Re Imagining Customer Experience

Every one of us would have interacted with a banking institution either to open an account, request for a service, technical help etc. Banking experience has evolved from branch-based interactions to servicing most of the customer requests on a device carried by the end customer. Evidently, customer experience with a banking institution has come a long way.

Consumers of today’s world have embraced digital lifestyle completely.
Companies who can interact with consumers and offer personalized services based on their need are preferred over their traditional counterparts. Right from ordering groceries to planning an investment, consumers prefer more digital and personalized services.

Banks have now understood the importance of digital mandate and the need to acclimate quickly. Many of them have already made investments in Omni channel, particularly in streamlining transactions. To up the game further, banks are now looking at improving the personalized experiences being offered to their consumers, and deliver the right experiences to the right consumers. Interestingly banks already have the right data being captured in their system as part of user’s activity.

Solutions enabled by Internet of Everything (IoE) can help banks in this journey. With internet of everything, banking institutions are expected to do more. Banks are no longer viewed as a pure financial institute which supports online transactions, etc. Banks are viewed more as an advisor with respect to their investments, spending, planning, and so on.

Let us assume our banking applications have the following capabilities

Bank as an advisor

Today’s banking applications with the help of Analytics can leverage the potential of data captured as part of user actions and have the spending pattern analyzed for a consumer. With this information banks can alert a consumer about his missed payment deadline or cash not received on time etc. Furthermore, banks can advise end user with the options available and complete them with his response. These actions can either be completed in the form of an actionable alert or notification in their mobile app.  Banks are also expected to monitor the cash inflow and outflow and subsequently predict his/her periodic spending and advise the consumer about saving schemes or recurring deposit plans to meet their requirements.

Bank as an investor

Imagine we have a banking application which has the capability to invest on behalf of the user. The user can only act as an approver for the selected schemes. Banking application takes care of identifying investment schemes, selecting one of them based on user’s preference and suggesting the ones which will have better returns. Users can define limits for such investment schemes. Will it not be a great value added service to the consumer?

Bank as a Doctor

When we are talking about banking applications providing personal experiences, it cannot get more personal than understanding the health and well-being of its consumers and advising them. With the help of smart devices, banks can now monitor the key health indicators of their consumers and advice. Banks do have access to the spending data towards health reasons, and with this information banks can advise users on insurance schemes, suitable diets, doctor appointments, etc.

In essence, banks can no longer afford to be reactive in their approach and operations. Banks are expected to be proactive in their approach and alert the consumer about an event even before its occurrence or non-occurrence and plan subsequent actions. Banks are expected to plan investments, savings and even vacations for the user.

With the right data already being captured and with the help of solutions enabled with Internet of Everything, Analytics, etc. banks are already sitting on a gold mine. Banks will just have to embrace the new order and change the way services are being offered to their consumers.