Today’s world is constantly undergoing transformation, where the digital realm is gaining more and more ground in human activities. Almost anything can now be managed through a mobile device with internet access. The financial and banking sector has not been immune to these processes of change, and a clear example of this is the increase in transactions carried out digitally through mobile applications, where money can be sent and received. The question now is whether this important sector of the economy has reached its limit, or if it can use virtual reality to improve the user experience.
Perhaps the general lockdown situation experienced worldwide during 2020 accelerated the digitalization process of human life that was already in development, making the use of virtual reality more decisive in different sectors. Work, study, shopping, and other daily tasks began to position themselves in the digital world, which is why banks found an opportunity for development in this regard, and most likely, virtual reality will be one of the main allies to improve service in the future and adapt to the new needs of a centennial clientele born in a world immersed in the digital realm.
Virtual reality is a format in which, through technology and digital tools, possible worlds similar to the real one are constructed or recreated using computerized images that make people feel familiar. This is very common in video games or movies where characters and settings are extremely similar to the originals. Therefore, perhaps one of the main features of virtual reality used in the banking sector will be that physical branches are recreated through images and allow users to “visit” them from any device.
Taking into consideration the fact that human activities have shifted to digital spaces in recent years, physical branches will tend to decrease in number, giving way to the use of new service spaces where users can experience a multisensory experience with sound, fixed and moving images, thanks to virtual reality. This takes on greater relevance if we consider that users have been finding solutions in mobile applications for some time, something that reduces the need to visit offices.
It seems that the use of virtual reality in the banking sector is just beginning and there could be thousands of possibilities for use. One of the most outstanding and possible in the near or at least medium term future will be the visualization of data, information, and account balances in a virtual reality format in which users can understand how their personal finances are going or how projections of payments for possible credits would be through 360-degree graphics or visual resources. This could help improve understanding of information and encourage access to banking products, as users would have the information available in a clearer and more didactic way.
A resource with a lot of potential that banks could develop through virtual reality is the location of ATMs near the point where each user is located. All they would have to do is perform a search based on the characteristics of the area in which they are located, and the application could guide them to the nearest ATMs, reconstructing the route they would have to take to get there by showing reference points that facilitate the location of the site through virtual reality images.
Undoubtedly, the use of digital resources in the banking sector is aimed at fulfilling two clear objectives: improving user navigation and increasing their access to services such as loans or cards. In this sense, the use of virtual reality could facilitate both through immersion processes where customers can see financial actions in images. For example, if a user wants to plan a vacation, they could have the possibility of projecting their approximate expenses per day through interactive maps created with virtual reality, in the light of their personal finances. This could detect the amount of resources that they may need and obtain them through a loan.
As we have seen, the use of virtual reality in the banking sector is still in an initial stage in which its potential is still developing. However, it is clear that banks that want to provide better service to their future clients should start considering this type of digital resources.
If you want to learn more about virtual reality and other innovative audiovisual products, we invite you to explore the website www.xystudios.co, where you will find a wide portfolio that you could make available to your company.