Even before the pandemic, financial services firms were continually optimizing online and mobile technology to keep up with rising customer expectations. But then crisis hit. Customers needed to access accounts and complete transactions without branches. 

Banks had to process a flood of applications from businesses desperate to stay afloat—standing up systems to handle the payment protection plan (PPP) in the US or recovery loan scheme (RLS) in the UK. And online banking signups skyrocketed. The New Normal had little use for outdated manual processes.