When people talk about FinTechs today, this is to be understood as a collective term for modern technologies and innovations in the field of financial services that are related to increasing digitization. New players are appearing on the playing field that was previously reserved for more traditional banks and financial institutions, offering new options for financial services.
These can be processes, products or offerings such as digital innovations and smart convenience functions in smartphone banking of the so-called neo-banks, or the automation of investment advice and financing by so-called robo advisors. Tools such as mobile payment or crowdfunding or lending also fall into this area. FinTechs therefore use digital technologies and like to compete with the purely traditional companies in the industry. Their goal is to fundamentally change the traditional branch-based business models and to develop them further in such a way that they can offer customers completely new solutions and services.FinTechs, which are characterized by their high digital affinity, operate exclusively online and aim to optimize or supplement existing technologies, offerings, processes, and products. They thus certainly have the potential to displace or replace established services or providers. Fast, simple, inexpensive, no hidden fees, full control, and this anywhere and at any time are the buzzwords and the trump cards with which they win over new customers or entice them away from competitors elsewhere. The existing classic system of the previous financial institutions and banks is being transformed into a new form, so to speak, which is why the term FinTech is inevitably associated with a strong disruptive component.
At the same time, however, the FinTechs' business model must also have the necessary capacities to grow along with their increasing size. It must be scalable.
At the same time, however, the FinTechs' business model must also have the necessary capacities to grow along with their increasing size. It must be scalable. If more inquiries are received from potential interested parties and existing customers, it must also be possible to process them promptly and efficiently.
Anyone who is exclusively active online must also offer interaction and communication options that are available around the clock and digitally and offer support. Email or telephone during office hours are not adequate channels for a purely digital company - and do not fit in with the target group, which is also predominantly characterized by a high level of digital affinity.
It is therefore not surprising that there are already a number of FinTechs that have recognized the advantages of chatbots and already count on a bot.
To ensure that FinTechs can still meet these requirements when the company is growing rapidly, the chatbot is the perfect customer touchpoint. The always-available digital helper is available to users at any time and is suitable for countless use cases to help customers resolve their concerns quickly and largely independently. This in turn significantly reduces the request load on the service team and minimizes administrative costs. In addition, a chatbot makes customer communication more varied. All these advantages together significantly improve the customer experience.
It is therefore not surprising that there are already a number of FinTechs that have recognized the advantages of chatbots and already count on a bot. But also originally traditional banks use digital innovative technologies.
In Switzerland, the neobank YAPEAL is successful. It uses the bot «Yapolina» as a new 24/7 communication channel to answer frequent questions of its customers in 4 languages (D, F, Ita, Eng). Currently, Yapolina mainly relieves customer service of standard concerns, but there are plans to further expand Yapolina as a new digital communication channel and use it for various use cases besides FAQs. Another use case is the employee benefits app Frankly. There, chatbot «Flik» communicates with potential customers and efficiently convinces them to create a Pillar 3A account at Zürcher Kantonalbank.
An online presence of an up-and-coming FinTech is simply not complete without a chatbot, because customers can quickly find answers to their questions through the digital assistant, are directed to the right subpages or to forms, and can solve many of their concerns directly on their own. This gives them the feeling of being well looked after all round, because personal is also possible digitally. And most importantly, chatbots are infinitely scalable - they can handle an unlimited number of requests synchronously and continue to evolve, adding new use cases as and when they are needed. With a chatbot, FinTechs also position themselves as digitally affine at first glance and thus underscore their vision of pure online business.
The two examples from the financial sector mentioned above clearly show that the chatbot channel is already firmly established among customers and enjoys great popularity.
The two examples from the financial sector mentioned above clearly show that the chatbot channel is already firmly established among customers and enjoys great popularity. They no longer use it only in their free time, but are also happy to handle more confidential matters, such as finance and banking issues, via the digital assistant. The bot also saves them valuable time by directing them to the information, services or forms they are looking for, or by helping them with downloads. They therefore like to consult the bots frequently, thereby relieving the burden on other communication channels such as email or telephone. In this way, these bots also do an excellent job in the area of marketing and sales and are very successful in convincing interested parties of the company and winning them over as customers.