Posted on Author Peter Mukulu Categories Digital Commerce, Digital Lending

Banking as a Service (BaaS) and Top Financial Services Trends to Watch Out for in 2022.

The rapid wave of digital transformation set forth the transition of banks from rigorous to responsive, conventional to digitally savvy, and more receptive to change than ever before. Besides just being digitally established, they are moving fast-forward towards innovation and bringing a change in the industry practices.

Over the last few years, the banking sector has gone through an inevitable transformation as more and more fintech businesses come into the market. Financial services are evolving to the point where new products, channels, partnerships, and opportunities are being created. At the heart of this digital storm, lies the concept of Banking as a Service (BaaS).

So, what is Banking as a Service (BaaS)?

In simple words, Banking as a Service (BaaS) is the provision of banking products and services through third-party distributors. It is an end-to-end approach that uses APIs to connect fintech companies and other third-party organizations to a bank’s system. This helps such third-party Fintech organizations build innovative financial services upon the provider bank’s regulated infrastructure while enabling open banking services.

Banking as a Service (BaaS), disaggregating the traditional banking value chain.

The typical structural functions of a bank as we all know are accepting deposits, lending deposits to businesses, remittance, and payment processing. To facilitate these, banks require huge investments and other physical assets like property, infrastructure, etc. All these processes create gridlocks.

BaaS is bringing revolutionary changes in the finance industry by reconfiguring the value chain and promoting new sources of growth. FinTech companies & Non-banking Financial Services providers are working with traditional banks to create BaaS that enables innovative, specialized offers to get to market faster by combining the strengths of both institutions. With increasing problems of customers with existing banking barriers of regulation, security, and technology, Baas is delivering fast, agile and seamless offerings. The winning factor of BaaS is the ability to capitalize on technology investments and create value.

According to Finextra, the top companies that are actively pioneering BaaS strategies and have already experienced all the advantages first-hand are solaris Bank, Bankable, Starling Bank, Pi1, Green Dot, and BBVA.

The future of banking is driven by next-generation technologies, enabling customers to make seamless, safe, and rapid payments in order to meet their changing needs. Let’s look into some of the key trends that are disrupting the banking industry in 2022 and opening new doors of growth for banking.

Small business owner showing employee new plan on tablet computer

Embedded Finance or embedded banking: According to Juniper Research, the value of the embedded finance market will exceed $138 billion in 2026, from just $43 billion in 2021. Embedded finance is the seamless integration of financial services into a typically non-financial platform, enabling customers to use apps to avail banking services. Apart from the easy-to-use user experience, embedded finance is having a great deal of success because of its already existing broad customer base.  In addition to embedded payments, there are also emerging trends for embedded credit which allows customers to take credit within the non-financial platforms. For example, Amazon offers EMI options which purchasing any product. Moreover, embedded investments and insurance are integrated within the non-financial apps for a smooth customer experience. In fact, embedded insurance has the potential to increase the purchase of insurance for high-value products among eCommerce customers. Research reveals embedded insurance premiums to grow to over $10 billion in 2026, from just $3.8 billion in 2021.  

Emerging technologies in financial services: Advanced technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence), Machine Learning, Blockchain, Internet of things (IoT) are rapidly transforming customer experiences by increased responsiveness, security, transparency, and time efficiency. Today, customers are exploring the benefits of open banking where they are thoroughly aware of their financial condition, they can plan investments, compare the alternatives and make better financial decisions.

Increase in Mobile Banking: According to 2020 mobile banking survey, approximately 58% of respondents indicated that they were visiting branches less frequently due to the pandemic; among them, over 61% indicated they were also using mobile apps more frequently. This trend is likely to continue as users are more comfortable than ever in availing mobile banking. Mobile banking enables users to have account information access, transaction access, investments, support services, and news and offers alerts. One of the biggest reasons for the rapid growth of this trend is because users can conduct almost all sorts of banking activities anywhere, anytime. This has further helped the bank to cut down on its operational costs by maintaining customer satisfaction.

To conclude, both banks and fintech’s are imbibed in a symbiotic relationship. The difference between the structure and functions of the two is even making the relationship more valuable. Along with the provisions of banking infrastructure, regulatory legitimacy, and the existing customers who still rely on banks; fintech brings the freedom to create, design, and experiment, offering user-friendly and tailor-made solutions for the customers. Finally, it would not be wrong to say that banks, fintech’s, and BaaS firms are most effective when they collaborate to reduce risk, maintain compliance, and provide the modern financial solutions that customers demand.

