I make a lot of noise about getting us better connected. This year the Government’s broadband roll out has accelerated, with thousands more homes and businesses now enjoying superfast connections. By the end of next year over 90% of premises will have been connected.
There is progress in improving mobile phone signals too. There are a few small patches where 4G now sends my phone into a frenzy, 3G is becoming more commonplace and a few of the ‘Not Spots’ have been tackled too. More improvements are coming next year.
Yet there are still places where the broadband is woeful and where mobiles revert to just being iPods. It remains high on my ‘to do’ list to get everyone connected as quickly as possible.
However, the improvement in online connectivity is bitter-sweet. It changes our shopping patterns, it changes the way we interact and it changes the way we handle our financial affairs. I embrace the change but also recognise that there are some in our community for whom these changes place an unrealistic expectation.
The banks may claim that we’re all banking online but the reality is that some of the customers that continue to visit their local branch are amongst the most vulnerable in our community. Branch closures in Shepton and Glastonbury are therefore hugely unwelcome.
So as we celebrate the digital revolution, we must also be aware of the growing problem of digital exclusion: Some people prefer to do things face-to-face with bits of paper. There’s nothing wrong with that and our banks would do well to remember it.