Yesterday, I received a tip… Likely for the very first time. And it made me think…. What happened ? I was in the railway station in Kortrijk, the city where I am born in Belgium, ready to take the train to Bruges. Public holiday in Belgium and no personnel in the station. Tickets can only be bought cashless at the vendor machine. An older lady approached me and asked me if I have a plastic card (credit card) and of course I have. She asked me if she can give me a 5 Euro bill and I can buy a ticket for her with my card which I was happy to do for her. The ticket was 3,4 Euro and I told her that I don’t have any change. She offered me the 1,6 Euro for the effort. Also my proposal to change it at the taxi stand was declined “for a beer because you helped me out”. I accepted… We had a further chat and I realised that this lady does not have access to any “plastic cards”. Banks refuse her as a customer and she has no online access. What we consider to be innovation, digitalisation, globalisation, etc is for a small part of society a real nightmare. She explained to me that life became more and more difficult because she has no idea about “computers and phones” and has no access to banks. I never experienced first hand that a percentage of our sophisticated, digitalised society where we , LinkedIn users, are all part of is a huge issue for others. Even an unfair issue. The question what we can do in order to avoid left-behinds in our never-stopping rush for digitalisation and innovation became a very relevant question for me. Thank you (unknown) lady for the wake up call ! #society #digitalisation #innovation #leftbehind #cashless #cashlesssociety #cashlesspayments
Phil Stone
1y
This is a real problem. My Father in Law just experienced EnergyAustralia refusing to send him paper bills. He doesn’t have a Computer, Phone or any form of Broadband. Why in his 90s should he have to buy all those products, learn how to use them and trust them at a time when online fraud is rocketing, just to save EnergyAustralia money?
Rafiq Somani
1y
Tom Kindermans, a great story, and I appreciate your help to this elderly lady. Happy to mention that India has found a best-in-class solution for millions of similar marginalized people, ensuring financial inclusion for all through 'The Unified Payments Interface (UPI)'. This Fintech success story and revolution is worth implementing in advanced countries too: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/unheard-echoes-of-young-mind-2/upi-indias-story-of-a-financial-revolution/
Anna Bohonek
1y
Sometimes we fill this helping role for our grandparents, but what if they have no one to help them? I have an idea how to address this a little bit, and I'd like to discuss it with you. Maybe again at a random Lokal meeting with you and Tomas.
Congratulations for your deserved tip, Tom 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Had similar realization when I went with my father (at that time 81) to review the phone and Internet contract. Was at my name and we wanted to change it to his. I was told by the leading Telco that they don’t sign internet contracts with people above 60 as they understand this population is not equipped to use internet, they might even understand what they are contracting etc. The idea behind is to protect these people from over contracting things they might not understand but the outcome is excluding the many other people who do understand it.
Access to ‘modern’ banking is a true issue … In France anyone can get a bank account with payment card even if homeless and unemployed … an initiative that should be replicated
Wonderful post Tom Kindermans. If you haven’t seen the amazing film I, Daniel Blake then I would highly recommend it. It will make you cringe anytime you hear a government agency say “we are digital by default” https://youtu.be/ahWgxw9E_h4
Great story, Tom! That is exactly why I am volunteering in our small village as DigiSteun Punt en Bank Informatie Punt (https://agenda.digisteun.nl/).
My mother has never used credit cards, is wary of computers and only uses cash or check.
Your Strategic Marketer of the North :: B2B & B2C
1yA great real everyday life story, thanks Tom Kindermans. The development of technology has never been as fast as it is today and it is getting even faster. And I absolutely understand how intimidating it can be when one feels they cannot keep up. I see it in my parents every day. But I also have a great example from Estonia, where e.g. local governments have initiated learning programs to help seniors keep pace with development. They are called "The egg teaches the chicken", where young people teach seniors how to use mobiles, computers, different apps etc. But we definitely need more and more these kind of initiatives. Plus it already helps if we are really there for our seniors in our own families to teach and help them with their everyday digital world.