While the pandemic forced everyone, including older generations, to get more comfortable with digital transactions, there are certain interactions that people still want to have in person. Those include moments like getting a small-business loan or a first mortgage. Today, we see the banking segment starting to design their retail environments to bring those kinds of experiences forward. There may be fewer teller lines and more office space where customers can sit down and talk to an employee. As customers spend more time in branches, some banks are investing in more robust Wi-Fi so customers have an internet connection while on premises or so employees can serve customers on mobile devices.

What are some of the banking experiences customers take for granted today that could be transformed in the next five to 10 years?

Think about the ATM. If there are 5,000 retail branches, there may be 15,000 ATMs, which means the ATMs far exceed branches when it comes to customer interactions. Banks are thinking about how they can enhance the customer experience in those ATM locations, including the possibility of connectivity between a customer at an ATM and a remote teller.

Next-gen ATMs are part of the overall digital transformation happening at large retail banks. Those changes are still a few years off, but Comcast Business and our banking clients are having conversations now about connectivity and security solutions needed to power new features.

How is the relationship between financial service organizations and their employees changing? What do banks need to provide their employees today that they didn’t in the past?

Given the competition to attract, engage and retain talent in the financial industry, digital transformation efforts can’t be solely for the external client. Financial organizations today need to think of employees as internal customers and provide them with robust digital tools to support their jobs. With deposits, withdrawals and balance inquiries increasingly handled by ATMs, branch employees are functioning as financial generalists, so there’s a need for the banks to provide training around more services, be equipped with the right digital applications and be incentivized to pivot in the future.

What do banks need to power an increasingly complex tech ecosystem?

Robotics, AI and smart devices can perform a lot of functions in banking, but the only way to instill confidence in these technologies is to provide a resilient, stable and agile experience. These interactions need to feel frictionless to the customer, and that can’t happen if, say, the AI they’re chatting with is slow or glitchy. When the network isn't stable enough to power that technology, the experience really falls off a cliff from a customer satisfaction perspective.

The transactions that bank employees are handling regularly require access to the cloud or other systems and information, so that network simply must be up and running. Having a fast, reliable network and a partner who is actively monitoring connectivity is quickly becoming table stakes, because having anything less is just not acceptable for a company that connects people to their money.