One Bank One App

With the advent of internet and smart mobile devices many financial companies moved to mobile application to cater to customer needs fast and increase retention. In the early stages the BFSI players used different apps for different functions and products/services. But now all major players are moving to one universal mobile application which will provide customers with all the services in one place. Having a single application for all functions helps in the following ways:

1. Avoids switching cost between multiple apps in the form of time consumption and need to remember different apps
2. A single app increases the application recall and hence improves customer loyalty
3. Supports cross selling and upselling different services/features to existing customers
4. Users don't need to install a new app to experience a new feature/service
5. Easier to show relevant notifications and notifications from multiple applications will not pile up
6. Multiple apps means multiple points for a possible security breach. Having a single app supports security of the system
7. Single app allows creating unique customer profiles and customer journey maps. This can be used to pitch personalized offers and collect relevant feedback
8. A single application can prevent creation of fake mobile apps for some features and committing frauds

Another indicator of application consolidation can be the number of apps available on the app/play store from the same bank. One thing that should be kept in mind is that a bank may decide to have different apps for different user segments like agents, final customers, employees, etc. If bank has higher number of apps for a single user group, more work will be required to consolidate them in a single app. Following table contains number of apps on play-store by major banks in August-2021:

A mobile application can be benchmarked based on following factors:

Usability

Usability refers to the ability to get the task done efficiently and effectively. It is different from UI-UX as it does not say how the user feels while doing the thing but with how much ease is he able to complete the task. It has the following sub components:

1. Affordance: Affordance is a perceived idea of how you think you will use an object. For example, in an app the clickable and non clickable areas should be clearly visible and menus should be marked properly
2. Consistency: Consistency is a consistent/uniform behavior noticed throughout all the places in an app. It helps make things predictable and quick learning. It also promotes brand with easy recall and quick actions
3. Length of procedure: App should try to limit the number of steps taken to reach every end-point and the time taken by each step should be minimal. Option to save details (personal and cards) for faster processing in future
4. Ease of use: It refers to the ability of an object to be used by a first time or repeat user without any outside support. It makes adopting new app easy for users and increases their productivity.
5. Findability: how easily you can search information on the app with the help of search engine and navigation options.
6. Error recovery: When system provides users with the ability to correct their mistakes with ease, it is knows as error recovery. We as humans always commit mistakes and without an easy way to recover from those errors, users may become frustrated and stop using the app. 'Undo' option can be a good example for this.
7. System Feedback: Users appreciate a responsive system that can provide accurate and speedy feedback. Few examples of system feedback are progress bar, confirmation on steps, audio and haptic feedback, etc.
8. Grouping of info: Proper grouping of information and menus is important to increase the findability and affordance of the app.

UI-UX

User interface and user experience are two faces of the same coin. While user experience also depends on various other aspects like usability, response time and features. User interface still remains a very important factor. User experience defines how good the user feels while interacting with the app. User interface has the following sub components:

1. Alignment: When you place content in a straight line, or with relative indentations to denote hierarchy in a screen, this arrangement of content is known as Alignment.
2. Aesthetics: It involves all aspects that make the content more appealing to interact. Some common factors are colours, Typeface, Images, etc.
3. Navigation components: Few examples of navigational components are sliders, search boxes, buttons. These navigational compn0onents should be clearly visible, distinguishable, clear in meaning and easily accessible.
4. Information displays: An app communicates various informations to the user in form of icons, notification, tooltip boxes, borders, etc. These should be distinguishable from the action components and should provide the required information in a non-intrusive manner.

Features/ Services Offered

Array of Features/ Services

Login: Multiple login features like two-factor authentication for better security or biometrics for speed

Cost to customer: All the services offered t the customers via app should be cheaper or on par with services availed through other modes.

Financial services: Banks should try to provide as many financial services through the app as they feasibly can because that will prevent customer from searching for other option and improve convenience. Some financial services can be:

• Loan directly
• Automatic and recurring payments
• Automatic and recurring payments
• Account opening
• Open FD instantly
• Activate/deactivate debit/credit card
• Apply for credit card and make credit card payments

Value added features: Many banks provide not only core services, but many value added services to their customers. In a world where all the banks are providing all core services, these value added services can make all the difference in customer acquisition/retention:

• Pay bills directly from app (one-time and recurring)
• Pay bills directly from app (one-time and recurring)
• Recharge
• Shop goods & services
• Booking of tickets
• Integration with vendor apps
• App only discount/ features/ offers
• Financial calculators for investment & loans
• Financial calculators for investment & loans
• Notifications

It must be noted that this list is only indicative and not exhaustive. A bank can provide many more services than this and future will open up new opportunities.

Major banks have already started to move to one app initiative and it is certain that the future will be of consolidated apps with all services in one mobile application. Therefore, it becomes extremely important that the app should be best in industry.