Financial technology (fintech) is commonly used to describe a business that attempts to deliver financial services using advanced technology tools. It is a multibillion-dollar sector transforming every part of our financial lives.
In the digital age, fintech startups provide clients with easy accessibility, experience, transparency, and choice. Customers now want better prices, faster processing, greater access, service, and peace of mind.
Talking about “peace of mind,” now you can connect your bank account to your smartphone and use it to track your purchases. You also have the “digital wallet” feature, which you can use to make purchases using money from your account.
The exciting part we might not even acknowledge 20 years back, let alone think about, is that you can easily open a bank account without ever physically visiting a bank.
Earlier, IVRs, call management services, and digital and mobile banking platforms contributed to the ease of consumer experience. Not to miss out, technological advances such as chatbots, AI, and social media have also improved the overall experience.
Simply by stepping out and scanning your surroundings, in just a glance, you can figure out how addicted each one of us is to our devices. It demonstrates how the adoption of mobile, artificial intelligence, and cloud technology is fundamentally altering how we live and interact with the world around us.
What is cloud telephony?
Cloud telephony is a telecommunication system that utilizes your internet connection to communicate. It is sometimes referred to as a VoIP-based hosted PBX system. It assists you in transferring your traditional business phone system to the cloud.
Cloud telephony runs business interactions and scales with your company. Whether you want to create new workplaces, recruit remote workers, or increase your in-house staff, cloud telephony will make the process simple and affordable.
Unified Communications as a service is a subset of cloud telephony (UCaaS). UCaaS is a unified communications framework that indicates that it integrates numerous communication technologies and collaboration software.
With cloud telephony, you can not only shift your phone calls to the cloud; but also link them to your video sessions, messaging service, CRM, and workflows across the board.
According to predictions, cash will account for only 17% of worldwide payments by 2022. Meanwhile, in only three years, digital wallet adoption will accelerate, accounting for 28% of all point-of-sale transactions.
The telecom infrastructure has provided the required building blocks — accessibility, interconnectivity, and apps — for digitalization to occur and define the economic future. Subverting the physical properties of time and place, the telecom and fintech industries have brought the entire world to our mobile screens, with any-time and anywhere accessibility.
It has enabled us to purchase, trade stocks, conduct banking transactions, and do so much more at the click of a button. Online payment applications that focus on integration are significant to this evolution.
How do telephony in fintech work together?
Telephony services are aware that the fintech world presents a significant revenue opportunity. The rise of smartphones directly promotes the rise of financial services, implying that telecom providers are capable of bringing in new opportunities.
Telecom companies can now offer financial services such as cashless payments, wallets, loans, and a variety of other services to the masses in all developing nations by using data science and creative technology solutions.
Increased internet access and an increased rate of smartphone subscriptions in India have shaped the country’s payments landscape in favor of digital payments. With cashless transactions, the telecom industry may produce significant growth for itself and the economy. Some of the ways are:
- Digitization allows firms to make and receive payments more quickly, lower processing costs, and provide a more effective way to track and manage to spend.
- Shifting from cash to digital payments can increase efficiency by reducing the cost of disbursing and accepting payments and enhancing corporate risk management capabilities.
- Digital payments are more reliable because they increase payment transparency, reducing the likelihood of a breach between the sender and the receiver.
- The telecom industry consumes and provides big data services. The exponential growth in data, volume, and velocity offer enormous potential in big data.
- Digital payments are almost quick when linked to cash payments, irrespective of whether the sender and receiver are within the same city, region, or nation.
Until recently, the collaboration between fintech startups and telephony services was restricted to developing financial services and mobile-related technology. However, the scope of their offers has expanded, as evidenced by the examples here.
To provide payment solutions to their consumers, telecom service provider Samsung has introduced a mobile wallet named ‘Samsung Pay.’
In addition, Orange, a French telecom operator, has established ‘Orange Money’ to give payment services to its users. T-Mobile, a German corporation, has begun to offer payment services to its users in addition to telephone services.
The merging of the two industries (telephony and fintech) or telephony in fintech would bring various mutual benefits.
For telephone banking
- Banks would benefit from telecoms’ digital wallet integration with their diverse portfolio of products and services.
- Accessibility to a massive repository of useful big data and analytics.
- Possibility of expanding their customer base through improved retention and lower turnover.
For telecoms
- Telecommunications companies would benefit from increased utilization of their communications networks.
- Access to a range of banking-related financial tools and goods.
- Additional money from bundled offerings and advertising campaigns is available directly through telecoms’ mobile wallet apps.
Addressing the topic “the need for telephony in fintech,” financial institutions and telecommunications companies should collaborate. It can be viewed as if they have no other choice, and the process is beginning well.
In a pandemic-ridden environment, having all your usual financial tools at your disposal is more important than ever.
Whether you live in India or Hong Kong, there’s a high likelihood you will forget what it’s like to visit a bank in five years, and that might not be such a bad thing. What do you say?