PHOENIX–A new survey offers insights into where financial institutions are making tech investments.
The results of the survey conducted by Billing Tree, which polled credit unions, banks and auto financiers, found credit/debit card payment acceptance via online portal and automated forms was the most common practice offered at over 60% of institutions. Utilization of IVR saw a significant increase, jumping to 45%, compared with 25% in the past, according to Billing Tree.
The survey further found planned adoption of new technology and practices saw online portal and mobile both tied at around 35% each, with text alerts and payments near 20%.
“A full 90% of those surveyed currently don’t use a convenience fee model to offset payment processing costs and merely 20% were considering this practice in the future,” Billing Tree reported.
In addition, growing the base of members/customers and member/customer retention were the two top factors respondents cited as critical to growth and profitability for financial services organizations in 2018, consistent with prior surveys, the company said.
“This year, cost reduction gave up a third-place ranking to new technologies enhancing payment collection effectiveness, followed by software integrations to enable automatic posting,” Billing Tree reported.
The company said the rise in the rank of technology and integrations suggests that financial service organizations regard technology as a more important component in their overall business strategy than in prior years.
What’s Ahead
“This is the fourth Financial Services Industry survey commissioned by BillingTree capturing trends and revealing that most financial institutions continue to trust and adopt integrated payment technology and services,” said BillingTree’s Vice President of Sales and Business Development, Jason Hiland. “Mobile, text and online payments are now expected by consumers/members and offering each channel supports the Financial Institution’s top concerns, consumer/member retention and growth.”
For a copy of the 2018 Financial Services Operations and Technology Survey results, visit: https://start.mybillingtree.com/acton/media/15831/2018-financial-services-survey-report