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Development ServicesPeople are now well accustomed to browsing and shopping online without ever leaving the house. So the next natural step is to immerse yourself in a virtual and augmented world where you can shop to fulfill your needs. In FinTech, this means truly experiencing a financial service or product in a virtual shopping mall that will help you make a purchase decision from the comfort of your couch.
These virtual or augmented spaces will be able to simulate real-life scenarios that can enable you to have a superior understanding of a financial product or service. In other words, it will be like brand engagement on steroids.
These real-time user experiences (UX) in this industry have the potential to build new market dynamics. Although we’re at the infancy stage of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), enterprises are already able to see the potential of wider engagement and adoption that’s about to happen.
FinTech is all about UX and customer engagement, that’s what differentiates them from traditional financial enterprises. This trend can only accelerate as a result of reactive frameworks, standard data formats, and streaming.
But the primary opportunity in FinTech for VR/AR is data visualization.
1. Data Visualization Utilizing VR/AR
Financial markets and trading are heavily dependent on automatic processes and algorithms. But these days computers are consuming so much data, it’s becoming near impossible for humans to analyze and understand what’s going on.
This is where VR can come in and create an opportunity with data visualization products. But it will still take AR/VR technologies a few years before we see a noticeable impact on the industry.
When you use data visualization to analyze large clusters of data, it can help decision makers understand complicated concepts and identify new patterns visually. So when you’re equipped with data visualization tools, the end user can access a general picture or dive in deeper into highly specific areas easily and quickly.
The cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software company Salesforce is already doing this by utilizing Oculus Rift to take data visualization to another level (view video below). The technology that’s currently available provides a highly immersive 3D environment where you can conduct data analytics.
Further, a virtual trading desk proof-of-concept prototype called the “Holographic Workstation” has been developed by Citi using Microsoft HoloLens. This will focus on helping traders better understand the vast amount of data they have to deal with without ever having to use traditional flat screens.
Fidelity Labs, the think-tank for online trading brokerage firm Fidelity Investments has created “StockCity” for Oculus Rift. It is essentially a VR data visualization tool that can transform an investor’s portfolio into a city.
This, in turn, will convey all the necessary information about stocks visually without ever displaying a percentage or a number.
2. Engage in Immersive Learning
When it comes to personal finance and money management, our current system of education is totally lacking. To teach our kids how to manage money, learn to invest, learn to save, and even learn how to make educated smarter financial decisions, there’s a great opportunity for FinTech VR.
Young kids can be taught how to make purchases at virtual department stores, learn basic math skills, and even commerce. Older children and adults can be provided with models and VR simulations that show tangible examples of how compound interest works.
3. Disrupt the Client-Service Approach to Banking
It’s not all about learning and data analytics when it comes to FinTech and wearables.
The Polish IT solution provider Comarch recently demonstrated a VR wealth management software prototype that can fuse wearables, algorithms, and human relations that can make your banking experience fun.
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4. New VR/AR Payment Opportunities
VR/AR technology will also bring about new payment options that will enable customers to make payments virtually. It already looks like it’s going to be the next big thing as VR glasses designer Wearality and payment giant MasterCard have a prototype that does exactly that.
What it does is allow customers to identify an item in Mastercard’s VR golf experience called “Priceless” and make a purchase without ever exiting the virtual world.
For now, these are all experiments, prototypes, and new technology that’s in its initial stages. But as you can see, VR and AR are about to explode and make a huge impact on all industries across the board.
FinTech won’t be any different and it’s sure to evolve and open up new opportunities as we begin to truly understand and realize the potential of this technology.
Featured image: Citibank Holographic Workstation
