By Cat Yong
2013 is the year when trends that began last year, become full-blown pervasive and top priorities for organisations. Two local system integrators, Microlink and Hitachi-eBworx, share about what they foresee for the year ahead, especially for the FSI industry.
Microlink CEO, Peter Yong listed Big Data, wireless technologies, and analytics & cloud as key drivers for the industry and said, “The amount of data that is generated by individuals and enterprises are reaching epic proportions, partially due to the accessibility through wireless technologies and cloud applications.
“As a result, the mining of this data through analytics will be what most enterprises and public sector organisations will be focusing on. Cloud infrastructure will be crucial.”
Approaching social media
Hitachi-eBworx’s Head of Solution Consulting, Andrew Goh had a somehat different opinion and called attention to a question he deemed important: How can the bank best include social media in their overall customer engagement strategy and hence, what are the execution strategy required across its touchpoints from branch engagement to Internet and mobile banking?
He said, “For 2013, FSI’s will be faced with challenges on how to further extend its services to its customers using new technology and ways of engaging their customers.”
Major banks in Malaysia already do realise they need an engagement strategy that includes social media and questions on how to leverage social media “will crop up frequently as the generation of users adept at these technology experiences continue to challenge bankers to up their services.” Part of reason why popular social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and so on are so much on bankers’ minds, is simply because they themselves are consumers of such services.
“Additionally, customers demand a unified experience across the various touchpoints (branch, ATM, Internet, mobile, call centre, corporate website, etc). The challenge is in providing the systemic framework that can support these and, enlisting and informing the bank’s staff on how and what to communicate as it is just as easily for customers to damage a brand with the use of social media,” Goh cautioned.
New IT investments
Yong shared, “In Malaysia new tax regimes such as the GST, Basel III, data protection laws and the need to archive data over longer period of time to meet regulatory requirements, might be the main regulatory factors that drive most new IT investments.”
Goh however opined that for social media to be more actively utilised in the FSI industry, regulator Bank Negara’s consent may be required. “The pace of change will require the regulator to keep up to date in terms of policy and security challenges.”
He also thinks that Bank Negara could take the opportunity to promote the industry as a forerunner of the industry regionally in terms of innovation and adoption of safe and good customer engagement practices.
Level of technology take up amongst banks
Yong feels that Malaysian banks are amongst the most IT literate in the ASEAN region. “Investments in IT have been fairly high over the last decade and the trend will continue. In terms of new technologies, Malaysian banks also have a good track record.
“For example, the leveraging of convenience stores around the country to be agents of commercial banks utilising a an EDC device under the Agent Banking initiative is a good example.”
Goh however thinks that there is growing awareness and at a broad strategic level, banks are looking at various ways to adopt technology. “The question boils down to execution as well as in ensuring that the vision and intent of the strategy remains and not just become silo implementations (just so it is done and checked in the checklist) which will then, not have the expected and desired impact.”
