Digital Technologies to Power Banks in Delivering Seamless Customer Experiences

The financial industry is undergoing a radical shift. In the last few years, digital technologies have been playing a major role in transforming the way payments, loans, insurance, and wealth management was carried out earlier. However, it is no longer sufficient to digitize merely a single component of your processes (for instance, by using digital products for quoting or onboarding). Customers expect a digitized, streamlined experience that encompasses their whole engagement with your company.

Even with this rapid technology adoption, there still exists a disconnect between customer expectations and the reality that exists in the financial services industry today. And as new technologies continue to revolutionize the manner in which customers interact with banks and financial services providers, they are more likely to focus on the experience an institution provides, rather than solely focusing on its product and service offerings.

As we delve deeper, it appears that customers view their banks and financial services providers as trusted advisors that assist them in proactively managing their financial difficulties and opportunities while ensuring data security. The customer experience (CX) has now moved beyond just a simple tech platform to include many in-house procedures, customer support services, and client or employee feedback. All of these input sources produce a clear customer journey map, with data collected across the whole range of customer engagement touchpoints.

So how can banks enhance their customers' experiences with technology?

1.Driving better customer engagement:

Using big data and analytics technologies, financial services providers can become trusted advisors by recommending timely, customised updates and services. To meet a customer's expectations based on previous behaviour, big data engines must be used to analyse this data that is gathered across touchpoints. For example, a BOT can handle routine inquiries from customers such as "I forgot my ATM PIN number and need to reset it" or "Can I speak to a banker regarding the transfer of funds". This information is collected across multiple channels, such as a banking app, text message, email, or phone call, and could assist a customer in mitigating a financial warning or capitalizing on upcoming opportunities. Customer satisfaction and loyalty will increase as a result of this.

2.Providing a hyper-personalised experience:

62% of consumers expect companies to adapt products or services based on their own actions or behaviours, states a recent report by Salesforce. Therefore, banks and financial services providers must use all available data to assess customer needs and offer tailored solutions. This in turn makes customers feel more connected thanks to hyper-personalization, which enables banks to generate better revenue.

3.Insight based decisions:

Capital market trading decisions can be made more quickly due to AI-based analyses. With a more customer-focused product or service, business decisions and strategies can now be based on qualitative insights.

4.Inclusion of more digital products:

Banks and financial services providers must make their products and services mobile because their customers are increasingly becoming digital savvy. If a bank or a financial service provider is not accessible through an app, customers will be reluctant to use their services. Thus, a user-friendly mobile app that helps customers to easily access banking features without have to visit physical centers will improve their experience.

5.Enhancing process agility and productivity

Automation invariably increases process agility and operational productivity by eliminating human-caused errors. It improves accuracy in repetitive processes and has the potential to significantly increase operational efficiencies. In terms of cost, errors due to human involvement add 10 to 30 percent to the operating costs of many business processes per year while automation delivers at least a 50 percent improvement in operating costs.

To drive revenue, retain customers, and compete with FinTechs and startups that have invested in new technologies, banks and financial services providers are increasingly using customer experience maturity as an indicator of digital acceptance. Customers are more likely to remain loyal to their financial services provider in the digital age if they can anticipate a unified, personalised experience across all digital channels and transactions.

Author:

Mukundhan Sreenivasan, CFO, Fulcrum Digital