From High-Touch To No-Touch

From high-touch to no-touch: THE CHANGING FACE OF BANKING

Interesting times call for innovative solutions. While banking has had its eye on the digital prize for decades, COVID-19 has become a catalyst for more urgent digital transformation. Here, Monica Spigner, Executive Vice President, Business Transformation and Mike Sloman, Senior Vice President at Teleperformance explore the ways in which front-end banking processes have changed for the better, thanks to digital technologies

Banking gets a bit of an unfair reputation. A traditional sector governed by stringent laws and regulatory bodies, has arguably been a bit more tentative in wrapping its arms completely around online tools than sectors such as retail or hospitality. Online banking has certainly been around for longer 30 thank you think (the late 90s), and let’s not overlook the luxury that is the cash point (still technology in action). However, over the past six to nine months we’ve seen unprecedented change in how banks are now interacting with consumers.

During the current global health pandemic, we saw five generations living, working and quarantining simultaneously – the first time in human history. Homes suddenly became workplaces, and we turned to technology to remain connected, operational and profitable. For a sector previously reliant on face-to-face interactions, banking had to go back to the strategic drawing board and look at how quickly and effectively it could adopt digital tools to change frontend processes, at scale and against the clock. The results have been encouraging, turning turmoil into opportunity.

Following in the footsteps of retail

If retail is the kingdom of all things digital, then Amazon is its queen. Whether we’re talking about its Prime delivery service, Alexa-enabled smart devices or the upcoming and very first online-only Whole Foods store in the US, if you can imagine it, then Amazon has probably done it.

The tech giant has become a Goliath for digital innovation, all the while gobbling up Davids left, right and centre.

Despite creating a monopoly in e-commerce, Amazon has inspired new ways of thinking for peers, competitors and other verticals. As such, in light of COVID-19, we began to see financial institutions start to emulate Amazon-like experiences – seamless, quick, convenient, intelligent and personalised – through the adoption of tools including artificial intelligence and Natural Language Processing. Amazon’s blueprint for digital success provided banking institutions with a roadmap for what could be done digitally, as the world moved indoors. The result? A banking experience evolving from inperson relationships to virtual intelligence powered by analytics.

Monica Spigner

From high-touch to no-touch

While most of us have benefitted from the convenience of internet banking for some time, on occasion there have been reasons for us to go into a branch and speak to a human agent. From a wealth management perspective, sitting down with a financial advisor in person over a cup of coffee to discuss a portfolio has become customary. Any decision to move or keep more assets with that particular bank would largely be dependent on the customer’s personal relationship with the financial advisor – trust is paramount. have either limited the number of staff working within them, or closed indefinitely. In the UK, the industry is preparing for up to one in 10 bank branches to close permanently, with a number of banks looking at how to redeploy or convert existing office space.

People – customers or employees – are simply no longer in banks. With the complete pivot to working from home, banks have therefore urgently needed to assess their current digital transformation strategies. This means more ‘front facing’ tools, mobile apps, and more flexibility in how and when customers can interact with banks, in light of our socially-distanced new normal.

Whether it’s apps to log into your accounts, dashboards to manage your wealth, or chat bots to answer queries, banking is now more of a digitised experience. We’ve moved from the high-touch of physical branches, to the no-touch of self-service. In the same way that Amazon can provide you with product recommendations based on past purchase behaviour, your own banking chat bot – configured to specific preferences – can provide you with recommendations on future actions (i.e. taking out an insurance product) based on past banking habits. The more you engage with this no-touch, online model, the more it learns about you. The more it learns about you, the more intelligent and intuitive it becomes in helping you to manage your money.

The commoditisation of banking

The ability to provide an experience reminiscent of Amazon has opened up banking to commoditisation and the upsell of value-add services and support. Through conversational AI and NLP, banks can harness recommender tools that collect, retain and learn data on users based on previous interactions.

So, let’s go back to the high net worth individual we mentioned earlier. By virtue of who that individual is, what’s in his portfolio, the type of company he usually invests in, and investment habits, the bank can be very proactive in helping him to manage and expand the portfolio, as well as mitigate risk. All of this activity – on both the customer’s and financial advisor’s side – can be conducted through a personalised dashboard, monitored by the financial advisor. Trouble finding time to log in to the dashboard? No problem, the financial advisor can call to remind you. Trouble navigating the dashboard once logged in? Don’t worry – an intuitive chat bot that can provide you with real-time support and recommendations. Keen to speak to an actual human? That’s still an option, too.

Banking on the future

Banking is incrementally becoming more sophisticated, and the opportunity is ripe for further innovation, not just from a consumer perspective but also from an operational perspective. But ultimately, digital transformation success will remain elusive if institutions don’t take into account changing user habits, preferences and concerns. Appetite for more online services in our new normal is evident, but as more or less every business in every sector goes digital, the safety and security of online interactions will become a deal breaker for customers who want reassurance that their data – and money – won’t fall into the wrong hands. Those businesses that are able to leverage technology such as AI for both front-end and mission-critical services – such as cybersecurity – can bet on a competitive edge. Ultimately companies will reap rewards by integrating AI capabilities into their day to day activities, while balancing High Tech with High Touch to produce a holistic Digital Customer Experience (DCX).

Source: 1 https://thefinancialbrand.com/25380/yodlee-history-ofinternet-banking/ 2 https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/01/amazon-to-open-firstonline-only-whole-foods-store-in-brooklyn.html 3 https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/ article-8677305/Unions-fear-400-High-Street-bankbranches-set-close.html 4 https://www.ft.com/content/8a03248c-2f8b-4aa9-86dbce8a409e0e60