Technology has taken the center stage in transforming the way financial services are being accessed today. A couple of decades ago, who would have thought that a mobile alone is what you need to manage your finances. Remember the days when the customers called the stock brokers for placing trades? Today they place the trades just with a swipe or a click, everything has become so simple and seamless.
The financial services of the modern day are modeled to facilitate faster and efficient services for the customers. Digital technologies are reshaping payments, lending, wealth management, insurance, etc. Technology has created an even playing ground for all the players involved. Digital technology is enabling niche service providers to precisely reach their target customer base while being economically viable. Developments in information and connectivity have encouraged companies to offer unbundled services. Customers are now having more information about different service providers and also have the facility to interact across providers, and decide who can be a better fit to their requirements. On the other hand, service providers are now having more access to information about their current and prospective customers, hence being at an advantage of servicing them effectively.
Non-financial companies can also be a part of the big picture by leveraging customer connectivity and data for offering financial services and thereby altering the competitive landscape and also blurring industry boundaries. Be it E-commerce apps or food ordering or ride sharing apps, etc, such companies have integrated seamless payment services and strengthened the value proposition in their core markets. This also created an opportunity for third parties such as cloud service providers and fintechs to step in with specialized capabilities that sell their software-as-a-service (SaaS) to the mainstream Financial Services companies. For example, a lending agency partners with a credit-scoring agency that leverages unique data, scoring expertise to provide a seamless customer experience. With cloud-based infrastructure and BaaS providers, smaller banks can outsource technology operations and leverage the latest systems to compete alongside larger banks.
As technology continues to evolve and offer cutting edge solutions, it is also our responsibility to use it in the right spirit, which reminds me of nuclear tests conducted in Pokhran on May 11, 1998, the very reason we started celebrating National Technology Day. Fair use of nuclear technology has made us one of the nuclear superpowers today and has become a critical piece of the puzzle in our national defense. Be it in defense or combating deadly pandemics such as Covid-19 or even making finance accessible through mobile, we have come a long way in applying technology to simplify our lives and may this spirit carry on.