The Future of Finance Work – and How to Respond

Walk into any store in the U.S. and it’s clear that digital transformation is making an impact. However, the ways in which it’ll change the future of employment vary greatly depending on the industry.

In banking, mobility is undeniably enabling more robust service offerings for consumers. At the same time, banks and credit unions are having to compete with bank-less, peer-to-peer mobile payments between consumers through platforms such as Venmo, Apple Pay Cash and Zelle.

In 2014, Juniper Research predicted that by the end of 2019, more than 1.75 billion people would use their mobile phones for banking purposes – compared to 800 million in 2014. In the past four years, this has not only become a reality, but solidified the notion that the future of banking is digital. Paired with this shift in the way banks and credit unions reach their customers or members, however, is a shift in the future of working in finance, particularly for those behind the counter of a physical branch or office.

Although new technological capabilities ignite differing effects on different industries, the impact on finance in particular lends itself to a significant reduction in the number of in-person tellers at a branch. As a result, the role of tellers is going to shift dramatically in the next two to three years.

As banks and credit unions across the U.S. continue to deploy virtual tools to meet the changing expectations of today’s digital consumers, the implementation of these tools will enhance consumers’ experiences – while also making it easier to complete routine tasks through self-service. Ultimately, this shift will make in-person tellers obsolete by 2020.

Enhancing Member Engagement Digitally

The current digital transformation is dramatically shifting the landscape of banking today. As a result, institutions are focusing on consumer engagement, and leveraging more convenient and accessible tools in order to meet consumers’ shifting expectations.

Consumer-oriented financial services have become pretty straightforward and well-established, since most consumers want to accomplish the same things: Transfer funds from one account to another, pay a bill online or check account balances. As the number of automated routine transactions increases, the need for in-person tellers will subsequently decrease.

By automating these transactions, in-person tellers will ultimately be replaced with a quick digital connection to an offsite cluster of tellers serving a region of banks and credit unions, similar to a call center atmosphere. As digital tools improve, the need for the historic functions of an in-person teller – such as immediately cashing checks, providing cashier’s checks or depositing money into someone else’s bank account – will also vanish.

Along with the increase in consumers’ online and mobile banking transactions is the rising availability of secure video. Amid the overwhelming digital transformation already in motion, interactive teller machines (ITMs) in particular will be instrumental in this shift. ITM machines are much like traditional ATM machines, however, they are also equipped with secure video in order to connect the consumer face-to-face with a teller remotely – through the unit. Virtualizing the in-branch consumer experience will also involve implementing lobby management solutions, paired with other communication-enabled tools such as chatbots and artificial intelligence applications, as banking continues to shift directly into the hands of the consumer.

As this influence continues to shape the future of banking, traditional practices will continue to become obsolete – making way for a redefined consumer experience and reshaping the future of work for tellers. While it shouldn’t be feared, it should be noted and seen on the horizon as a new area of training for tellers to pursue in the ever-digitizing world around us.

Change Is Inevitable, but Suffering Is Optional

During a time of significant transition, it is human nature to grasp for the past out of fear of the unknown. As creatures of habit, we often resist change.

In 1991, I was selling fax machines for AT&T when I encountered a business owner who claimed there would be no need for a fax machine in the future. Long story short – in a world much further along technologically than the fax machine of yesteryear – that business no longer exists. The lesson is that although resisting change is natural, we must learn to instead embrace it and see it as the force thrusting us forward.

As the financial industry is currently on the verge of much change and progression, history (as demonstrated by the fax machine) is certain to repeat itself. Organizations that doubt the effectiveness of virtual tools in enhancing the future of the consumer experience will eventually be forced out of business.

The collateral damage feared in terms of job loss will be far greater if entire financial entities go out of business because of a lack of willingness to evolve, or train their workforce accordingly. Recently Accenture released a study that found although 74% of banking executives believe the industry will be completely transformed by intelligent technology, only 3% of banks intend to significantly increase their investment in reskilling their employees over the next three years.

The role of in-person tellers will disappear the same way switchboard operators did when automatic exchanges were invented. However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be a need for human interaction at all in future banking environments. In fact, studies continue to reveal that consumers (regardless of the preferred innovations) still also want human contact. So what does all of this mean for the future of working in a physical credit union branch? It simply means the way the interactions look will change, along with the skills needed for those employed by these financial institutions.

It is not a matter of believing digital innovations will ultimately lead to the removal of outdated or inefficient practices. It’s a matter of deciding to adopt changes that will help everyone thrive in the future, versus clinging to today’s comfortable modes of operation to merely survive the shift. In the end, change only needs to be as painful as our grip on the past is strong.

Perry Price is President/CEO of Revation Systems. He can be reached at pprice@revation.com.