360-degree Transformation of the Banking Sector With Liferay

The financial sector has changed drastically in the last two decades. However, compared to other sectors, it has not fully embraced digitalization. The reasons for this include a lukewarm attitude to digitalization, changing regulatory landscape, employee resistance and others. The entry of Liferay into the banking sector has brought about many positive changes.

Gartner has recognized Liferay as the leader in Magic Quadrant for 11 consecutive years. Many organizations have used Liferay’s extensive frameworks to avail of tools to automate repetitive tasks, develop cutting-edge solutions and improve operational efficiency. With Liferay’s Digital Experience Platform (DXP), banking institutions can foster their digital transformation by creating innovative mobile apps and websites to deliver personalized experiences for customers.

Unlike other technologies, Liferay doesn’t follow a cookie-cutter approach. Enterprise companies (B2B,B2C and B2E) and banking institutions can choose from various modules, access functions, and plugins in the Liferay DXP to implement bespoke modules for their business needs. This blog will shed light on how Liferay has transformed the banking sector over the last decade. Let’s get started.

What is Liferay?

Liferay is an open-source software development platform built on the foundation of J2EE technology. Whether it’s mobiles, tablets or other digital devices, companies use the Liferay portal to build websites and applications with bespoke features and functionalities. In simple words, Liferay’s comprehensive collection of themes and layouts adapts as per the device and delivers an optimized user experience.

The Liferay portal’s chief software architect Brian created the Liferay product as an enterprise solution for non-profit companies. Things have changed since then. Despite its origin in 2000, Liferay adapts constantly to embrace new trends and technologies. The Liferay portal comes in two editions, namely the Community Edition and the Enterprise Edition.

Community Edition is open-source and free for public use. It allows companies to integrate their existing code with Liferay, and tweak it to suit their business needs. However, Liferay’s policy makes it mandatory for companies to release these modified versions commercially. On the other hand, Liferay’s Enterprise Edition is an upgrade from the basic Community Edition. It has added features and functionalities that cater to the needs of enterprise companies. Users must pay an annual subscription fee to avail of Liferay’s Enterprise edition. The main benefits of the Enterprise Edition include better technical support, regular updates and more.

6 Ways How Liferay is Revolutionizing the Banking Sector

With services like net-banking and mobile payments, the dependence on physical branches has been reduced greatly. Customers/clients have become more demanding. Increased expectations and a changing regulatory landscape compel banking and financial institutions to adapt to new tools and technologies like Liferay. Below are 6 ways Liferay is transforming the banking sector.
With services like net-banking and mobile payments, the dependence on physical branches has been reduced greatly. Customers/clients have become more demanding. Increased expectations and a changing regulatory landscape compel banking and financial institutions to adapt to new tools and technologies like Liferay. Below are 6 ways Liferay is transforming the banking sector.

Liferay provides banks with a centralized repository to store information. Centralized documentation ensures that everyone in the organization has the same version, leaving no room for conflicts. The portal also makes every employee accountable (user access controls and permissions) for changes in documents while ensuring accuracy.

Organizations must understand that non-compliance with regulations may result in legal issues and hefty fines. Banks and financial institutions can automate report generation and create customized reports for internal and external audits. Enterprises can use these reports to demonstrate regulatory compliance. Also, Liferay automates repetitive tasks like data collection and gains insights from analytics. So, sudden changes in customer behavior and regulations need not cause panic.

Integrated Systems

Efficient integration is the foundation of digitalization. Whether it’s systems or processes, Liferay ensures smooth integration to ensure smooth banking operations. For example, a bank may store customer-related information in Excel sheets. The accuracy of this information depends on the efficiency of data entry personnel. Even minor mistakes can cause a chain reaction, resulting in botched data.

Similarly, different departments in banks use separate tools and software. The quality of data and the format may not be uniform. Legacy equipment further complicates the situation. Real-time data integration and automatic sharing between multiple systems is a reality, thanks to Liferay. For example, if a customer updates his address and nominee details online, it will reflect on the portal in real-time, eliminating the need for manual entries.

Also, a holistic view of customer data helps organizations understand customer problems and expectations, resulting in enhanced customer service.

Faster Mobile App Development

Every banking or investment company must have an app in 2024. Most customers prefer to conduct their transactions online rather than physically visiting branches. Over 2500 bank branches in America shut down by the end of 2023. 79% of customers have admitted that digital advancements in banking have improved accessibility of services by leaps and bounds.

In such circumstances, no company would want to lose loyal customers and clients. Liferay makes it possible for banking enterprises to develop innovative apps to serve their customers. Imagine developers having to build a mobile app from zero. It would take considerable time, effort and resources.

Liferay simplifies mobile app development by providing developers with basic features. Depending on the industry and customization requirements, developers can modify the code and create bespoke apps. Liferay’s extensible design facilitates code modifications while supporting numerous Java-based languages. With these tools, companies can develop mobile apps with exciting features and functionalities.

Power of Analytics

As stated above, banking enterprises should learn constantly. This learning includes tracking customer behavior. How do customers browse your website? Which service pages do they click on? How much time did they spend on each page? With Liferay’s integration with analytics tools, organizations can generate specific reports for each KPI and financial metric. These reports and insights can be used to optimize banking strategies.

These reports and data go beyond basic information like returns on deposits, equity returns, and net interest margins. Historical data and real-time insights can predict customer behavior while improving risk management. Lastly, data-powered insights eliminate guesswork and assist in decision-making related to investments and fund-management. These insights can also identify new business models and expansion opportunities.

Final Thoughts

As seen above, the penetration of Liferay in the banking sector has caused major ripples. More and more companies are using Liferay to build personalized websites and mobile apps to take their operations to the next level. In addition to content management and creating personalized mobile apps, Liferay enables organizations to scale their operations with minimal downtime and investment costs.

Technology is constantly evolving. Advancements in AI and ML plus the integration of IoT and blockchain with Liferay will boost security, efficiency, and productivity. As the banking industry’s demands and challenges grow, so will Liferay. Banking enterprises that want to stay relevant in the long run must consider adopting Liferay. If unsure, they should consult a Liferay expert/specialist for the same.