BFSI companies are focusingon advancedtechnologiesto develop nextgen mobile applications:
It is only innovative technologies that can help companies stay relevant and competitive in today’s highly competitive consumer market. BFSI companies are working on key technologies like fingerprint recognition for secure login, personalized messaging for app users, chatbot proficient in regional Indian languages to be able to converse with rural/semi urban customers, etc. The use cases of these technologies have been designed after thorough study of customer feedback and reviews that the companies receive constantly from various channels.
Akhil Handa speaks about how security systems are integrated with the underlying technology of the operations of the bank. “We have integrated biometric authentication feature based on face recognition in the recent release. We are also in the process of integrating chatbots, leveraging AI and NLP, app analytics, etc, for enhancing customer experience.”
K.N.C. Nair says “Mattu & Mittu is Muthoot Finance’s Al-driven user friendly chatbot integrated with iMuthoot mobile app to increase customer engagement. Customers are using this feature as an immediate touch point for finding answers to their queries.
Mahindra Finance has developed an AI-based chatbot named ‘Sharma ji’ for its mutual fund business. It is live on the Mahindra Mutual Fund website, and will soon be available on the app. Sharma ji is currently offering services like responding to queries on mutual funds, offering information on the company’s portfolio of funds as well as capturing basic information of the prospective investor so that the company can get in touch with him and help himtransact.
Tina Singh says: “We are already seeing a 40% of our digital customers engaging with the bot. Also, by means of constantly retraining the bot on unhandled queries, we have been able to achieve a 98.2% success rate in answering user queries as of date. Very soon, the chatbot will be able to onboard as well as complete an entire investment journey for the customer with an integrated payment gateway.”
She adds that with integrated machine-learned investment advisory models at the backend, Sharma ji will become a powerful interactive tool enabling a differentiated investment experience to the customer.
TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS
Mahindra Finance has partnered with IBM for IBM MobileFirst platform for developing its mobile apps. The platform offers a robust, secure, and scalable framework for app development. Tina Singhexplains that in today’s digital world, understanding the customer behaviour patterns is of prime importance as it allows an enterprise to know more about their digital footprints and accordingly fine tune and develop new functionalities. “We use Google Analytics and Firebase for comprehensive app analytics,” she adds.
Religare Broking uses inhouse technology to develop mobile apps and web portals.The company has an efficient and strong in-house technology team that takes care of all the digital developments including apps, web portals and other digital assets.”
Muthoot Finance’s mobile apps are developed inhouse by the IT wing of Muthoot Group, Muthoot Systems &Technologies Future Generali Life Insurance has developed its app inhouse and FJORD has designed the same.
TECHNOLOGY FOR FUTURE APPS
Bank of Baroda is constantly trying to bring more and more services under one umbrella, ie mobile banking. It is now planning to add new features like integration of merchant ecosystem, availability of UPI, PPF account opening, buying for FASTag cards, RTGS facility, applying for pre-approved personal loan, etc to its app.
Mahindra Finance has a complete roadmap planned for the year ahead for its mobile app to leverage various digital technologies.It has plans to introduce features like making available the status of the loan application on the app, enabling notifications for important communication from the company and self-updating customer contact details seamlessly so that those who have changed their mobile number after availing the loan can still access the app and its functionalities.
Tina Singh mentions that Mahindra Finance has fast-tracked its iOS app development so that the app can be released to our iPhone users in the next few days.She also reveals that the next set of releases will see end-to-end digital servicing processes for various products of the company on the app.
Religare Broking is readying its E-DIS facility on its mobile app to help clients sell their stocks lying in their demat accounts seamlessly through a secured OTP gateway directly linked with NSDL. Getting physical POA from clients has become a challenge in the lockdown situations.
Future Generali Life Insurance will be introducing features such as financial needs analysis, claim tracking and e-magazine in its mobile app soon.
Muthoot Finance will be adding bank account linking option for customers, using which the customer can receive loan disbursements online. K.N.C. Nair says thiswill be convenient forcustomers to top up their loan using their existing credit facilitywithout visiting branches. This feature was introduced in the company’s web channel and hasreceived a massive response from customers.”