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Posted on Author Peter Mukulu Categories Marketing

Must-have features in a good eCommerce website

As part of the new normal in this pandemic-struck world we inhabit, almost every business has seen disruptions in its operations. Consumers have quickly adapted to the changes however, as almost overnight, people began to switch to online shopping for their everyday needs. Research shows that 52% of online shoppers won’t ever go back to grocery shopping in-store, and 58% of consumers expect to order more online in the coming months.

It makes sense, now more than ever, for small brick and mortar store owners to think of meeting customer expectations and shifting their businesses online. Having a website for their business has become an indispensable aspect in ensuring that it survives, and possibly even thrives, in these unusual times. But when one is faced with the daunting task of creating a whole website from scratch, it is quite normal to feel a little lost. 

Small-business owners looking to start selling online who don’t have the experience or expertise required to go digital shouldn’t let those minor inconveniences stop them! For those confused about what features need to go on an eCommerce site, this list of necessary elements is the right place for clarity before approaching a trusted IT partner who can help them go digital with ease.

Here are some features that are necessary while creating an eCommerce platform for businesses:

Content

A visitor needs to be able to find all the information regarding the business with ease within the website – pages like About Us, FAQs and Contact Us are especially crucial, as they provide the visitor with the necessary information about what the business does, and how they can get in touch offline. Quality content is a virtual salesperson – it can provide all information a customer needs to know about the product, about the company, and many other details effectively & efficiently. The content should be easy to understand, easy to locate, and relatable to your target audience depending on their gender, age, geographic location, native language, etc. 

 Searchability

Ecommerce websites need to provide a seamless experience to their visitors by allowing them to search for products with ease.  The visitor needs to be able to easily find what they came to the site looking for, and shouldn’t face any obstacles before they do. The ‘Search’ feature in an eCommerce website is very crucial as research shows that 30 percent of site visitors will use the search functionality, and can generate around 30-60 percent of ALL revenues in a website.  

Product Suggestions

Using an effective analytics mechanism, the website should be able to understand customers’ persona based on their browsing history and suggest relevant alternatives and related items to the one they are viewing. This will heavily contribute to improved customer experience and an increase in revenue for the business.

User Reviews

Giving customers the option to leave their feedback increases the credibility of a brand, attracting more people to the site, and consequently gaining more buyers. Therefore, the provision for User Reviews, while optional, is a definite good-to-have.  A study published by Spiegel Research Centre indicates that 95% of shoppers read comments online before making a purchase. This goes to prove the human tendency to believe word-of-mouth marketing over any claims made in an advertisement. User reviews are valuable, and will often turn out to be the best marketing collateral one could hope for.

Wishlist Option

According to the Baymard Institute, the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate is 69.57%. The reasons for people abandoning items in their shopping carts could be many – they might feel like they don’t have the budget at the moment, or are expecting a sale to come by, or they might have just changed their minds. One way to cater to each of these customers is to have a “Wish-listing” feature. Wish-listing gives customers the option to save the products they want to buy, but aren’t buying immediately, in an easily findable location within the website. 

Order Management

The website should provide an option for customers to view, modify, or cancel the products they buy. Providing a means to perform these actions without having to take the issue offline enhances a customer’s shopping experience.

Shipping options

Customers should be able to ship a product that they bought to a convenient address and should also have the option to choose their preferred delivery time. Business owners can put thought into whether it would be feasible for them to offer free shipping, which a vast majority of visitors will appreciate. Alternatively, they can charge real-time carrier rates – integrate their shipping options with a real-time carrier’s website to generate their rates and delivery times. They can also choose to charge a flat shipping fee, if their website offers products which are of comparable prices and weights. Even though it might seem hard, it is possible to keep shipping rates competitive without it eating too much into profit margins. 

Multiple Payment Options

eCommerce customers should be able to easily and securely make payments with their preferred payment method – it is necessary to include a variety of features here, as certain people prefer credit cards, others may prefer debit cards and some others might even expect a Cash On Delivery option. This means it is imperative to have flexible payment models available on the website, based on varying customer preferences.

 

Profile Management 

According to a survey, over one in five customers may abandon the cart if they need to create a username and password before buying something.  Hence customers should be given the option to shop as both a

  1. Logged in user and
  2. Guest user

Superior Vendor Management 

An eCommerce website with a wide range of products will grab more customers, and this can be accomplished by associating with other sellers who can supply a variety of products that complement their own. A collaborative approach to vendor management or a seamless vendor partnership option is something they need to strategize if they want to survive, together. If this is something they’re aiming to do with the website they build, a vendor management system should be in place too.

