Sixty-five financial services professionals from five northeastern states gathered for their first week of residency at Babson College, Wellesley, MA. I had the pleasure of spending a half of a day with the class of 2010 introducing them to strategic planning.  Certainly planning is an important topic given the continuing uncertainty of the economy and the structural changes in the industry.

During our session, I used SurveyMatters^TM to obtain the views and opinions of the group.   Here are some of the polling highlights:

• The class is generationally diverse. Three of ten are boomers, four of ten are Gen Xers and three of ten are Gen Yers. We have more Gen Yers this year than ever before.
• These financial services professionals are very heavy users of the Internet and mobile devices. Their top three Internet activities are email, search and online banking/bill pay. Their top three mobile device activities are phone, texting and taking photos.
• Their financial institutions are making rapid strides in advanced technology adoption. Online mortgages are offered by 72% of the institutions, remote deposit capture by 66% and mobile banking, the latest “tech kid on the block”, by 31%. These percents are much higher than previous years.
• They predict a “sea change” in the competitive landscape in 10 years. They foresee much greater competition from large banks, Internet banks and non-banks. They see a decline in competition from community banks and credit unions.
• The two most important business success strategies in their view, must be new customer acquisition and cost containment.

They also believe that generations are motivated to open core deposit accounts for somewhat different reasons.   Top core deposit account opening reasons for the swing generation: personal service, rates and safety.  For boomers it’s rates, convenience and low/no fees.  For Gen Yers it’s the Internet, convenience and low/no fees.

During the next year the students will complete outside assignments and then return for a second residency week. I look forward to coaching the teams through the building of long-term strategic plans next June as part of their week at Babson.