Information technology plays a huge role in financial services for many different reasons, but most importantly on the electronic networks that exchange information.

How technology is impacting the finance and banking sector?

Technology is changing the way businesses operate and deliver products to consumers in many sectors. We have alarms that detect poisonous substances in our air, medical equipment that can identify life-threatening conditions before they become an issue, or smarter computer software to make controlling vital equipment easier than ever before.

An industry that has seen huge innovations in recent years is the use of technology within the financial world. The new buzzword ‘FinTech’ is becoming common place in the sector and with an ever-evolving corporate and consumer focus, the need to keep up with advancements is seeing more choice and an improved user-experience across the board.

Customer service

Perhaps the biggest way that FinTech is disrupting the finance and banking sector is through customer service. In the past, a good customer service team was vital for any company involved in finance. Anything that involved the handling of money or financial matters required trained staff to be able to help sort out problems and provide assistance to people.

Online banking

Banking was traditionally something that was done in the non-virtual world. People would go into town to their bank to withdraw money, transfer funds from one place to another, and sort out their finances. You’d speak to a helpful staff member and interact with people in a brick and mortar building. However, these kinds of premises are rapidly becoming redundant. Online banking is getting more and more sophisticated on a daily basis – we can transfer money or pay for goods with just the push of a button.

Fraud detection

The investigation and identification of fraud used to be an equal effort from both man and machine. The system would help to track potential fraudulent transactions, but it would be up to the staff who were trained to find fraud to look through all the information and determine if there was fraudulent activity on the account or not.

The machine can track through the history of the victim, and then calculate and predict the likelihood of fraud based on previous patterns. This can all be done at a much faster speed than a human could, which means that a lot of fraud teams don’t need to be as big as they are, and can instead be cut down to a small handful of individuals.

Market shifts, technological developments, and increasing regulatory and investor scrutiny are affecting the revenue growth and operating efficiencies of financial services industry. To perform efficiently in this continually challenging competitive environment, financial institutions need to increasingly harness new technologies to provide superior quality services and customer offerings.

Technology has overall driven a persistent ultimatum for accessibility, and innovation, and being able to have convenience is going to be something that keeps changing forever. The role of information technology in finance departments plays a big part ranging from small to large applications and operations. Communication is a very critical component that comes with information technology as well, and there are a ton of advantages that lie within the streamline of communication in both perspectives.