The future of money will have nothing to do with money. Unlike the mid-90s hip-hop song, it won’t be “All About the Benjamins.”
Technology is revolutionising money and payments. There is now a myriad of different ways to pay, with innovations like contactless cards, mobile payments, and digital currencies gaining popularity. The idea is that notes, coins, and checks are all hugely inefficient and will be replaced by digital money, which is comparatively easy to process. Big companies also find electronic payments are faster and much cheaper. According to Michael Vaughan, chief operating officer of Venmo, the mobile payment app owned by Paypal, will focus on improving the experience of accessing and spending the hard-earned cash. From a technological point of view, the cashless society is certainly getting closer.
Vaughan addressed the changing nature of money and spent the vast majority of hour-long event answering questions from attendees, social media at Northeastern University. However, there is always an issue of trust. There can be a lot of trends which can be used to support a scenario where bank becomes extinct- acceleration of technology, product convergence, convenience, new channels, and brand promiscuity. Most of the people find difficulty waiting in lines to get their money out of the banks. Equally, most marketers are polarising between low-cost providers and premium suppliers offering personalised solutions. According to them, phone banking with instant access to personal assistance and swipe card entry offers legendary customer service.
ID theft has always been a problem in a cashless economy. However, it is also spawning a number of innovations. We are on a verge of a technological explosion that will benefit new entrants. Mobile micropayments will revolutionise the shopping experience, without taking away the importance of physical banks and customer. If cash disappears, private currencies and barter systems will flourish. Digitised money, in today’s time, will be embeddedin everything from clothes to people.
Gurbani Gandhi
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