The world is changing and it’s going mobile. India has already seen the fastest 4G rollout in the world and is the second best markets for smartphones in the world.
What I believe is that the Pyramid is going to invert. We have browser based banking which has the highest no of users, followed by missed call banking services, app-based banking, social media banking and now chat bots.
Already more than 35% mobile phones have data connections and the data rates are possibly the cheapest in India fuelling a mobile revolution. More than 70% of internet searches are originating from mobile phones and e-commerce which is primarily driving transactions is being powered by apps than websites due to better customer experience.
What is now being focused upon is customer experience in the mobile world and the next wave is coming in form of ChatBots backed by AI and ML. In next 3-5 years. Messaging apps have gained ground and what’s apps have more than 200 million users in India alone and FB just crossed 2 billion mark. Biometrics (Voice Based Navigation, Identification & Authentication, Fingerprint, Iris, veins, heart rate, e.g.) is powering Chatbots for ease of command, multilingual capability and improving security by many notches and digital currency is fuelling an electronic revolution in B2B space.
That means the future of mobility will have customer experience, the simplicity of transactions and security at its core and the Voice Enable Chatbots, powered by AI, NLP & ML will be top of the mind recall and use for users specifically the Linkster generation and adopted by Millennial generation.
Since, social media is becoming all pervasive and one has to be where the users are, social media based comprehensive banking channels will emerge and take the second spot followed by app-based banking and commerce due to smartphones getting better and better and getting equipped with NFC and IoT capabilities.
Since 70% of the phones in India are still feature phones, sound wave based data transmission for proximity payments, missed call banking and commerce will serve the bottom half of the pyramid and browsers, to risk a bold statement, will be last for those, who will still be working on their Laptops and Desktops due to a 8-12 working day and form factor. The pyramid, thus will indeed, invert.
Technologies like QR Code, Image Processing (Remote Cheque Deposit, Photo Bill Payment, and Selfie Account Opening), VR & AR (branch walkthrough at home) and Voice Assistants like Amazon Alexa, Echo, Google……will drive the virtual experience even more. Already a company offers, in-store shopping through the virtual tour of stores and being able to see, feel and select items to be delivered at home has set shop.
IoT for all its promise and its estimated that by 2025 there will be more than 50 billion IoT enables devices, which will interact with each other over virtual networks and drive invisible and connected commerce taking a major load off human mind.
As Blockchain gains ground and hopefully, lives to its promise of security and scalability, more B2B, (trade finance), C2B (remittance), X border commerce (B2C & B2B) using possibly digital currency will add to a mobile world.
As settlement moves towards real time backed by real-time payment and settlements systems like IMPS, UPI, Blockchain technologies, more and more businesses will flock to it improving working capital management which is the lifeline of businesses, big or small.
P2P lending, three-way commerce through, Phone Manufacturers like Apple, Samsung directly acquiring merchants and AI & ML combined with psychometry will create a major disintermediation as more databases and bureau get connected real time. Trusted networks (BlockChain forums) will gain currency and will improve the ability to assess creditworthiness, intent to pay and cost of collections and all that will happen electronically and on Mobility Devices.
Finally, as the technologies improve further, 7G already in offing, Holographic Banking augmented with Image Authentication technologies and Face Recognition capabilities, will let people interact each other virtually, which will be the mother of all Mobility applications.
Do I really need to say more, mobility will be the mother of all, as physical barriers get removed completely and we will in a world, where being mobile is being alive, while you stay at home.