Forrester Research (USA), one of the world’s most recognised and acknowledged research and advisory providers, has published a special report on mBank’s new online banking solutions and innovations. It is the first such report on a Polish financial institution and the Polish online industry at large. The report is based on a detailed analysis and presents recommendations for all clients around the world (banks and technology companies) implementing similar projects. Thus, mBank’s new online banking has become a benchmark for such projects.
The Forrester Research report “mBank Builds A Next-Generation Online Banking Experience” presents a detailed description of the technological solutions and project management approach employed by the team responsible for mBank’s new transactional service. Forrester hails the implemented solutions as “revolutionary” and outlines a range of innovations applied by the new mBank. The report is addressed to banks and technology companies as a case study to follow.The report summary presents recommendations for project teams of banks and other technology companies as lessons learned from mBank’s solutions.
Forrester analysts emphasise the following elements of the bank’s strategy:
- A modern interface is foundational to delivering something new. This concerns graphical data presentation and interactive tools of presenting the offer. The report emphasises that mBank uses a fully modern Internet stack with the main emphasis on graphical and interactive scenarios. As a result, mBank’s transactional architecture is akin to those that best-in-class online retailers offer.
- Customers shouldn’t have to work for insight. By taking the most important money management features and embedding them into customers’ day-to-day scenarios, rather than burying them on a separate tab, mBank has delivered all the insight of money management upfront.
- Video can fulfil the psychological purpose of the branch and address genuine needs of customers. mBank’s digital channels have steadily replicated all the things that the branch can do. Synchronous, one-to-one video is the final frontier in the digitization of distribution — giving customers the confidence to complete high-value tasks and deliver advisory but with the convenience of not visiting the branch.
- If an offer is real-time and relevant, it is advice — not sales. Refining its real-time CRM engine catapulted mBank into a post-“sales” paradigm. The bank now offers advice in digital channels and at precisely the time that customers need it — when there is excess liquidity in an account, an anticipated shortfall, or some other financial need.
- Merchant-funded rewards are an obvious new revenue stream. The merchant funds mDeals rewards delivered directly to customers, but they give the bank a real benefit (more transactional activity).
- Customers can become brand ambassadors in social media if selected rewards for customers are tied to social mechanisms. With attractive and targeted mDeals, the bank does not have to infiltrate the conversation of customers through social media; instead, customers spontaneously recommend what they get from the bank.
- Underlying processes matter as much as front-end technology. mBank makes sure that customer interaction (e.g., applying for a loan) is simple and that the process (e.g., credit rating) is adequate to the online channel, automated and simplified as much as possible.
- The colocation of IT, design, business and projects drives collaboration in a major banking project. This approach ensures the success of the most advanced technological projects, not only in the finance industry, as was the case with mBank.
“The report of Forrester Research, a research and advisory provider of world renown, is a comprehensive description of the process that has built the new mBank and the solutions deployed in it. It is a great honour for us that so many elements of our approach have been recommended by the recognised consultant to banks and firms around the world,” said Michał Panowicz, Bank Director for Retail Banking Marketing and Business Development and head of team that has created mBank’s new retail online banking. “We are proud that a project developed in its entirety in Poland has become a benchmark for similar projects around the world,” said Michał Panowicz.It is the first project in Poland and in Central and Eastern Europe to be described in detail in a Forrester Research report. Forrester has previously published similar reports on implementations of global giants such as Amazon, AT&T, Apple, eBay, Microsoft and Mint.com.
The new online banking, available to retail customers since June 2013, is growing dynamically: mBank has recently introduced the improved Investment Fund Supermarket and mTransfer with innovative insurance. mBank will soon launch new mobile banking.