If unhappy customers are indeed the greatest source of learning, then the banking sector is sitting on a gold mine. Since 2011, the proportion of customers planning to switch banks has risen from 7% to 12%. Only 37 % are satisfied with their banks’ understanding of their needs and preferences and only 44% think that products and services are adapted to their needs. A majority is just not thrilled with their banking experience.
Since when did banking become about experience? Ever since the informed, empowered, connected customer took control.
Nothing is any longer simply a product or service; everything is a lifestyle choice. And banking customers are demanding the same kind of lifestyle experiences that they are used to getting at other businesses. Experiential benchmarking is now a cross-sectoral sport – if my retailer can do it, why can’t my bank?
Banks understand the business value of delivering choice, convenience, personalization, experience and value in every transaction to their customers. But existing technology infrastructures are simply too complex to deliver a consistent experience across multiple product/service portfolios, channels and consumer devices.
Experience design starts with an intimate 360-degree understanding of individual customer behaviors and needs. Then, this understanding must be constantly refined, using real-time insights, and applied in a way that is contextually relevant to the interaction. It is also imperative to ensure that the experience is seamless and consistent across multiple channels and devices. In an age where customer touch-points just seem to proliferate, banks need to be able to deploy emerging access options without diluting the overall experience. IT transformation is critical to deal with the sheer scope of the task at hand.  Traditionally, that has always brought its own challenges of risk, cost, timeline and complexity.
But it doesn’t have to be like that anymore. Phased deployment strategy leveraging componentized banking platforms promise a far less stressful journey to comprehensive transformation. This approach allows banks to progressively modernize by deploying components to address transformation exigencies, like customer experience or process or product/service innovation, with minimal disruption. It is transformation that’s both sweet and simple
Read our previous blog in the “Simplified Banking” series