While we won’t see brick and mortar stores going away anytime soon, choosing not to go digital is not an option for businesses of the future. Businesses need to explore different avenues like providing in-store pickups of online orders, and evolving hybrid business models that involve retaining both physical and online stores to continue surviving in a post-pandemic-stricken world.  Today it is pretty easy, low risk, and low cost to build an eCommerce website. If you’re a small-business owner looking to build an eCommerce website, you can speak to one of our expert consultants who will guide you through the process step by step. Drop us a mail at digitize@sarabi.tech

 

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Posted on Author Peter Mukulu Categories Property Management, Retail Sales Solutions

Technology revolutionizing e-learning platforms

According to UNESCO nearly 1.5 billion children and youth are out of school post the COVID-19 outbreak across 165 countries. With most offices having moved to work-from-home options and the ever-increasing unemployment rates, the online learning rate is going to grow exponentially among the working class too. With the COVID-19 threat still looming, there is still uncertainty regarding when schools and offices will reopen at full capacity again. The obvious inference from this is that E-learning platforms are going to see a sharp increase in their utility and user base in the near future.

E-learning platforms have been around for many decades, but haven’t been able to create the kind of ‘transformational’ impact that has long been promised. With the Coronavirus ‘black swan’ event, all of these remote learning platforms have gotten a sudden push into the mainstream, even in places where people could not envision such options earlier due to poor infrastructure and other socio-economic issues. 

The size of the E-learning market had already been pegged to cross USD 240 Billion by 2023, and now this projection is going to go up further. It is no wonder then, that in the coming days we will see newer companies entering the remote learning race utilizing emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, Cloud Computing & Augmented and Virtual Reality to compete with established market leaders.  

Emerging technologies that are set to take e-learning solutions to the next level

Artificial Intelligence

According to Forbes, “Artificial intelligence can act as a virtual tutor and answer questions on the fly”.

Artificial Intelligence-powered E-learning platforms will be equipped to identify and assess learners’ levels of understanding and suggest customized paths of learning. Content analytics powered by AI makes personalized and learner-centered approaches possible – these would be based on the learner’s intellectual level, from kindergarten through higher education to even corporate training. Developing these solutions is no longer a daunting task with the advent of AIaaS or “AI as a Service” – now these solutions are easy to implement and come with enticing benefits. 

Augmented Reality (AR)

AR solutions bring more engagement, excitement, and innovation to e-learning platforms making content more consumable, enjoyable, and valuable. Augmented Reality techniques will be widely utilized to increase engagement for learners through activities, rather than the traditional read and write learning methodology. Augmented reality can also be used to offer customized learning options to suit differently-abled students with special needs to learn better, as AR includes gesture, voice recognition, and image rendering experiences.

Virtual and Remote Laboratories

Laboratories are some of the best places to learn – they allow students to acquire knowledge, experiment with different methods of arriving at answers, and experience real equipment, inculcating active learning and the development of skills based on solving challenges. Simulating labs virtually makes it possible for the users to stay connected through the internet to a remote physical system, and conduct web-based technical experiments. Students can extend their depth of knowledge in areas of control systems, programming, database, various other web-based applications, tools, and technologies. 

Virtual labs are also extremely beneficial to run experiments that are normally too expensive, unsafe to run, or unavailable.  They also allow students to repeat an experiment multiple times, giving them the opportunity to see how changed parameters and settings affect the outcome without wasting resources.

The Internet of Things

The number of devices that will be a part of the Internet of Things (IoT) by 2025 will be around 75 billion in number. The rise in IoT is going to further improve the e-learning experience. Already we see how mobile learning allows learners to access E-learning courses with absolute freedom of time and place. In the future, we are going to see more content in the form of images and videos.  24X7 access to the internet across a number of wearables will make teachers redesign assessment from “remembering and writing down”, to “evaluate and elucidate concepts on the go”.

If you’re thinking of using these technologies to your advantage to build or improve your E-learning systems and solutions, reach out to the expert technology consultants at Sarabi Tech. Sarabi has built spectacular EduTech platforms for organizations across the globe – with our years of experience and know-how in the latest technologies such as AI and AR/VR, Experion is certain to deliver the best solution with minimum time investment.

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