Young generation and innovation.

In today’s ever-changing business and technology environment – Innovation is inevitable.?This remains an important aspect in order to remain relevant and profitable.?Through innovation, organizations change how things are done, and how service is delivered to the customers but more importantly customer experience is well managed to ensure they repeat business and become an ambassador for an organization.?One of the factors that influence Innovation is customer behavior, which is also influenced by technology and thus fueling the need to change how products and services are delivered.

Innovation comes when there is an opportunity and/or necessity to develop solutions that will enhance user experience, clear understanding of customer needs (segment-wise) provides insight to organizations and how efficiently solutions can be developed and deployed to customers.

In this article – I would like to talk about the younger generation (Millennials) and how they relate to innovation.?First of all, it is very important to clearly establish the technological behavior of the young generation, being tech-savvy is something that they embrace. The young generation cannot function without a smartphone, this by itself goes to show that they prefer doing everything through their mobile phone i.e. banking, shopping, paying bills, etc.?The Young generation is embracing innovation effectively and hence requires service providers with capabilities to develop solutions enabling them to meet their needs. ?

Organizations are therefore compelled to leverage technology to address such needs in order to simplify user experience and also generate income.

Banks, must constantly innovate and look forward to improving; hence must have the right framework in place to compete. This framework is the digital-first platform which must be supported by four Pillars namely, omnichannel banking, smart banking, modular banking, and open banking.?These are pillars are critical to success in the banking industry.

Omni-channel Banking – where channels are streamlined and optimized to ensure superior customer journeys over any touch point

Modular Banking – this is where system architecture is made of a series of reusable building blocks allowing functionalities to be reused and swapped around as needed enabling banks to react to market changes quickly and easily

Open Banking – delivering solutions through API integration.?In this case a bank uses open APIs to connect internally and to third parties.?Banks can connect to other organizations via open APIs and therefore add new experiences and value to products and services.

Smart Banking – this is where smart technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning gather, analyze, and mine data to drive highly-personalized customer interactions, boosting sales and retention.

These 4 pillars play a significant role in user experience management as well as digital banking capabilities.

Therefore, the young generation's (Millennials) expectations of mobile payments include

1. Remote account opening, managing bank accounts through the phone i.e. applying for debit cards, linking debit cards (virtual) to the mobile app, ability to block/unblock cards, cashless withdrawals through ATMs, and contactless payments using a mobile phone.
2. Ability to make payments seamlessly i.e. transfer to other banks, and MNOs.
3. Real-time support and information will enable them to keep track of their finances i.e receive notification every time a transaction is effected in their accounts.
4. Mobile payments are fully integrated i.e. payments to third parties including government bills.
5. Solutions that do not limit device usage i.e. available to all devices (operating systems) both android and IOS.
6. User-friendly applications and hence simply enhance customer experience.

In a few years to come, for any service provider to survive the competition – digital innovation is essential in order to create customer loyalty, cement relationships, build trust and generate profit. Innovation can be attained through customer focus groups providing feedback and ideas, expounding on ideas, and simple processes.