"Hybrid" Behavior in Consumer Use of Digital Financial Management

While consumers are beginning to embrace digital financial management, they remain hesitant to dive in completely, taking a "hybrid" approach.

More consumers receive their statements online than through the mail, but more than 25 percent of consumers "double dip," receiving both paper and electronic statements, Javelin Strategy & Research says.

That sort of behavior is typical when major new technologies start to displace older ways of doing things. When steam engines began to displace sails as the propulsion for ships, ship owners outfitted sailing vessels with boilers, in part because, early on, the economics of steam power were not as good as sails.

Most fixed communication networks use a hybrid of older copper media, with an overlay of optical fiber media, and a mix of digital signaling and IP transmission.

In a similar way, people now use a mix of bank visits, ATM machines, PCs, tablets and smart phones to check balances or conduct transactions. That "hybrid" behavior will continue for some time, as behaviors shift and more users are able to use newer methods for seeking information and conducting transactions.

Some 40 percent of mobile-device owners will tote a tablet by end of 2012. About 72 percent of U.S. adults with mobile devices will tote a smartphone, up from 45 percent in 2011. More than half of mobile-device owners (111 million) will use mobile banking on an annual basis, up from 30 percent in 2011, Javelin predicts.