The Geography of Fintech: Which Locales Need it Most?

The financial sector has long been a gallant emblem of promise and lucrativeness for Americans, and this perception remains undaunted by increasingly stringent regulations and auditing challenges to which the industry’s been subjected in recent years.

However, if the public and those who work within the financial services sector wish to continually rely on this industry as the backbone of America, professionals within the industry must adapt to Financial technology — and quickly.

Otherwise, it will become difficult for areas with fewer people and resources to keep pace with the suburban and urban competition of this industry.

Geography & Technology

Although there is very rarely a singular or even two-fold cause for anything, research suggests that the financial services sector is heavily impacted by two things: geography, and technology—particularly within the United States.

Accounting Principles released an article last month covering a state-by-state analysis of where financial professionals should work if they are in search of opportunities that will advance their careers and fatten their wallets. Not surprisingly, these areas are also the most tech-savvy areas of America, areas that overwhelmingly rely on enterprise tech to transact and conduct business: Utah, Texas, and California included in this lineup.

However, that doesn’t mean other states can’t catch up. As enterprise software becomes more intuitive and companies understand in greater numbers what document management software is, professionals in the states lagging behind in terms of revenue and income can use this technology as an equalizer to industry leaders, as document management software reduces operational expenses, increases customers’ trust, and simplifies compliance: failing to ensure these benefits in one way or another lines many businesses up to fail over the long-term, especially given the increasing cost of noncompliance in the financial services sector.

Accounting Principles’ study noted that Vermont, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arkansas, Illinois, and in particular, Mississippi — were suffering from unimproved and downtrodden financial sectors, many of which are deprived of both enterprise technology resources and skilled workers. Of these areas, Wyoming, South Dakota, New Mexico, and Arkansas have the most rural space, strongly correlating rurality with slower career development and opportunity in the financial services sector. This phenomenon was found mostly true for entry level, mid-level and senior level positions across geography.

It should be noted in understanding what document management software is, that many geographies in need of document management technology are rural, and without the right enterprise and small business tech, this rurality imposes several issues that can explain the statistics cited above:

With greater rurality comes greater distances between points of business contact. Organizations without document management software are forced to rely on paper-dependent processes, and, therefore, snail mailing documents long distances, which can negatively impact customer retention, document turnaround times, and the ability to close deals. Document management software helps companies circumvent this trouble via client sharing portals — encrypted file sharing features with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology that meets Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) protocol.

The Equalizer: Document Management Technology

Additionally, enterprise technology can eliminate the barriers imposed by the small population densities characterizing rural areas — giving a fewer number of people the power to accomplish what suburban and even urban areas can. Although this phenomenon is more attributable to automation as a whole, document management software relies heavily on automation to streamline workflow processes.

However, it should also be noted that organizations in rural areas should rely only on specific types of document management technology to ensure optimal performance. Although the online, cloud-based document management solutions are becoming increasingly popular in the financial services industry due to their mobile integration, functionality, responsiveness, and enhanced security that doesn’t compromise accessibility — on premise(s) solutions are more often than not better fits for enterprises working in rural areas, where internet-supported cloud based technologies sometimes struggle to maintain solid connections to the web.

Although the cloud is highly usable, functioning like any web page a user interacts with, on premise(s) solutions are just as intuitive, offering the same features and usability in-office. On premise(s) solutions tend to be most popular among accountants, although there’s been a recent uptick in the percentage of accountants relying on cloud-based software to manage their practices and departments.

Document management software not only increases the profitability rural organizations need to compete with their suburban and rural counterparts, it helps rural areas thrive economically and become sustainable — keeping these locales from relying on paper-dependent organizational processes.

Today, as never before, document management technology is an equalizer that can help financial professionals in rural areas keep pace with the giants of their industry, helping these rural organizations do more with fewer resources.

Be sure to consider a document management vendor with a Verified Quality Seal from an accounting and finance technology reviews site before jumping in to purchase too quickly, as this designation is important for professionals working in the bookkeeping, accounting, and financial services sectors.