What We Can Learn from the FinTech Revolution

What We Can Learn from The FinTech Revolution

FinTech is growing exponentially.

What's FinTech, you ask? It's disruptive technology and the next big thing in the Financial Services industry. What started as an interesting phenomenon is growing faster than anyone expected.

Looking back, it's easy to see why.

In an industry largely dominated by big, conservative institutions with names you'd recognize, evolution has been slow. But, with customer expectations evolvingas quickly as they have dramatically, the need for change has become unavoidable. And, those large firms with recognizable names have had trouble keeping up.

The reality for all businesses in all industries? Customer expectations and behaviors have changed more in the past decade than perhaps over the previous hundred years. Mobile technology has transformed how we live our lives. We expect things...know things...want things...now. And if it's difficult? Forget it. We're moving on. We rely on those companies that we know will come through. Those that we know have our backs. Those we can trust.

FinTech is largely about meeting these needs:

• • Attacking fraud
  • Making lending and payments easy
  • Eliminating customer service hassle
  • Helping plan the future
  • Instilling trust

So what's the key lesson to learn from the FinTech explosion?

Make it all about the customer. Always.

Proactively addressing customer needs, expectations, and behaviors holds importance above all else. It's how upstarts are eroding market share of long-time industry stalwarts. And, it's why FinTech has exploded.

FinTech is about eliminating the complexity and stodginess associated with the status quo. It's about challenging the assumptions embedded in how things have always been done. And, it's about creating simple, elegant solutions that effectively meet the ever-changing needs of the customer.

The next generation of customers has grown up during this era of tech-enablement. Expectations of today's Financial Services customer are light compared to what's coming next. Those institutions that can most nimbly change their operations...their fraud prevention...their customer service...their products...to meet these evolving expectations will be the recognizable names of the future.

Zach Messler