A few years ago, I wrote an article discussing the very slow arrival of branch transformation within the North American financial services market. I have almost 40 years of experience selling to the banking industry and throughout that entire time span, banks have been talking about the branch of the future and need to improve the interaction with clients within the bank branch. Despite all the talk, not much really happened, so in the article I used the old Yogi Berra quote, “déjà vu all over again”.
More recently, things have truly changed. Banks are not just thinking about transforming their branch model, they are doing it at a breakneck pace. Virtually every banker I speak with has project initiatives in place to redesign their branches to improve customer engagement, lower operating costs and leverage their capital investments.
What changed to enable this sudden move from contemplating to action? One aspect is the demographics and expectations of bank customers who expect an omni-channel consistent experience whether it is on-line, mobile or in person. Another is the realization that branches are essential to the bank’s sales and service success, but the economics demand a more efficient way to operate retail branches. Finally, the technology has continued to advance to support the vision that the industry has for a more engaging experience for customers.
Panini has a long-standing reputation for developing innovative solutions to support the requirements of the Financial Services industry. Our products dating back to the original MyVision X provided easy to use, high reliability, multi-function technology that improved the efficiency of retail branch operations. Our latest products continue this heritage by adding intelligent capabilities to support a networked/shared environment as well as a Virtualized Citrix IT implementation. Panini scanners now process more than just checks, allowing banks to capture high resolution images of customer ID cards to mitigate potential fraud.
In addition to continued innovation in the check scanners we are known for, Panini has recently been working on new solutions aimed at the security of transactions. Just as banks are transforming, Panini is evolving to meet the requirements of our customers.
As the EVP of Sales for Panini, I am thankful and appreciate all the great Panini Customers and Partners. We strive to build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships that deliver mutual value and look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve the financial services market.
Jim Harris
EVP Sales, Panini
