VIDEO BANKING AND VIDEO CONFERENCING, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VIDEO BANKING AND VIDEO CONFERENCING

“Is this not same service like Skype, Zoom or like Teams?” “We have been using them for meetings all this while, why can’t we use them to manage customers?”
These are some questions I have been asked in addition to rejections due to budget in the last 6 years that I have been pushing for adoption of Video Banking as one of the Omnichannel touchpoints to redesign Banking for the future and for financial inclusion.
My response is that those are video conferencing solutions or platforms that you can use for virtual meetings and team collaboration, but they not designed for Banking. This seems to not have convinced most Bank C-level apart from two Banks in Nigeria that has our solution and using it for diaspora banking. I want to appreciate GTBank Plc, as the leader in use of Technology in Banking in Nigeria.
Even as Chief Innovations officers and CTO or even Customer Experience Group heads and leaders, you might get these questions from your CEOs, Executive team or board when you present your plans to improve your digital channels and improve customer experience. It is always about the cost and then… What’s the difference between video conferencing and video banking? Video banking is to expensive; Can’t we just use same Skype or Zoom to meet virtually with our retail customers with less or no overhead cost?
Video Banking Solution comes at a cost as it is an enterprise solution but when it comes to digital channels like this, cost savings shouldn’t be the only factor to consider. Security, Convenience, customer experience, compliance, and workflow designed with banking use case must be included in your Bank’s due diligence. The Return in investment outweighs the total cost of ownership. On the other hand the SaaS model is always available as another option.
According to financial News London, confirmed reports have it that Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Standard Chartered and UBS advised their employees against using video conferencing tools for Banking purposes due to the noncompliance of these almost free Video conferencing tools. As a Microsoft Partner and Indirect Cloud Solutions Provider, Even Microsoft teams which is secured and well accepted in Nigerian Banks today is not a Video banking Solution. We know the difference and capabilities of solutions we carry and will honestly can draw the line that for external meetings and Internal collaborations, use Microsoft Teams but when it comes to offering Omnichannel Banking Services for good customer experience and security, Use Kuber Video Banking from SGSL as it is designed solely for Banking and we leverage Microsoft Azure, Dynamics CRM , Microsoft 365 and Active directory to deliver the solution to ensure the full business value stays within our offering for customer satisfaction.
Oh I forgot, here are the two definitions from google search results:
“Video conferencing is an online technology that allows users in different locations to hold face-to-face meetings without having to move to a single location together”
“Video banking is a term used for performing banking transactions or professional banking consultations via a remote video connection. Video banking can be performed via purpose-built banking transaction machines (similar to an Automated teller machine), or via a videoconference enabled bank branch.”

So there is a big difference between Video conferencing and Video Banking when it comes to Banking as the latter is designed solely for Banks to foster and offer secured and convenient banking experience to customers especially in line with Banks omnichannel roadmap to reduce foot traffic to their normal brick and mortar services which has since been gulping resources in operational costs
Here are the diverse ways they differ:
| SN | VIDEO BANKING | VIDEO CONFERENCING |
| 1 | Video Banking addresses the consumer side of collaboration and enables communication between businesses providing the ability to share educational information and provide a platform for business negotiations. | Video conferencing platforms only enables communication between businesses provides the ability to share information and provide a platform for business negotiations but does not take care of the individual. |
| 2 | Video Banking does not require both parties to set a date and time to communicate. Customer can at any time access Video banking for a Face-to-Face Chat from a Banks website, kiosk or mobile app. So far there is someone available to speak with him from any Video enabled device. | Video conferencing platforms require both parties to set a date and time to communicate, which creates service friction and customer dissatisfaction with missed appointments on both sides. |
| 3 | Video banking is very secured and has passed all ISO and Global standards for Banking. Ask for documentation for Kuber Video banking from SGSL. Our Video Banking solution has passed all compliance test required. | Video conferencing and chat apps aren’t secure enough for banking transactions.
(You’ve probably heard the recent news about the iPhone FaceTime bug that allows users to eavesdrop on others before they even accept the call.) |
| 4 | Video Banking offers a secured face to Face engagement between your bank and your customers and cannot be hacked. Customer data and transaction are secured and protected from breach. | Video conferencing platforms are insecure and can exposes the Banks to litigation for breach of trust which can bring bad publicity. |
| 5 | Video banking comes at a cost as it is an enterprise solution but when it comes to digital channels, cost savings isn’t the only factor to consider. Convenience, consumer experience, compliance, and workflow must be included in your Bank’s due diligence. | Yes Video conferencing is almost free and cheaper to deploy and use but it applies to normal meetings and engagements for example as a vendor, we don’t have to physically be at the Bank IT office with the whole team of engineers.
