Customer Reviews

Bank 2.0: How Customer Behavior and Technology Will Change the Future of Financial Services

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My first impression of Brett King's book is that it speaks my language. As advertised, this is truly "not a book for bankers that want to maintain the status quo." Brett dives into his topics with enthusiasm and talks very directly about how customer behavior and technology, always disruptive forces, are dramatically changing the financial services industry. The book covers everything from measurement of customer/client/member expectations and experience, and offers very good insight on how to improve service levels through the very disruptive forces that often befuddle this industry (e.g. new technologies like social media, mobile payments, OFM). He dedicates entire chapters to topics like the call center, brick and mortar branching, CRM, and VRU systems to manage customer interactions. Who else writes about VRU systems in banking and the impact on the customer experience? He offers sage advice on the state of web development in meeting customer needs (lacking in many industries quite frankly) and other self-service channels like ATMs and online/remote banking. He does a good job of providing some context for technology changes, and how recent innovation will impact banking over the next decade. If you are in financial services industry and are interested in where banking is heading, you'll be well served by picking this book up and being part of ongoing trends that will be impact our industry. With technology changing every day, join the conversation at [...] and the author's Bank 2.0 blog at [...]. Last tip: Be prepared for the next decade in banking by setting your road map today. Pick this up before your Chairman or CEO does!

Full disclosure: Brett King is my client but that is because I only work with individuals and organizations that inspire me and are truly changing the world. Brett has been a banking expert and consultant for years and he is a friend of the industry, albeit one that tells his friends what they need to hear, rather than what they want to hear. A couple of years back when Brett decided to step away from his consulting and day to day responsibilities in order to do some primary research on the present and future of banking. Brett asked some fundamental questions to banking customers about their experience and how to improve it. He was startled by the answers he received, and a clear trend emerged showing an ever-widening gap between banks and their clients. This disconnect continues and is driven by technology advances and the refusal of the banks to stay with the curve, much less ahead of it. Bank 2.0 is very easy to read for laypeople and banks alike and though it may seem obvious to the reader, one is left scratching their head, thinking "why do the banks still not get it?" Perhaps because the banking executives are too busy trying to protect their bonuses and their positions to have time to read the book? I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in being part of the debate on the Future of our financial system, both in the US and globally.

Brett provides a strong case for how the retail banking industry must evolve to adapt to ever-changing consumer preference. Technology and disruptive innovation shapes consumer attitudes and clearly offers the banking industry remarkable opportunity to engage in ways never before possible. A revolution is occurring, and it's time to lead, follow or get out of the way. King is leading.

Already after the first pages, Brett King inspired me. I am a banker in Holland and always looking for a practical implementation of new innovation on behalf of the customers service. Bank 2.0 luckily to my opinion advices the bankpeople to go with the evolution of technology and the customers instead of writing what the banks are doing wrong. A positive flow in the book is what inspires me. Great book for non-bankers as well as bankers. Because the world is the same and dynamic, only banking world differs a bit from the rest. So topic is relevant in time. In the mean time I follow Brett King on twitter and his blog. I recommend this as well as his book Bank 2.0!

The financial sector is transforming rapidly especially the banking field. Bank 2.0 dives into these changes and illustrates ways to catch up with the change. This book is very interesting to read, with ideas easy to grasp and with solutions that could be implemented instantly. Bank 2.0 is a very rare piece of litereature on the subject of financial services transformation.

ABA Banking Journal found this book important enough that a conversation between author Brett King and several community bankers is featured in the September 2010 ABA Banking Journal digital magazine at the magazine's website. The website also features a dual podcast with King. One part is a speech he gave introducing his book in New York and the other is the full conversation with the bankers. The magazine's website is a dot com address keyed to ababj

Steve Cocheo
Executive Editor
ABA Banking Journal

According to a Bain study, the loyalty leaders in the banking industry experience organic growth rates that are, on average, 10% higher and benefit from a cost of funds that is 80 basis points lower than their competitors, boosting their profit margins.

Brett will shock you, he will force you to think...and this book will drive you to innovate. I would call this book a must read for any banking executive who has "strategy"/"innovation"/"retail"/"online"/"marketing"/"channels" in their title. This book will bring you closer to the way customers TODAY think about banking and money movement & hence help you establish more loyal and deeper customer relationships.

The following is an approved excerpt of my review of Brett King's book, Bank 2.0, that was published by the ABA Banking Journal. I offered to review the book for the ABA Banking Journal as I am a Community Banker and was planning on reading Brett King's book. They accepted my offer and provided me with a publishers copy.


BANK 2.0: How Customer Behavior and Technology will Change the Future of Financial Services, by Brett King, Marshall Cavendish/Business, 397 pp., 2010

The preface to Brett King's new book, BANK 2.0: How Customer Behavior and Technology will Change the Future of Financial Services, begins: "A staggering 90 per cent of daily transactions are executed electronically today. Institutions that hold on to the belief that physical branches remain at the core of what the brand does, will not adapt easily to the customer of tomorrow who rarely visits a branch or the customer who sees no need for an over-the-counter transaction with cash or cheques. Those who still classify the Internet, ATM and iPhone applications as `alternative' channels will be playing catch up for the next decade, while intermediaries will increasingly capture niche service opportunities. This is where BANK 2.0 starts."

The author is direct and to the point.

The second paragraph begins "Let us be clear. This book is not for traditional bankers who want to stick to the status quo."

Brett King raises the bar very high for this book. At 397 pages, he delivers. My Twitter- style review (140 characters or less) of this book is:

"If you are a banker, buy @BrettKing `s book BANK 2.0 - http://amzn.to/a781Ex "

But now on to more specifics.

Look for my full review in "Books for Bankers" on the ABA Banking Journal website.

"Bank 2.0: How Customer Behaviour and Technology Will Change the Future of Financial Services" is a provocating book about the banking industry and how it can be slow in coping with technological innovations and bad at meeting consumer needs.

Customer experience and technological innovations are the two main trends changing the landscape of financial services, states Brett King. Now 90% of financial transactions are done via the internet, internet is the main retail channel, but the next one is already walking by: smart phones. While most banks are still having difficulties to cope with their website, there are almost no banks with great mobile services. At the meantime, other services are popping up outside banks and crowdfunding is one of them.

Important customer usability needs for online services are convenience, control, simplicity (and experience). The combination banks and internet is currently not working well - there is a gap between what banks offer and customers' usability needs. But, as Brett states: the average Brit is still more likely to divorce than switch banks! This situation doesn't get unnoticed and there are more and more other players offering financial products that are truly tailored.

Financial products from new players, that are closest to what the banks are doing, are so-called pseudo banking services, like AmazonPayments and P2P lending. These services are directly competing with financial products offered by banks. But there is so much more to offer pro active consumers; internet facilitates more interaction between organisations and consumers and consumers amongst each other and makes consumers producers of content.

Bank 2.0 is a great read for anyone in the financial sector and gives an inspirational view into the future of banking.

Great book for bankers to make changes in their companies to serve customers better and with the specific products customers need and want.