How banks can deliver seamless, consistent experiences across digital and branch channels

The branch isn't dying. It's becoming more important than ever – and not all banks are prepared for that.

As digital handles routine transactions, the branch becomes the destination for what's complicated, sensitive or high-stakes. Customers visit less often, but when they do, it's likely the most consequential banking interaction they'll have all year. If that experience breaks down, so does trust.

Delivering on that moment requires consistency across every channel. And right now, many institutions are falling short of that goal. According to the new report from FIS® and TechStudio™, nearly half of institutions report inconsistent branch performance, and 78% cite a lack of interoperability as their biggest pain point. Frontline staff are losing time switching between apps (cited by 48% of associates) and manually rekeying data (cited by 37%). Every one of those friction points is a place where the customer experience can reset, and customer confidence erodes with it.

What causes inconsistent customer experiences across digital and branch channels?

The breakdown usually isn't visible inside a single channel. It happens at the transition between them.

Banking technology is extraordinarily complex under the covers. A best-in-class solution is never built by one provider: It's built in part by many providers and assembled together. How institutions pull it all together matters enormously. If you do it well, the end-user never sees those lines; it appears to be one smooth process.

That's the standard: invisible seams. But assembling that kind of experience demands more than plugging in external capabilities. Institutions that only integrate at the surface level end up creating a different kind of complexity, one that's harder to manage and impossible to hide from customers.

Getting this right starts with internal clarity: clean data, the right integrations in place and security protocols that can actually support an open ecosystem. Without that foundation, opening the environment creates confusion for partners and customers alike.

Why should banks invest in digital and branch experiences?

One of the most persistent mistakes in retail banking strategy is treating digital investment and branch investment as a trade-off. They aren't. A great digital experience provides the bricks, and the human touch is the mortar in between.

Banks that lean too hard on personalized service can end up with experiences that feel slow, clunky or capability-limited. Banks that lean too hard on technology remove the human element entirely – and then the digital experience has to be perfect, which isn't achievable. Neither extreme works.

The institutions building durable customer relationships are the ones doing both: a digital experience strong enough to handle the volume and a branch experience sharp enough to handle the moments that matter most.

How do banks find the right moment to move from AI to human interaction?

AI will reshape retail banking. That's not a prediction; it's already happening. But where banks win or lose isn't whether they adopt AI. It's when they hand off.

The banks that can find the right moment to transition from AI to human – not too early and especially not too late – will be the ones that come out ahead.

This is more nuanced than it sounds. Intervening too early undermines the efficiency AI is meant to provide. Waiting too long means the customer is already frustrated, already disengaged, already gone. The window matters. And getting it right requires understanding the customer's context in real time, not just their history.

AI will increasingly supplement existing products and workflows rather than replace them. The institutions that benefit most won't be the ones with the most sophisticated models. They'll be the ones that know exactly when to bring a person in.

What should retail banks focus on to improve customer experiences across channels?

Getting from where most banks are to where they need to be isn't a single project: It's a progression.

The branch visit that happens once a year can define how a customer feels about their bank over the next five. Digital builds the everyday relationship; the branch earns the long-term one. The institutions that treat both as essential – and invest in the connective tissue between them – are the ones positioned to win.