SRM (Strategic Resource Management), an independent advisory firm for financial institutions, has released its 2019 industry forecasts to provide guidance to financial institutions’ near-term decision making.

According to Brad Downs, CEO of SRM, the key areas to watch in the coming year include the ongoing disruption in the payments space, conversational banking, intelligent automation, and the continuing movement to cloud-based systems.

“Each of these areas will impact financial institutions of every size but nowhere will the impact be more significant than in midtier and community-sized banks and credit unions,” commented Downs. “For these institutions, many of these developments have the potential to reshape the competitive landscape allowing them to extend their brand and overall franchise if they embrace the opportunity.”

SRM continually tracks existing and emerging trends analyzing quantitative and qualitative research from internal and external sources. In addition, the firm regularly meets with banking executives to better understand and document the key areas they are focused on each year. In 2019, SRM will establish a digital learning center, the SRM Academy™, that will contain information from this research and these conversations as well as content across a number of key areas including those described below.

  • Payments Remain A Battleground – The payments landscape will remain dynamic as payment providers respond to new digital channels, seek to provide differentiated services through the use of new technology and data-driven interactions, infrastructure modernization and broader collaboration between FinTechs and established players. The overall theme will be “payments anywhere and everywhere” as more consumers adopt and use more digital devices. Already more than one-third of them own six or more devices (Visa/PMNTS.com).
  • Pay My Bill, Hal – Conversational banking, interaction with customers and members through voice and text, will move quickly from the future to the present tense as these new interfaces impact expectations around the CX (consumer experience) and make voice-based biometrics the means of choice for authentication. The foundation for this revolution already exists. The Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple HomePod (as well as other devices) all use technologies including AI, machine learning and natural-language processing (NLP) to enable voice engagement.
  • The Rise of the Machines – The adoption of technologies such as RPA (robotic process automation) and AI (artificial intelligence) are no longer a subject of debate. Through intelligent automation strategies banks and credit unions will be able to streamline processes, improve quality and enhance customer service in ways that have direct, near-term, and positive impacts to their bottom lines. APQC, a business research firm, found through a 2018 study that only 12 percent of those organizations surveyed had no plans to invest in any of these technologies in the coming year.
  • Look, Up in the Sky – Cloud-based technologies, applications and services are no longer the “bleeding edge” of IT strategies. Along with numerous other verticals, banking has embraced cloud-based solutions in order to lower cost, reduce complexity and improve time to market for new innovations. In the coming year, Software-as-a-Service is predicted to reach a CAGR of 18 percent (Bain) while investments in Platforms-as-a-Service are expected to reach 56 percent (KPMG).

“Technology continues to increase the rate of change year over year. So, it is no surprise that our research and conversations with banking executives indicates that 2019 will be even more dynamic than 2018,” said Michael Carter, the EVP at SRM responsible for the SRM Academy research and content. “The most material difference, we believe, will be the introduction of new ways for midtier and community-sized banks and credit unions to improve their operational efficiencies, add more value to their bottom lines, and compete successfully in the market place with institutions much larger in size.”

About SRM
SRM (Strategic Resource Management) has served as a trusted advisor to more than 700 financial institutions to lower costs, enhance revenues, automate processes and provide strategic consulting in areas such as payments, digital banking, core processing and operational cost control. The company has unlocked billions of dollars in value and improved the competitive advantage of its clients with its reputation for industry-leading subject matter expertise, proprietary benchmark database and proven negotiating skills. Visit www.srmcorp.com for more information and follow the company @SRMCorp.