Moving at the Speed of Impulse with Sabeh Samaha of Samaha & Associates

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EPISODE: 47

Sabeh Samaha

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Digital Banking Podcast, host Josh DeTar welcomed Sabeh Samaha, President and CEO of Samaha & Associates. They chatted about what Samaha called “the speed of impulse,” the importance of functionality, beauty, and hospitality in banking, and the future of banking in the metaverse.

Key Insights

Consumers move at the speed of impulse. According to Samaha, today’s consumers have higher expectations from their digital services, including those from financial institutions. He explained the speed of impulse: “That little screen provides immediate feedback. And so, even in our space in banking, with maybe two or three touches of the screen, you’re IN your financial institution essentially. … We have to be there offering not just really good functionality, but also a pleasant one. So it’s not just the picture; it’s the frame. We have to be able to offer and project the confidence, if you will, that the user is where they want, and so the speed of impulse is essentially that, but banking is coming into the space where everybody already is.”

⚡ We need to look at technology through two lenses: functionality and beauty. While functionality plays a vital role in technology, we can’t neglect the aspect of beauty. Samaha explained, “Number one, the functionality. But I also like to have a lens of the beauty of the technology — meaning that once the user decides they have a need and they need to fulfill that need, I want them to walk away feeling good. That’s the key, that’s the ultimate — to get to a point where they complete their transaction and exit feeling happy or not feeling anything moving on to the next thing without having any frustration or negativity.”

⚡ What is the future of banking in the metaverse?The metaverse is closer than ever. But what does that mean for the banking space? “Being on the more defensive side, I worry about impostors and that kind of thing, but again, security would be nice,” said Samaha. “I think a lot of the tools can be put in place for that to work. You can merge some of the technology to make it happen. If we’re talking about being able to virtually walk into a virtual branch to transact, what’s missing? The animation? We already have that. We have digital banking that does just about anything, and if you add a video conferencing layer on top, there you go. You can have people talking to people either in person like this — like you and I, right now, seeing each other — or we can animate them both and make peanut butter.”

Guest At A Glance

Sabeh Samaha
President and CEO

Samaha & Associates

Find Sabeh On:
LinkedIn

In 1998, realizing the strong demand for dependable technology consulting services, Samaha established Samaha & Associates. Collectively, the firm has over 200 years of strategic and deep tactical expertise.

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2023-11-06T12:00:55-08:00
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