How telepresence can revolutionize financial services industry

Imagine, you are trying to make an investment somewhere in the World and you want to be face to face with your investment advisor without leaving your own office or room?

Well, your options can be different—right from using Skype or making phone calls to something that is called telepresence.

Telepresence is one of the fascinating new phenomena which is gradually taking over the realm of meetings and performing a lot of tasks without being actually present in the place. It is like helping individuals to experience and do whatever they want to do without being present at some remote place. What is different about telepresence is that you can be telepresent through someone else instead of being even present through video conferencing or other methods.

Telepresence can occur at two levels i.e. one where people meet virtually without leaving their offices or homes. In the second case, telepresence can also take place where someone else acts and behaves as per the orders and demands of another person. The second option provides an exciting alternative to the use of technology and the human interaction where one person can experience anything through the eyes of another person.

I the financial sector, companies are using telepresence to connect their customers with their loan officers, investment advisors, and other employees to discuss all the requirements and provide solutions without actually the presence of the customer as well as the financial organization at the same place.

This new trend is revolutionary in the sense that it can provide banks and other financial institutions necessary and important tools to actually connect with their customers at more individual and personal level rather than using their traditional call center facilities.

Cryptocurrency investment is another area where telepresence can be of great importance given the fact that it can create human involvement on a remote level to manage and oversee the large transactions. One of the areas of concerns regarding cryptocurrencies is the fact that it is completely managed and controlled through the computer systems without any mediating or intervening process.

Once a transaction is performed, it cannot be reversed despite the fact that it may be fake or fraudulent in nature. Telepresence can actually add the necessary element of required confirmation on the remote level to execute large transactions without requiring physical presence or confirmations.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange is introducing bitcoin derivatives allowing serious investors to bet on the future valuations of the cryptocurrency. This indicates that the cryptocurrency is now being considered by the formal financial services organizations. New hedge funds are being created around the cryptocurrencies to provide retail and wholesale customers a formal opportunity to gain benefits from the future valuation prospects of the currencies like bitcoins. Coinbase, the exchange for the cryptocurrency is also adding more consumers to their registers than a normal can gain in that short period.

This rise in the importance of cryptocurrency would not be possible without its proper integration and use with telepresence.

Banks are also expanding the use of this technology and replacing the need of having specialized advisors in the physical locations. In a recent move, Bank of America and Nationwide implemented this technology in their Branches and are planning to expand this to more than 500 branches in near future.

What is important to note is the fact that telepresence is gaining support through proper organizational support. Organizations like Ubiatar are offering a proper marketplace through which telepresence can be brought at mass level. Mass level use of telepresence can technology can bring peer to peer lending, consumer finance, and management of investments at a bigger level.

The future for the use of telepresence is great for the financial services providers and the common individuals as with the help of this, they can achieve what is otherwise not possible physically. Telepresence can help to not only build a better business but also can provide opportunities to individuals to experience the world in an entirely different way.

(Featured image by Joe Shlabotnik via Flickr. CC BY 2.0)

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DISCLAIMER: This article expresses my own ideas and opinions. Any information I have shared are from sources that I believe to be reliable and accurate. I did not receive any financial compensation in writing this post, nor do I own any shares in any company I’ve mentioned. I encourage any reader to do their own diligent research first before making any investment decisions.