The technology space is occupied by a myriad of different kinds. Financial technology, being one of them, is defined as the economic industry made up of companies which use technology improve the efficiency of their financial systems. Some examples of what kind of companies make up the financial technology field include crowdfunding, algorithmic asset management, data collection, credit scoring, digital currency and exchanges, etc.
Though these categories may seem disparate, they share the commonality of creating and utilizing technology to better equip the financial market to function efficiently. With technology improving at a greater rate than before, companies and start-ups are able to generate and implement their ideas to create softwares that replace existing ones with advanced infrastructure in order to disrupt current systems.
Today, finance is regarded as one of the most vulnerable industries to be disrupted by software. As such, we begin to see the rise in startups break the incumbent technologies and present new ones.
According to The Economist, entrepreneurs in San Francisco, London, New York, and so forth host the perfect environment for startups looking to invest in the disruption of financial technology. With the momentum building, more people are creating apps that replace traditional models of banking with innovative technology.
Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase has acknowledged Silicon Valley’s imminent influence on the future of banking. “There are hundreds of startups with a lot of brains and money working on various alternatives to traditional banking,” stated Dimon.
With the millennial generation attached to their smart devices, many 18 to 34-year-olds have turned to technology to handle their financial affairs. As such, the shifting sphere of financial management is beginning to evolve in tangent with the technological times, and banks are feeling the pressure to maintain relevance in an ever changing arena.
Furthermore, with the rise of digital technology products available on the market, mobile payments and digital currencies have the potential to better consumer spending. With companies such as Apple Inc., Google Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc., Visa Inc., and American Express Company as the leading corporations in the digital payments sphere, we see a leap towards the convenience of mobile payment.
For example, NXT-ID, Inc., a biometric authentication company centralizes on the growth of mobile commerce market, has invented a method to advance cryptocurrencies (i.e. Bitcoin). With its history in creating smart wallet, Wocket, this new invention focuses on introducing a uniform method to manage all payments. To do so, the technology oversees multiple financial accounts and cryptocurrency accounts to initiate transfers, exchange currency, submit payments, and receive payments.
Other smartphone mobile payment apps such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet will soon be joined by the Merchant Customer Exchanges’ app, CurrentC. According to Merchant Customer Exchange, the new app will be accepted at 110,000 retail locations across the U.S. and will allow retailers to stop paying credit card fees to companies.
With the rise of Generation Z, known as the “first truly mobile generation,” CMOs must prepare for a new generation of marketing–personalized, and persistent. A mobile-first, socially conscious generation will not respond to the old marketing models consisting of bombardments of commercials, but rather native advertising, built into the programming itself.
As companies begin to shift their marketing models to accommodate the rising habits of the Zs, marketing technologies can be expected to ramp up their strategies to remain competitive and relevant. As the rising generation goes mobile, so are our existing payment platforms. That old saying, “follow the money,” doesn’t sound so silly now, does it?