There’s no doubt about it: Microsoft Surface-type computing interfaces are compelling. The idea of taking graphics and data and then moving them, bumping them, merging them — it’s a way of interacting with computers that we have only been able to picture in movies.
But so far, we’ve mostly seen lightweight applications of the medium. Brochureware (yawn). Interactive restaurant menus. Video, image and music file managment (not boring, but not life-changing either).
Late last year, Marley Gray, Microsoft’s point man on banking, had this to say about the potential role of Surface computing in financial services:
While Microsoft Surface isn’t currently deployed in any retail banking scenarios, we envision Surface as a platform that could potentially enable a shift in the way customers learn, service, and buy products in a retail banking environment. In addition, it can be used as a way for customers to browse product information by financial scenario or direct product comparisons as well as in private banker meetings for things like financial planning and account opening.
Is there a serious application for surface computing in the bank environment? The above video about virtual autopsies shows how gestural computing can let users manipulate complex and layered information. And isn’t that a good way to describe finances – complex and layered?
Whether it’s a consumer considering at different investment options or a business owner considering cash-flow scenarios, the structure of financial instruments and services can be mind-numbingly complex. Or boring. Either of which results in prospects not paying attention and not comprehending the full value of what the bank has to offer.
What if…bankers could conduct “what if” scenarios with customers by moving and sliding visuals, rather than pointing to data tables? Would financial planning be a more compelling offering if budgeting was an object-oriented exercise? Could bankers themselves benefit from seeing their accounts (and the risk therein) displayed more visually?
I don’t see anything but hype for the MS Surface in banking. I hear lots of people in the financial industry talking about it, but I struggle to see any practical applications. The Surface may find some rather exotic uses sometime down the road, but it isn’t likely to be much more than “retail glitz and glitter.”
What problem does it solve? What NEED is there for it today? If you’ve got to scramble to find a use for a tool, then maybe you don’t really need the tool.
Bank of America is actually using Mocrosoft Surface already in it’s new branch in New York, on the ground floor of it’s headquarters there. It’s more glitz than substance, but it takes polls, offers compubd savings and loan payment calculators, and has content to support guided sales discussions. The people in the branch said they have much broader plas for it as it is deployed elsewhere.