We can work remote rather than for an in-person meeting. |
| 6 | Video Banking expands on the face-to-face digital communication by recreating an entire branch experience, with tellers, consumer service representatives, loan officers, and financial advisors. It will just like the customer is being serviced at the bank physically yet from the confines of his home of office. | Video Conferencing allows for just normal face to face interactions for meetings. |
| 7 | Video Banking is custom built to meet the needs of banking consumer, with well-defined banking use cases supported by with banking workflows and processes for an optimized service delivery. | Video Conferencing is built for conference calls, meetings and document shares. |
| 8 | Video banking usually supports the following Banking use cases
· Document collection · Document signature · Screen sharing · Presentations · Co-browsing /URL sharing · OCR Data capture · Banking KYC · Account Opening · Standardized business workflows · Robust Reporting · Branch, web, and mobile deployments · After call surveys |
Video Conferencing usually supports the following Banking use cases
· Document collection · Screen sharing · Presentations
|
| 9 | A robust video banking app brings all your products and services together, which increases your staff efficiency and racks up sales for increase revenue. | Video conferences is just for video calls and collaboration to improved employee performance |
| 10 | Video banking has contact center features and can be built into your call center queue; making it an on-demand and click to call for consumers, just the way retail banking channels should be. Access to banking without asking for licenses | Video conferencing does not have contact center features and cannot be built into existing queues or business rules. Only Microsoft teams can run with its complementary solutions stack for a B2B. It does not give good customer experience to the retail customer. |
| 11 | Video conferencing cannot be integrated into your existing customer management processes, and it requires but the customer and the relationship manager to show up at a scheduled date and time. | Most Video conferencing platforms are not designed for businesses to own and manage themselves and this requires that participants still show up at the same time |
| 12 | Video banking automatically records all Video engagements sessions which are spool able in called reports, Bank can produce logs and metrics to track performance and provide data to prove compliance to Banking regulations. | While some of the Video conferencing platforms are now recording their sessions it is at the agreement of the users or customers. |
| 13 | Video banking apps are not cheap but compliant with security regulations that assures security of financial data of both Bank and its customers. | Video Conferencing platforms like Skype, Zoom, What’s app, WebEx and FaceTime etc. are good and affordable platforms and user friendly. |
| 14 | Video Banking can be embedded as our API allows Banks to host their video calls directly in their mobile app or website – no need downloads of plug ins, no redirects, and no waste time. | Video conferencing platforms have mobile clients you can download from App stores but with branded clients |
| 15 | Video Banking Supports WebRTC even on mobile | Some Video conferencing support webRTC some require you must download a client |
Even before the outbreak of Corona Virus aka Covid19, a few Banks or even Global financial institutions allowed Video conferencing for meetings, but they restricted themselves to a few approved secured platforms to ensure security of Bank’s information.
As a Fintech Solutions provider, I remember having to visit Serval Bank HQs with my team for presentations and Demonstration of our Omnichannel Video Banking Solution and Contact center Solutions as conference calls were not preferred, except in very rare cases to bridge gaps which it was best for just meetings. GTBank Plc was the first Bank to trusted us and launched our Kuber Video Banking Solution for their Diaspora Banking services. Click here to test GTBank Video Banking.
But the pandemic came and shut us all out, drastically reducing in-branch and physical visits to businesses across the globe, now forcing financial institutions to consider leveraging digital alternatives both for meetings, support and for Banking. Which is how the VCs took over the market as Banks had to rely on video conferencing solutions but now realizing that these platforms does meet the needs of both the bank and its customers in the long term as they come with challenges of low security and non-compliance.
Now we present the better way: Kuber Video Banking Solution from SGSL. A Secured and complaint Video Banking Solution for Banks embedded into your Bank’s website, Online Banking, Mobile Banking and even Kiosks, ATMs in your Galleries and any data enabled devices for a click to call feature that allows your bank to host secure video calls directly in their app or website – no downloads, no redirects, and no wasted time.
Take back control of your digital customer experiences with SGSL’s Kuber video banking solution and continue to build stronger customer relationships with trust especially with the revised operation hours in branches, Banks can make its touch points more proactive, relevant, and frequent.