Building Modern Digital Journeys: From Process to Experience
Digital transformation is no longer about converting paper forms into online screens. It is about reimagining journeys from fragmented workflows to seamless, intelligent, and customer-centric experiences.
At the Bharat Fintech Summit, Shashank Shekhar explored how institutions can evolve from legacy processes to integrated digital ecosystems that drive engagement, efficiency, and long-term growth.
The core idea was simple yet powerful: a digital journey is not a process flow. It is a living experience.
- The Evolution of Digital in BFSI
Over the last two decades, BFSI has moved through distinct phases of digitization.
In the early 2000s, digital channels were primarily service-oriented internet banking and basic mobile interfaces handled balance checks and fund transfers.
The launch of the iPhone fundamentally shifted mobility. Mobile apps became mainstream, but initially remained service-focused rather than acquisition-driven.
Between 2013 and 2017, omni-channel models emerged. Banks began building digital-only platforms, initiating acquisition journeys. However, these journeys often required human intervention branch callbacks, physical verification, manual handoffs.
The real acceleration came with India’s Digital Public Infrastructure. API-based KYC, Aadhaar verification, video KYC guidelines (2020–24), and real-time integrations transformed fulfillment capability.
Today, certain products, savings accounts, personal loans for prime segments, credit cards and fixed deposits can be completed in 10–15 minutes.
But others home loans, current accounts, trade finance, supply chain finance still sit in varying stages of digital maturity.
The gap between digitization and full digital experience remains significant.
- Not All Journeys Are Equal
Digital maturity varies across:
- Product type (Savings vs. Home Loans vs. Trade Finance)
- Customer type (New-to-Bank vs. Existing-to-Bank vs. Pre-approved)
- Channel source (Web, Mobile App, Assisted, Partner Platforms)
- Segment (Retail vs. MSME vs. Corporate)
For example:
- A pre-approved ETB personal loan requires minimal KYC friction.
- An MSME onboarding journey varies drastically between sole proprietors and public limited companies.
- A partner-originated loan through a fintech or embedded finance platform must comply with RBI digital lending guidelines while maintaining transparency on the actual lender.
Modern journey design demands contextual architecture.
- The Five Phases of a Modern Digital Journey
Shashank Shekhar outlined five critical phases institutions must design consciously:
1. Discovery
Customers must clearly understand the value proposition upon arrival. Rewards, pricing, benefits, eligibility clarity reduces early drop-offs.
2. Conversion
This is where friction matters most.
- Minimize clicks
- Pre-fill data intelligently
- Use APIs for verification
- Reduce repetitive fields
- Provide progress indicators
Even small frictions, excessive fields or unclear steps increase abandonment rates.
3. Activation
Customers expect instant usability.
If a credit card is approved, virtual activation should be immediate.
If a savings account is opened, mobile banking access should follow instantly.
Approval without activation creates disengagement.
4. Engagement
A dormant product is a loss-making product.
For example, credit lines on UPI may be approved but without nudges, rewards, and contextual prompts, customers may never use them.
Engagement requires behavioral insights and proactive nudging.
5. Growth & Retention
The most successful banks maintain 2.5–3.5 products per customer.
Growth comes from:
- Cross-sell and upsell
- Behavioral analytics
- Reward-based retention
- Intelligent pricing for loyal customers
Digital journeys must be designed for lifetime value not just onboarding completion.
- The Real Friction Points
While digital capability has expanded, several friction areas remain:
- Video KYC drop-offs
- Selfie stage abandonment
- Channel inconsistencies
- High Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
- Human handoff inefficiencies
- Regulatory consent layers under DPDP compliance
Video KYC, for example, often becomes a drop-off hotspot due to scheduling delays or user hesitation.
Journey optimization must be KPI-driven:
- Drop-off rates per stage
- Turnaround time (TAT)
- CAC vs. lifetime value
- Channel completion ratios
- Conversion-to-activation ratio
Experience must be measurable.
- Cross-Functional Design: Breaking Silos
Digital journeys cannot be built in isolation.
Credit, operations, compliance, sales, and technology must collaborate.
If underwriting requires certain validations before disbursement, those checkpoints must be embedded in the design. If operations need structured document flows, they must be integrated early.
Siloed design leads to fragmented experiences.
Modern journey building requires cross-functional architecture.
- AI as an Experience Multiplier
AI enhances digital journeys across multiple layers:
- Behavioral analytics to detect hesitation points
- Contextual product recommendations
- Fraud detection through anomaly tracking
- Conversational AI for assistance and collections
- Personalization through transaction pattern analysis
For example, unusual login behavior or geo-location inconsistencies can trigger fraud alerts. Spending behavior can inform contextual product offers.
AI transforms static flows into adaptive journeys.
- Embedded Finance and Partnership Ecosystems
Today, acquisition increasingly happens outside bank-owned platforms.
Loans and deposits are available via marketplaces, e-commerce apps, and content platforms. Even platforms like Moneycontrol allow users to book FDs or apply for loans.
However, transparency remains critical. Customers must clearly know which regulated lender is behind the product aligning with RBI’s digital lending guidelines.
Partnership-driven journeys must balance convenience with compliance.
- From Process Digitization to Experience Engineering
The ultimate shift is philosophical.
Digitization automates forms.
Modern journeys engineer experiences.
This requires:
- Cloud-first, scalable architecture
- Open banking integrations
- Real-time API orchestration
- Consent-driven data frameworks
- Secure-by-design principles
- Continuous journey monitoring
Digital journeys are not static blueprints. They are living systems continuously optimized using real customer data.
- The Road Ahead
Customer expectations will only rise.
Speed, transparency, personalization, and convenience are no longer differentiators; they are baseline expectations.
Institutions that design intelligent, intuitive, and scalable digital journeys will not just reduce friction. They will increase engagement, operational efficiency, and revenue growth.
The future of BFSI transformation lies not in digitizing processes. It lies in designing experiences.
