If you are a banker, online shopper, tech savvy person or even a regular bank customer, you must have definitely heard the word “digital banking”. Interestingly, most people have a different take on digital banking. There is a lot more to digital banking than just a few features that we can see on the surface. Digital banking is converting the brick and mortar banks into more greener and efficient places to operate. There are a plethora of options that people can opt for when it comes to banking. Now people can check their bank account details, pay their bills online, transfer money to other accounts, and all of this can be done from the very comfort of their home. All that the people need for banking these days is an internet connection.
The Evolution of Digital Banking
The ATM cards and credit cards were pioneers in digital banking so to speak; these cards prepared the way for further development in digital banking. It was the introduction of internet in the early 90’s that brought about the revolution in the banking sector. The traditional banks on the street side started to think about various ideas that could help them to cut down on their operating cost and provided restricted online bank services.
The efforts in this area proved to be beneficial, and so the banks took another leap towards creating their own space on the internet by designing a website. The website opened up a way for many features like opening new accounts online, downloading the necessary forms, and also applying for online loans. Under the digital banking umbrella, with time, there were many new features added, such as income tax filing, bill payments, transfer of funds, opening recurring accounts, fixed deposit, etc.
With the advent of technology, many people prefer to do everything online. From online shopping to online dating, people just love to do everything from their couch. Digital banking has offered many comfortable features and possibilities to people. The mentioned below advantages of digital banking highlight the importance of this crucial technology in our times.
• Your banking is much easier
The online banking feature provides you the luxury for banking anytime and anywhere. Throughout the year, the website services are offered round the clock for internet banking; except for time needed for website maintenance. On the internet banking page, you can see the summary of your real-time bank account. This mode of banking helps to keep a check on the bank account at any time. Even if you want to make some payments, change your mailing address, or contact details, all that you need to do is click on few pages.
• Advanced banking options
These days, there is a lot of competition in the banking sector, and most banks want to have an edge over other banks to be successful. Therefore, the banks come up with advanced websites that have several banking options. Some of the sturdy features of digital banking on advanced websites are loan calculators, premium calculators, financial planning tools, tools to help analyze investments, budgeting, forecasting, and also tax preparation, etc. This helps a consumer to keep alert with many different features in an effortless way. As a result, most of the financial planning can be done efficiently without the need to personally visit a bank.
• Mobile banking options
Banks come up with several advanced apps that help in online banking from the smart phones. As a result, the customers can do online banking from anywhere and at any time. The banks make mobile friendly websites and features that help customers to bank efficiently. With just a few clicks on the mobile phones, the money can be transferred and bills can be paid with great ease.
Along with the above mentioned benefits, online banking is also an eco-friendly option. With the help of digital banking, a lot of paper is saved and other such areas like office space, travel, and so on are made greener.
Highly beneficial option for businesses
Many businesses have built their brands and are thriving only because of the digital banking. If we did not have the luxury of online banking, the businesses like Amazon and eBay may not be in existence today. However, now the businesses can enable online payments option and every process is made simple after that. The businesses can see their banking activities such as the deposits, wired funds, bank checks, and so on. So rather than waiting for monthly statements, the businesses can take instant decision about their functioning. The errors and delays can be quickly sorted out before any negative impact to the business.
Increased productivity in business
With the help of digital banking, most businesses do not have to rely on the bank operation timings. Now the payments can be made and received even in the odd hours. There are also some processes like paying bills or making regular payments that can be automated in the digital banking platform. As a result, the businesses are able to save a lot of time on the manual processes and this has a great impact on their productivity.
Easy transfer of payments
One of the most important things for businesses these days is time, and so they want to use it on something that is providing them more value. The digital banking helps the businesses to easily transfer payments in their employee bank accounts. Some of the regular transfers can also be automated, and so the professionals are able to use their valuable time on something that is more important. As a result, the internet banking adds more value to most of the businesses.
Made everything easy
With the help of digital banking, now shopping, travelling, eating, healthcare, entertainment, business, etc. have become more efficient. Almost every purchase these days can be done with the help of internet banking. With the advancement in digital technology, now most people do not even visit their banks as the maximum amount of their work is done online or is automated. Digital banking has made everything easy for everybody.
Wide range of potential
Above mentioned are just some of the areas that we have seen in the digital banking. However, when we see the growth rate and applications in online banking, we can get a fair idea about what all things we can expect in the future. Even with hundreds of features to offer, it is right to say that digital banking has many more features to offer in the future.
This huge revolution in the banking world has benefited one and all. From the employee working in a small office to a businessman running a million dollar business, online banking has proved to be important in their success. With so many benefits offered for us, it is highly impossible for us to think a world without digital banking. However, still there are a lot of people that are reluctant to use digital banking or there are some who do not know how to make the best use of this important feature. Digital banking is the face of advanced technology, and so it is vital to embrace it in most of our personal and business banking areas.