Why the future of customer onboarding is not documents versus data versus Open Banking, but the intelligent combination of all three.

When no one else is available I sometimes get asked to speak at events, host or participate in panels. I recently shared a stage with a well-known industry figure who confidently declared that “you don’t need documents anymore.” According to them, data is the future, documents are dead, and we should all move on.

It was an interesting moment. Not because the vision of a more data-driven future is controversial, it isn’t, but because I couldn’t help remembering another panel we shared seven or eight years ago.

Back then, the message they proclaimed was different.

“Data is dead. Open Banking is the future.”

The industry tends to have a habit of falling in love with absolutes. Every new technology is positioned as the replacement for everything that came before it. First, documents were defeated by data, then data was supposedly obsolete, and most recently Open Banking is being surpassed by a new generation of data. Next year, no doubt, something else will be declared dead. At this rate, the only thing with guaranteed job security is the traffic warden. That said, for the last 50 years, the only thing stubborn to leave this mortal coil is………documents.

When we look at the reality it is much less dramatic, and much more useful.

The future is not about replacing one source of information with another. It is about using the right combination of evidence, at the right time, to create the best possible customer experience while maintaining robust compliance.

The Problem with “Either/Or”

Open Banking has transformed many customer journeys. It can provide trusted, structured financial information quickly and reduce friction in geographies where it is available and for customers who are willing and able to connect their accounts.

Data sources have also become richer and more useful. Identity data, fraud signals, credit information and other digital sources can help organisations make better decisions with less manual effort.

None of that is in dispute.

But here is the question that often gets overlooked: what happens when those methods do not work?

Open Banking isn’t available to every customer or in every country. Not every decision can be made using third-party data alone – the quality of data and coverage varies drastically from region to region. Not every circumstance fits neatly into an automated “happy path”. And sometimes the evidence that resolves the case is still a document.

That is why documents continue to matter.

The 20% Problem

Many organisations have done an excellent job reducing the number of customers who need to submit documents. Perhaps only 20% of applicants now need to upload evidence. Or maybe it is 15%, perhaps even 10%.

On paper, that sounds like success. And it is, up to a point.

Because the remaining customers are rarely the easy cases. They are the exceptions, the edge cases, the customers who cannot be verified automatically, whose information does not quite line up, or whose circumstances require additional evidence.

A small percentage of customers can create a disproportionately large percentage of the compliance workload.

If 5%, 10%, 15% or 20% of your customers still submit documents, those cases tend to dominate the manual work performed by compliance analysts. That is where bottlenecks appear, customer journeys slow down and operational costs start to climb.

So reducing document volumes is only half the job. The other half is making the documents that remain as frictionless and automated as possible.

Customer Choice Drives Better Outcomes

The best customer journey is not one where every customer is forced down the same path. It is one where the journey can adapt.

If Open Banking gives an instant result, fantastic. If trusted data sources provide sufficient confidence, even better. If documents are required, that experience should be just as seamless, intelligent and automated.

Customers do not think in terms of “data versus documents”. They simply want the quickest, easiest and least intrusive way to open their account/place their bet/make their purchase…..etc.

The technology behind the scenes should adapt to them, not force them to adapt to the technology.

A Holistic Approach Wins

The organisations that will deliver the strongest customer journeys are not choosing between data, Open Banking and documents. They are orchestrating all three.

They use data where data provides confidence. They use Open Banking where it delivers a better answer with less friction. And they use Intelligent Document Processing where documentary evidence is still required.

That matters because each route solves a different part of the problem. Used together, they can improve conversion, reduce operational effort and create stronger compliance outcomes without sacrificing customer choice.

Documents Aren’t Going Anywhere

Will the number of documents continue to decline over time? Almost certainly.

Should organisations continue investing in data-driven verification and Open Banking? Absolutely.

But declaring documents dead is premature. As long as real customers have complex lives, automated data sources have gaps and some cases require documentary evidence, documents will remain part of regulated customer journeys.

I fully expect documents to still be around for my lifetime. Hopefully I will be too!

The real question is not whether documents are dead. It is whether organisations are building journeys that intelligently combine every available source of evidence.

The future does not belong to documents. It does not belong to data. It does not belong to Open Banking. It belongs to organisations that know when, and how, to use all three.