Becky Holton, education expert, professional journalist and blogger, shares her list of top FinTech tools able to not only facilitate financial operations, but to change the financial industry forever.
The last two decades have changed the face of our world in almost every aspect. The rise of the internet, machine learning, and blockchain have reshaped production, marketing, commerce, financial sector, even the work government institutions took a facelift thanks to the progress of technology.
When it comes to finance, technology has made such an impact on this area that we came up with a new name for technological solutions in the service of finance – Fintech. Some fintech tools serve only to facilitate financial operations while others aim to change the industry forever. The current article will show four technological solutions that can change the finance as we know it.
Peer-to-peer Lending
When we go to the bank in order to lend some money, the bank is there only to mediate between us and the source of money. If we could cut out the middleman, in this case, the bank, our loan would be much cheaper, because the banks take a share of the money through large interest rates and various fees. Peer-to-peer lending platforms are online solutions that provide money lending services directly from the people with extra cash who are willing to lend money.
The difference between going to the bank and lending money using this new technology is that there is nobody between you and the source of money, therefore – the interest rates are much smaller. This new method of lending is yet to reach its peak; nevertheless, large financial institutions are showing interest in this new way of doing business.
Furthermore, with cryptocurrency market becoming more and more mainstream, there are many platforms that provide Bitcoin money lending services, based on blockchain technology which provides even more benefits.
Online Payment Services
We were all happy when services like PayPal, Payoneer, and other similar ones took on the local and international monetary flow market. Anyone who had to make international payments knows how expensive bank fees can be, waiting periods are sometimes too long, simply – it was not an effective solution. Sending money on a global level nowadays takes no more than a couple of hours, and the fees are much smaller than what you had to pay with the bank to bank transfer.
It is almost impossible to find a commercial website where PayPal and similar payment services are not accepted. However, a new trend is on the rise with last year’s announcement of a new service called Coinbase Commerce. The difference between this and other services is that Coinbase Commerce deals with cryptocurrency, which means that users make all their payments directly from their online wallets. The volatility of Bitcoin value makes the pricing a bit of an issue, but the developers promise to come up with a long-term solution soon enough.
Artificial Intelligence Software Services
Machine learning technology allows us a feel of Artificial Intelligence that’s yet to take its true form through further development. However, in its current stage, AI is allowing more efficient accounting services that remove the risk of human error, automate payment process, time-tracking, and other tasks that included multiple human operators and a lot of time. The payments would be much faster, and free of potential human mistakes.
Furthermore, according to experts, Data collection and categorization is much swifter and reliable which means HR will make better use of human resources and thus provide cost-effective processes. In addition, the hiring process will be more effective as AI will be able to analyze Big data in order to come up with the best candidate for a certain position.
Robo-Advisors
Rather than talking to a cybernetic organism, Robo-Advisor represents a software solution built to extract user data collected via online survey and any other relevant source of information, analyze that data and provide financial planning services.
The most notable benefit that comes with Robo-Advisors is, of course, the cost of services provided by this solution. Since there is no human labor involved the operative costs are significantly lower, therefore, the fees of Robo-Advisor services are lesser. Another large benefit is the 24/7 access to the platform, all you need is a computer and a working internet connection. Ultimately, this type of financial planning is easier for the user, everything is automated, it only takes a few clicks on a button, no need to make appointments, fill out forms – it’s a hassle-free option.
Conclusion
As the world is changing and the technology progresses, so does the way we do business and arrange our finance. All these tools are showing us but the glimpse of their full potential, which is why we should try to keep up with every new update. Who knows what new technologies await us in the future, one thing is certain – we should never always aspire for more.
