Tuesday at BAI Retail Delivery was marked bymany informative discussions. We have already seen many interestingnew product introductions in banking overall, and specifically inbanking channels.
There have also been several discussions about cross-channel andmulti-channel collaboration and branch transformation. Examplesinclude the melding of the ATM and mobile channels to help make thebranch channel more efficient and profitable.
The keynote speech by Sir Richard Branson was quite interesting aswell. One of the main themes was to be bold and fearless whenembarking on a new endeavor or initiative. Some of his mostsuccessful ventures were based on having a vision for whatcustomers need.
For example, the genesis of Virgin Airways was displeasure (morelikely disgust) at a large carrier canceling a flight to the VirginIslands. He also noted that not-so-successful ventures (like VirginCola) are useful, and offer learning experiences. The key point isto provide a good product and service, and pay close attention tocustomers’ stated — and sometimes unstated-needs.