Banking Frontiers spoke to Srinivas Tadigadapa, Director – Enterprise Sales, Intel – South Asia, about creating and executing a strategy for tabletization in the BFSI sector.
Banking Frontiers: How do you think technology is changing the whole enterprise landscape with specific reference to offering solutions and engagement platforms to customers in the BFSI Vertical?
Srinivas Tadigadapa: Tablets today are playing an integral role in the enterprise segment. The BFSI industry is undergoing major transformation over the past year or so, by moving to paperless transactions and implementing solutions through tablets. Processing online applications for account opening and other services, transfer of funds without cheques, online account statements are all becoming part of the regular banking process.
With digitization of all customer transactions and data, banks have started improving productivity, optimizing costs, and providing better quality customer service. A large part of BFSI back-end is automated and the need of the hour is to spruce up the front-end; the whole KYC cycle can be shortened drastically. Even in insurance, a lot of authentication of claims process can be done over the cloud, if we embrace the tablet-trend the right way. By embracing the cloud architecture, the BFSI industry can bring down the cost of compute, increase utilization, smarter security and make IT easier to deploy. By being able to introduce a wide range of form factors such as 2-1’S and AIO’s, which focus on high productivity for the employee, the BFSI industry stands to gain much more than just upgrading their IT infrastructure.
BF: Within the banking sector, are nationalized banks and public banks also looking to go the tablet way or is this momentum only driven by the private and foreign banks?
ST: The sector itself is undergoing a major change, with both private and public sectors moving onto mobility as a large differentiator in their business. For both private as well as public banks, the tabletization strategy keeps with their larger business goals of improving productivity of their employees, by creating a differentiation in their offering as well as making their workforce and resources more efficient. The growth of internet and mobile technology has added a different dimension to banking for both the private and public sector banks. Banks now deploy tablets to open savings account by feeding details of the customer into the tablet, clicks photograph, takes snapshot of the original KYC document and uploads it in real-time and in front of the customer. The time taken for opening account is maximum 24 hours under this initiative. Mobility and ubiquitous connectivity mean that you can take a tablet virtually anywhere and have access to content and the web. The application marketplaces offer a wide array of options that significantly enhance the tablet computing experience. Companies are finding a broad set of uses for tablets, including general productivity, sales, field service/support, management, and others. With increased enterprise security and management features, tablets are now seeing strong adoption in BFSI environments.
BF: How the tablet is becoming part of an overall customer relationship strategy in the BFSI sector?
ST: There is a strong potential for a positive tablet banking user experience, especially with the rich interface tablets offer. The tablet is becoming part of an overall customer relationship strategy in the BFSI sector. Customers are now able to customize and have a personalized experience on their terms. Intel supports the hardware that works towards advanced and intelligent offerings in the customer service space as well as around solutions and opportunities for banks to engage in the process of tabletization. Intel is integrating this consumer experience with its compute solutions. Intel powered tablets allows for more flexibility, smarter functioning, high level of security, and advanced performance benefits and a great computing experience. Intel based tablets will help reduce overall business costs with built-in security and manageability tools. Regardless of the integration scenario you choose, one of the biggest advantages is the way these tablets fit with your existing computing environment. You can use the same IT management tools as you use for desktops and laptops, and there is no need for extra collaboration tools. Intel-based tablets also offer compatibility with legacy applications, peripherals, and drivers, with powerful performance and greater productivity for users and a familiar architecture that uses existing IT skill sets. Our IP redesign, collaborations, acquisitions etc., is playing big role in this integration. For instance, no mainframe can offer the package we can as an OEN design around SoC with a strong time-to-market advantage and with a near-PC powerful experience.
BF: How is Intel collaborating with its ISVs and customers (banks) to strengthen its market share here?
ST: We are working on application ecosystems strongly so that apps are better able to harness the ‘compute’ part inside. We leverage our ecosystem by working with OEMs, ODMs to assure multiple designs, form factors meeting different price point and capabilities. We work with Google and Microsoft to assure that their latest OS experience is best of class with Intel. We work with ISVs / app writers to assure that their apps are best optimized / perform the best on Intel based tablets
BF: What are the solutions and opportunities for banks to engage in the process of tabletization?
ST: The most important step the BFSI industry should take would be to engage with an experienced technology provider for comprehensive tablet banking deployment. Partnering with such a provider will also help them stay abreast of new devices, operating systems and newer form of technology management.
Banks should treat tab banking as channel that supplements their online and net banking. But they should make sure that tab banking isn’t a web based model, more app driven to create distinctive features and leverage the attributes of tab banking.
They should create a unique experience, because the tablet allows the customer to interact with the device, so by utilizing the device’s functionality and processing power, the attributes that set the tablet unique experience apart should be leveraged.
There lies a big opportunity in Increased profitability for banking industry, because with the ease of use, more customers would look at tab banking as a hassle free, paper less, easy mode of transaction as well as opening a relationship with a bank. There is a possibility that customers are expecting tab banking to move to a much bigger role than the current one they play.
One of the important factors to consider would be platform and technology, because the tablet channel needs to be integrated with all other channels of the business, starting from information access to policies, security as well as basic customer needs have to be met. An all-round device that needs to be seamlessly integrated to give the banking sector a smarter business option
A large part of BFSI back-end is automated but if we can spruce up the front-end, the whole KYC cycle can be shortened amazingly. Even in insurance a lot of authentication of claims process can be done on-the-fly if we embrace the tablet-trend the right way.
Who are some of the customers (banks) Intel is associated with in this space?
We are working with leading multinational, private and public sector banks in India, helping them achieve optimisation and best usage models for tablets in their workspace.
