I recently wrote a blog post about robotics and virtual reality as exponential technologies with the potential to greatly impact the financial sector. It was a topic I had a great time exploring with the audience during my opening remarks at the 2015 TMG Executive Summit held this summer in Vancouver.
During the session, we also explored the future of 3D printing as it relates to the financial services industry.
When we let our minds explore the possibilities, we can sometimes get hung up on the “how” of our great ideas. We dream up a solution to a problem or the answer to a question, and we know it will work. We just can’t quite figure out how to build it. That’s where 3D printing is having a huge impact. With 3D printing, we can build whole objects, with moving parts, layer by layer and at an astonishingly lower cost.
Of course, the capabilities of 3D printers are only as well intentioned as the people using them. Plenty of research has been done into the ability of 3D printers to manufacture weapons that can’t be seen by metal detectors or drugs put together from chemical blueprints. Scarier still is the ability of a 3D printer to make human skin. And here is where we can see how rapidly innovation is changing the world in which we live.
Imagine the implications for payments authentication if a similar capability to replicate a fingerprint or an iris ends up in the wrong hands. Biometrics may quickly lose its status as the next great innovation in fraud prevention. This underscores the need to continually look ahead and open our minds wider than ever before.
WHAT IT MEANS:
Whereas today many of the industry’s thought leaders are pushing for biometrics as the next great innovation in fraud prevention, we can see that may be simply a flash in the pan as new technologies evolve to undermine that innovation.
WHAT’S NEXT:
For me, the most exciting potential for 3D printing is the ability to manufacture something exactly to the specifications of the buyer – even when they can’t articulate those specifications. The New Balance shoe manufacturer, for instance, is using customer biomechanics to create the perfect running shoe for each individual. Talk about hyper-personalization. Consider the personalization possibilities this technology could bring to financial institutions and the consumers they serve.