Transactional banking is no longer the cornerstone that marks a customer’s banking experience. Irrespective of whether the customer touchpoint is in a branch location, internet banking or mobile banking through a phone or tablet, customer experience is crucial to improving loyalty and driving revenue generating opportunity. Transactional experiences are no longer viable on their own to hold an effective, long term customer relationship.

“The ultimate winners are willing to take the ultimate risks.” The recently concluded London Marathon brought to my mind this quote by Brooks Johnson, the American sprinter and track coach. While the will to win is important, it is equally essential to run with purpose where the motivation should stem from a desire for the greater good. Running the marathon to fundraise for a charity close to one’s heart is one way to do this.

It’s interesting when the untraditional take on the very traditional retail sector keeps repeating itself with aplomb. Throughout 2016 we’ve been identifying and publishing key retail tech trends on our retail blog. We’ve observed several themes repeat themselves month on month. Nevertheless, the opportunity to gain competitive advantage through the use of trending technologies has catapulted this industry into the limelight.

Bookmakers always win. They may experience the occasional bad day, but over a period of time they always win. Why? This is primarily because they study form. They analyse as much data as they can absorb, applying hypotheses to test possible outcomes (whether mentally or with the aid of computers), setting prices and refining continuously based on further events and patterns. Basically, they calculate the most likely outcomes based on statistics and other insights, and then set the odds in their favour. They also study their levels of exposure and risk, taking appropriate steps to offset potential losses, to ensure that they nearly always make a profit.

The smouldering remains of recent digital transformation programmes such as the DWP Universal Credit, Home Office E-Borders and CAP-D, the regional payments agency all have common points of failure. They suffered from a lack of strategic business vision, weak leadership, limited skilled resources,  the rise of a ‘no bad news’ culture  and focus on technology rather than on citizen experience.

Disastrous! That’s how digital transformation initiatives in the banking and financial services sector turn out when delivered without deep customer insight. Customer loyalty is now a fleeting memory confined mainly to pre-millennials. Yet, digital transformation is driving less and less direct human interaction between the customer and the institution.

An early Easter a shorter than usual period between the Christmas trading rush and the traditional start of spring here in the northern hemisphere.  And, once again we’ve been monitoring the latest trends in Retail technology and highlighting what has gained the most momentum over the past month.  So, here goes: