Information Technology in the Banking Industry

Today, information technology is applied in all the industries. The function of IT in modern society is to manage information by storing, collecting, retrieving, transforming, and supplying vast amount of critical data. In the banking sector, the information technology has revolutionized the industry. This has changed the way people live and work. The banking industry has transformed from paper to digitized and networked banking services. This has increased productivity from the improved efficiency.

The use of information technology in the banking industry has been advantageous to the customers, the banks, and the employees. The customers have had several advantages. First, there are self-inquiry services. Customers can log in to their accounts over the internet, inquire about anything, and view the transactions. There is also mobile application, which enables customers to operate their bank accounts through the phone. In addition, the installations of ATMs, which offer non-stop cash withdraws, have made transactions easy. One can access money from anywhere without going to the bank. Networking of computerized branches permit customers to transact from any branch through intra-city connections. Banks also offer a twenty-four hour inquiries regarding transaction-using phones.

After implementing information technology, banks gets a chance to handle many tasks at the same time. Transactions are updated in real time. With information technology, there are several inquiry facilities, which assist the bank in business development and follow up. Many banks make decisions based on information collected about behavior of customers. This kind of information is collected using computers and analyzing transactions types and frequencies. This is all made possible by information technology.

In addition, the generation of reports and financial statements is automatically done. The productivity has greatly increased due to automatic balancing of accounts and interest calculations. Automatic printing of covering schedules, deposit receipts, pass book / pass sheet, freeing the staff from performing these time-consuming jobs, and enabling them to give more attention to the needs of the customer.

If applied strategically, information technology increases productivity in the industry. When all transaction are automated, it makes it easy for the decision making process. Information is processed automatically and results relayed to several destinations. In addition, marketing becomes easier in that customers can receive automated texts on their mobile phones about offers and any changes.

However, there are concerns about the use of information technology in this industry. There have been cases of cyber attacks where the banks systems are attacked and money transferred through networks of overseas accounts making it hard to track. In addition, technology cannot be relied on completely. It poses the risk of failure, which would be disastrous. When the computers came. There was the loss of jobs for many employees. As information technology develops, more people lose their jobs. It can be argued that the use of information technology increases productivity but these benefits the banks owners for their investment. To the employee who loses a job since the computer is better at the job that the employees, the increased productivity do not really help that employee.

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