Acronyms (PSD2, RTS, SCA…) are coming. But where are the apps, are they coming?

Few years back our smartphones were not that smart. The apps were designed to fulfil a single need. The more needs you had, the more apps you would also need.

Ever since 2011 I have frequently travelled to China. I noticed that mobile devices were and still are the only devices to access digital services unlike in the Nordic countries.

With the amount of people being connected and reachable on the rise and reaching all-time high. The amount of services and applications developed and published are also on the rise. This then generates issues for the end users. The number of applications users need to download and to register to rise equally as much. The cheaper phones don’t have the capacity to install that many applications. Forcing the end users to decide which ones to keep. Instead of having all the applications.

This is something that was solved in China many years ago. They have “master apps” that have everything included. A well working ecosystem. The apps inside the master app are not really apps, they are APIs and web content designed to work seamlessly under the master app.

You can chat, call relatives, share moments, blog, order food, order clothes, order and pay for a taxi, pay your electricity and water bills, buy insurance, invest in stocks, reserve hair dresser etc. never leaving the master app. One device, one app, one log in. Simple, beautiful but at the same time a very powerful experience.

How does Open Banking fit in the picture?

Fractured experience is still one of the biggest flaws in the western apps. There are no proper ecosystems, the usability is complicated, making the experience negative. Switching from one app to another app to an external website to a third-party log in page… Each app and company serving for their own needs and requiring their own registration and log ins. No wonder people are getting bored of new services and uninstalling the application even before trying it once.

I see that this is slowly changing in the Western countries. Through legislation and through customer discontent. People are becoming more aware that they can demand for services and can expect a great customer experience. Companies are valuing service design much more, they are willing to experiment and implement the needed changes.

Open Banking allows us to take a step in to the right direction. Co-creation enables better experience for the developers and for the end users. Much like in the old days you would try to do everything well by yourself, ending up master in nothing. Open Banking allows banks and third parties to create products and services which will far exceed the previous ones. Open Banking is a revolutionary game opener in to this world of APIs. APIs are and will continue becoming normal. Connected apps and services will become the norm.

I believe that the platforms and apps are coming. And that we are slowly moving to a more integrated non-fractured experience. That might not happen in 2019. I hope and expect this to happen early 2020. Innovation happens, gets fine-tuned, technologies advance and expectations rise non-stop.

We can’t forget the most important part, people.

People value simplicity. People want to understand the ever-changing world. People want to advance their position in the world. People want change for the better, having a better tomorrow. Does technology enable autonomy or create addiction? We don’t meet as often as we used to. We don’t meet as deeply as we used to. Digital services don’t offer as quality connections as face to face does.

Productivity increases, costs go down. Service availability increases, becoming less location dependant. Do we all have equal opportunities to use digital services? Can we all afford to use the digital services? Devices, connections and getting the know-how?

When designing services. We should pay attention that the technology and services created will easily integrate with people’s everyday lives. Instead of people integrating with the services and devices.

About the author

My job is supporting third party developers by answering their questions related to Nordea Open Banking.

I’m new in the bank, started less than a year ago. I was specifically drawn in to Nordea and the Open Banking area because of my personal interest in the rapid digitalisation state of China. Seeing and experiencing the ecosystem in use. My feelings for Open and Digital Banking are very excited and I expect a lot from the digital future.