While generative AI is likely to improve the efficiency of the banking operating model dramatically, its potential to differentiate and drive growth by enhancing the customer experience might be the most promising for banks, shared Manoj Singodia, MD and Lead – Financial Services, Accenture in India, in an exclusive interaction with Srajan Agarwal of Elets News Network (ENN).
How does Accenture approach improving the customer experience for financial services clients, considering customers’ diverse needs and expectations?
In today’s digitally connected ecosystem, banks face two major challenges: decreasing customer loyalty and satisfaction. Our Banking Customer Study found that only 42% of customers in India score their bank’s customer service 9 out of 10, while more than 85% opted for a banking product outside of their main bank over the last year. With this context, banks need to design and deliver enhanced customer experiences to earn loyalty, thereby increasing business inflow through up-sell, cross-sell, and new customer acquisition.
Banks need to build strong capabilities across processes, people, and technology by eliminating organisational silos to curate winning customer experiences. By leveraging consumer data – both first-party and third-party- banks can offer personalised experiences in line with other non-financial services such as digital commerce, media and entertainment. Also, banks need to use these customer insights to provide a compelling and seamless experience in branches to deepen their relationships further.
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To respond to changing customer needs and boost their relevance, we’re helping banks rethink their approach to customer relationships and reinvent every part of their organisation with digital at its core.
How is Accenture leveraging new technologies like gen AI to enhance customer experiences in banking?
While generative AI is likely to dramatically improve the efficiency of the banking operating model, its potential to differentiate and drive growth by enhancing the customer experience might be the most promising for banks. In the front office specifically, bank employees can have access to intelligent tools that allow them to personalise customer experiences and sell more effectively. Both the time and the means to engage more meaningfully will improve their ability to understand and meet customers’ needs, thereby increasing satisfaction, retention, and share of wallet.
We work closely with banks to help scale their AI and generative AI capabilities, focusing on value-driven outcomes. We are working with banks to design, develop and deploy generative AI-related use-cases around contact centres, conversational bots, and personalised marketing collaterals. We are looking to enable seamless banking operations with a hyper-personalization engine, human-like AI-driven care, innovation, and continuous improvement at the core of all these use cases.
What strategies do you recommend for banks to engage with customers meaningfully? What should financial institutions prioritise to stay ahead in delivering superior customer experiences?
As banks realise that customer experience is pivotal in growing loyalty and revenue streams, they are turning to technology to improve customer loyalty, competitive edge and topline growth.
Firstly, leveraging internal and external data provides a comprehensive view of customer needs, preferences, and pain points. This deep understanding can enable banks to tailor their products and services to different customer segments, making interactions more relevant and personalised. By continuously adjusting offerings based on real-time interactions, banks can provide exceptional value to their customers. Secondly, when banks deeply understand their customers, they can deliver the right products and services at the right time and through the right channels.
Thirdly, measuring all customer engagements and acting on feedback in real-time is essential. Analysing metrics like NPS, CSAT, and complaint data can help build an effective feedback loop to ensure continuous improvement in customer interactions. Empowering employees with the right tools and a unified view of the customer can help drive more informed decisions. Fourthly, banks must foster a customer-first mindset across the entire organisation. As bank employees prioritise customer needs, it helps build a culture that truly values and understands its customers.
What best practices do you recommend for financial institutions looking to improve their customer experience?
While digitalisation has become a prerequisite for banks, forging meaningful connections is crucial as customers prefer a combination of human touch and technology in banking. To drive growth and improve customer experience, financial institutions must adopt a customer-centric approach – that is not just limited to the front line but runs throughout, breaking down organisational silos.
They must build a solid data foundation to provide seamless, personalised experiences across offerings, channels, and touchpoints. Next, they need to build a three-sixty-degree view of the customers by focusing on enriching the available data quality. They must also aid the front-line sales and customer services workforce with this three-sixty-degree view of customers’ data to empower them to engage in more meaningful and relevant conversations. To enable a truly customer-centric organisation, financial institutions need to invest in a robust digital core and data foundation.
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