Life goals
Back in 2010, omnichannel banking was a hot trend, applying what worked in retail to make it seamless to bank across channels and shift from pushing product to addressing needs.
Ten years later, banks are still working to deliver omnichannel, and it represents a moving target since there are now more channels, and customer expect more complex needs to be met. This started as a translation exercise. You say "car"—we say "car loan." You say "new home"—we say "30 year fixed rate mortgage." This new taxonomy suggested a customer-first approach, yet in reality was thinly disguised product marketing.
In 2020, the trend will de-emphasize point solutions in favor of life events and customer goals. When a customer's goal is "I want to get married," the financial services required are less defined and prompt individual consultation and advice. In an April 2019 announcement of Bank of America Life Plan, the bank promised a fall release to use these sort of goals to orchestrate services across the lines of business through Erica and the app. Recent beta tests reveal basic goal creation, and similar to the two-year lag with Erica between the PR and release, banks are finding these shifts take longer than anticipated to get right.
What will set 2020 apart is the maturation of voice, chat and AI to tie the loose ends together and serve them up through improved apps and virtual assistants like Erica.