Technology is becoming a disruptive force across industries, and banking is no different. With most banks across the globe embracing technology, one of the often-overlooked but vital components of any bank are its employees. Faced with the fast-evolving banking systems and processes, are bank employees skilled enough to manage the change? What skill sets aspiring banking professionals need, to carve a promising career path in the future-enabled digital banking ecosystem? Let’s find out.
How has technology changed banking?
Let’s start by saying that banking is one of the oldest businesses in the world in some form or another. However, the way technology has induced a change in the banking sector over the last few decades has been disruptive. If we can turn back the wheels of time to the 1950s, when credit cards were introduced to the world, it was a technological advancement that set the stage for many more future changes. By the 60s, the world saw the first ATM being launched by the Barclays Bank–another technological wonder. This was followed by the introduction of computers into the banking ecosystem, the rise and growth of online banking, PayPal that spearheaded Fintech companies, the mobile banking revolution, digital wallets, UPI, and electronic KYC–all marvels of technology. Even as you read this article, innovators are working hard to use technology to bring hyper-personalization and ease of transacting into banking processes.
Digital banking–The future is here
What do you do if you want to check the balance available in your savings account? Use a mobile app? Log in to internet banking? Use an SMS-based service? Call customer care? However, not very long ago, the only way to know your balance was to visit the bank branch. Tedious, right? These modern ways of banking using electronic channels make up digital banking. Digital banking is the availability of most banking services online using a computer or smartphone. A bank to offer digital banking services needs a robust IT architecture, software solutions that replace manual back-office processing, and overall automation of processes.
Here are some skill sets that banking professionals need in future-enabled digital banking.
Digital Banking
- Understanding of how banks work digitally
- Score-based lending
- The e-KYC process for different financial products, etc.
The banking industry has taken favorably to technology’s benefits to improve the speed and efficiency of its processes. As you can see, while bankers’ core responsibilities might be the same, the entire customer experience will change. Hence, regardless of the role you are targeting, being conversant with digital banking and its technologies is vital to your success. TKWs Institute of Banking and Finance (TKWsIBF) understands that banking is a competitive industry for job seekers and has designed courses to help students get ready for promising career opportunities. It has developed a unique three-week Digital Banker Module that can help you understand a professional’s role in a digital bank and get you started on learning the required skills. It will allow you to understand all new-age concepts and make you future-banking-ready.
