Branch technologies as important as ever?

Bank branches are as crucial as ever to top banks' consumer strategies. In fact, they may be the lynchpin. Especially now, banks need to wring every ounce of competitive advantage they can out of them. Obviously, technology is key. Microsoft senses an opportunity for its Surface technology, which is featured in some pilot programs, notably at Barclays. Surface amounts to "a 30-inch table-top screen that has customers and a bank employee sitting across from each other and moving through digital content--including information on products and services--by touching and swiping the screen with their hands," notes Bank Technology News.

There are many solutions that Surface enables, including some that utilize cell phones. Some developments are lower tech; "queue management" is simply a pager that customers hang onto so they don't have to stand in line. These are hardly the only innovations. We've noted lately that videoconferencing has been suggested as a way to free the bank from having to staff branches. Are we looking at a day when the branch doesn't need any real employees? 

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