Reimagining customer experience in financial services
Compared to other industries, financial services have traditionally been slower when it comes to digital transformation.
Utilising the cloud can help banks improve the customer experience
Many financial institutes are hundreds of years old, and with that comes legacy systems and ingrained cultures that aren’t easy to change.
Yet, as customer expectations shifted, banks and financial services companies had to totally rethink how they serve customers and how they can offer the same seamless experience they see from other sectors.
Managing finances and everything around this on a daily basis can be stressful. Money is the foundation of everything we do. It’s often tied to personal reputation, sense of worth and social standing. But it’s also essential to everyday living.
Customers want the comfort and security of being able to reach a human when they need to discuss concerns and ask questions about financial matters. At the same time, they also want fast, easy and accessible services across their channel of choice.
Not being able to connect customers through the right channel at the right time can have a huge impact on customer service and can be detrimental when it comes to reputation.
Creating a new legacy
Challenger banks like Monzo and Revolut also set a new standard for legacy banks. They offered a different way of banking with digital at the heart, and this challenged traditional customer service.
As such, traditional banks had to step up. Through scale and innovation, big banks have made significant gains in customer satisfaction over the last decade.
Digital transformation is paying off for financial services, but it has also left siloed data and applications which are in need of integration in order to offer the most seamless experience for customers.
Technology is essential when it comes to customer experience, but unless it is integrated and connects to all core systems, it cannot deliver its intended value – and may be more costly than it’s worth.
Technology alone isn’t enough
While consumers value speed, convenience and the ability to get quick answers digitally, for financial services, the telephone is still the most used channel when it comes to dealing with personal matters.
This is where human contact and technology have to marry up perfectly in order to give the customer a seamless experience.
Customers want to be able to use digital services for tasks such as getting approval for credit cards or making an online transfer, but when it comes to getting a mortgage or making investments, being able to speak to someone is essential.
It sounds simple, but too often businesses get it wrong.
For example, customers can get so far online and then have to speak to an advisor. If they get through to the advisor, they then have to repeat what they have already done online. This can be a huge pain point for customers.
This is where technology should be used to enhance human contact. Being able to provide an advisor with an overview of what the customer has already filled out and completed will help create that all important seamless experience.
To get it right, financial services have to focus on the contact centre.
Capitalising on the cloud
The contact centre needs to act as a central “hub” for synthesising and improving the customer experience in order to create a connected experience across all channels.
Cloud contact centres have advanced, allowing them to use AI to provide more than a traditional customer services experience.
A cloud contact centre can integrate an array of services including self-service IVR and intelligent routing capabilities, allowing banks to get customers to the right person at the right time.
This in turn provides the quick and convenient experience that consumers today don’t just want, but expect.
