3 Reasons Why the Financial Sector Got "Crowded"

Invesdor, Lendico, Number26, Avuba, Tink, Fidor, Holvi , Wolt, Moven ... just to name a few interesting examples of the recent phenomenon in the Financial Sector. But what actually has happened? Why did Financial Sector get all "crowded" at once? Especially when we all know that the notion of "putting customers at the center" is really not a new topic.

“Companies are too focused on their own production processes and not sufficiently oriented towards customer satisfaction.”
— Levitt (1960)

Eventhough the final answer to the question is yet to be revealed, here are the first 3 reasons of the top of my mind:

  1. Customers are not happy with the service they currently receive

    This is a no-brainer, according to several measures and questionnaires, customers are unhappy with the service they currently receive. This decreases the leap to try new services.

  2. Disruptive technology enables to interact with consumers in new ways

    Technology enables an interactive discussion between the consumer and service provider. This leads to a better understanding of the consumers everyday life and journey.

  3. New-comers think of consumers first without the burden of legacy

    Legacy systems are not barriers for new-comers but instead they can use all the latest technology e.g. cloud services to store your data. This leads to more agile and customized services.

But not to jump to final conclusions yet, this paradigm will be in the focus of my research from the beginning of 2015 on. I am especially interested to understand why consumers are willing to participate in the value-creation process and who actually creates the value to whom?

Let me give you an example. Imagine a situation, where I would offer to make a soup for you. But if you would tell me what to put in it, would the taste be as good as if I would have been able to cook it without consuming your time?

And as it goes with the theme of "crowdsourcing", I would like to ask you to join the discussion and share your views.

So what do you think? What has happened and what is missing from the list? Drop me a line in the section below or send me an email. I would love to hear your thoughts.

I will keep you posted as the research proceeds, but for now, I wish you a Happy 2015, "The Year of the Crowd"!