Do Super Apps Have a Better Chance of Success in Financial Services?, CIO News, ET CIO

With financial services now just a touch away from their mobile devices, more consumers have demonstrated a willingness to manage their finances on one unified platform rather than separate platforms. The concept of super apps came to the rescue. Financial institutions have also recognized the potential of a single application, designed as a one-stop shop to serve all consumer needs, and have begun to bring various products and services under one umbrella.

Gartner communicated the concept behind super apps quite clearly, comparing them to Swiss Army knives. Similar to how Swiss Army knives come with many component tools, superapps also contain mini applets that run inside the main app itself, which the user can use according to their own preferences.

Super apps are gaining ground in financial services

Super apps have proven successful in a few industries, BFSI being one of them. Super apps have quickly taken off in the financial services sector as people find them convenient.

Saleem Arshad, CTO, Revolut India “Financial institutions usually start by offering their core products and then expand into other areas that generate revenue and provide convenience to customers.” Revolut is a global financial super app and a strong advocate of an app for all money.

Starting with banking, payment and remittance services, super apps can gradually expand to include lending, insurance, investment, cryptocurrency and other services. Partnerships and revenue sharing models may vary from case to case.

The secret to success is an excellent user experience

Arshad walked us through some of the key components that super apps should consider.

Maintaining a great user experience is key to the success of super apps. If the user experience is neglected, it will become a “spaghetti of things” and people will not be able to find or use what they need.

The user experience is great even if each product/service has a separate user interface and requires a separate login.

Having visibility into what’s happening in your partner’s space is key to resolving issues quickly. Otherwise, you may be sending them on a wild goose chase.

Super apps also need to be very flexible. For example, even if a service is down, it won’t cause the application to freeze or crash.

Be elegant, simple and incredibly customer-friendly to succeed, he advised.

Note: This article was prepared at the recent session of BFSI Digital Conclave 2023, Mumbai.