Following along the heels of other modern-day banks which have embraced the move toward mobile communications in handling client finances, TCF currently offers mobile apps for its clients to log in through a mobile device, currently supporting the iOS family of devices, such as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, though it also includes browser-based support of other devices in order to accommodate the users of other smartphones, though not necessarily through native apps.
Smartphone use is set to continue its meteoric growth in upcoming years, as the market sees increasingly inexpensive devices and widespread adoption simply due to popularity continues unabated. Mobile banking can provide avenues for business that, while in some ways similar to their other, more established services, can offer some real benefits both to consumers and businesses.
Consumers, of course, will be happy with the increased convenience, which allows for all sorts of easy access and management, and if anyone knows anything about running a business, convenience is a much bigger factor toward user adoption than many would readily admit. With the push of a button clients can log in, rather than having to type the web address into a browser. Even something so simple is likely to remove a major barrier to use, especially if clients are in the middle of some other task and just want to check quickly without the hassle of typing letters into a virtual keyboard, just to check a balance or take care of whatever other business.
Data use can also be mitigated, which will help with server traffic, if to a rather minimal degree, as smartphones barely need to send any amount of data back and forth; a full webpage will include a great deal of unnecessary information which users wanting to handle their TCF online banking accounts don’t need to download, and with slow network speeds adversely affecting customer satisfaction, a minimal setup can easily mitigate such frustration. A little bit of extra speed will make a customer very happy.
Even more so than mobile-only versions of webpages, the app offers a better experience in this regard; even minimal graphics will be stored on the phone, automatically loaded as opposed to downloaded from the TCF Bank server. Though mobile-only versions are not necessarily bad, they still require a little bit of extra time, both for data transfer reasons as well as web address input.
On top of the simple conveniences and potential (though admittedly minimal) cost savings, mobile apps, under certain circumstances, can actually increase user safety. Currently the Apple mobile devices work exclusively on a closed system, which requires human approval to be made available for download. This means viruses and other malicious software will have a very difficult time getting into the system, whereas this would be relatively easy on a PC. Though such a problem has yet to materialize on a massive scale among Android devices, the very first Android virus will likely make many users think twice about open platforms, and at the very least this will propagate the use of gated-community app stores, containing only vetted titles.
At any rate the banking industry as well as others would do well to embrace a wide range of such devices, as the advantages and greater customer satisfaction are likely to give banks such as TCF a minor favoritism boost if designed properly.
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