Why information is now the most valuable currency in banking

The effects of COVID-19 had a significant impact on many areas of our lives, and the retail banking sector is no exception. During lockdown, banks throughout the UK were forced to close their branches, requiring their customers to access and manage their accounts online. At the height of the pandemic in early 2020, 73 percent of UK consumers were using digital banking channels at least weekly, while the number using mobile banking reached 57 percent – a rise of five percentage points on the previous six months.

The shift to digital banking has, of course, meant a change in the ways banks interact with their customers. Gone are the traditional relationships and faceto-face ways of doing business. But, while it may have been challenging at first for financial service institutions and their customers, the wealth of customer data generated through this new way of banking represented a new opportunity for banks to deliver a better – albeit different – customer experience.

Understanding and insight

Delivering an excellent digital customer experience is vital for banks today. As with any online service provider, their experience of buying products and service online mean that if a customer isn’t happy with the experience they receive, they’ll simply look elsewhere. It’s largely why banks with a customer-centric culture have been found to be 60 percent more profitable than those without. Despite this, though, many are still not delivering the experience their customers expect.

Only by truly understanding its customers can a bank hope to meet their expectations. Doing so requires achieving a 360-degree view of those customers, across the entire organization, and at each stage of their journey. Taking such an holistic, end-to-end approach will provide banks with visibility into their customers’ behaviour, needs, and preferences, which will allow them to offer personalised products and services.

Fortunately, the move to digital banking means banks are now able to access all the data they need to gain this understanding. At the same time, though, there’s so much data available that deriving any value from it can often appear challenging. It can be hard to know, for example, exactly what data a bank has, where that data’s stored, whether it’s up to date and accurate, and at all times, ensuring it’s secure and compliant.

But managing this wealth of data needn’t be overwhelming. Implementing a company-wide solution for managing customer lifecycle information can ensure banks deliver the experience their customers have come to expect and at the same time, deliver optimal employee engagements.

Benefits of information management

A customer lifecycle information management solution will break down the various information silos that exist within a banking organisation, connecting its disparate system to eliminate any inefficiencies and enable improved information sharing across the institution. By digitising, streamlining, and automating time-intensive, traditionally paper-based manual processes, it will not only increase productivity and agility, but also enable a bank’s employees to work from anywhere, at any time – particularly important given the current trend toward post-pandemic hybrid working practices.

Automated business processes diminish risk and improve efficiency, too, ensuring a bank’s information management remains secure and compliant. In addition to dramatically reducing the potential for human error, for instance, such a solution will help support end-to-end KYC (Know Your Customer) and anti-fraud processes as well as, maintaining and adhering to evolving compliance regulations concerning the use of customer data.

Perhaps most importantly, this approach will enable banks to deliver optimal and consistent customer service interactions, and engage with their customers on their preferred channels. Furthermore, the insight it grants into each customer will allow banks to create, personalise, and deliver products that match their individual needs – this includes enabling them to create engaging and effective self-service capabilities.

Long-lasting relationships

Banking has undergone a considerable transformation in recent years, not least due to the impact of the pandemic. A widespread shift to online and mobile platforms means both banks and their customers have been forced to adapt to new ways of engaging. But this has given banks an opportunity to understand their customers better and create consistent and engaging customer experiences throughout their lifecycle that will drive loyalty and nurture long-lasting relationships. Never before have they had access to so much customer data, and the insights it can provide can prove invaluable. Optimising this treasure trove of customer information can allow them to adapt to shifting expectations, and provide dynamic and relevant services that meet their customers’ needs.

Key to this is managing that data effectively which, for many, can be a daunting task. However, with a customer lifecycle information management solution in place, banks can efficiently analyse the data they hold, using it to deliver the best possible customer experience and, in turn, maintain their competitive edge in the new normal.

Monica Hovsepian, Head of Financial Services Industry at OpenText

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https://www.rfigroup.com/rfi-group/news/rfi-latestresearch-rfi-group-global-digital-banking-report-2020 https://thefinancialbrand.com/125771/top-five-customerexperience-trends-in-banking-for-2022/