Automation vs Customer Satisfaction
"Please be on hold. Your call is important to us. Our banking executives will attend to you shortly".
Drives you up the wall after you hear it for the tenth time, doesn't it?
What is supposed to be a pleasing voice of the automated recording we are made to hear has now become a prime source of irritation and exasperation for most. The possibly simplest example of an automated process is now nothing short of a trigger to venting your days' frustration!
The banking industry has seemingly taken a hit in public perception of its customer service. And what's more? A recent article in ContactCenterWorld noticed and highlighted a trend that many banking big-wigs appear to be consistently beaten by some of their 'smaller' competitors in this sensitive area of customer service. According to Kevin Mountford (Banking head at moneysupermarket.com) the core issue in this regard is likely to have stemmed from the fact that banks have more often than not chosen automation over maintaining what he terms a 'personality'. Having operated for years with a cost-containment mind set, banks have chosen to make operational efficiency their priority which could be the root cause behind customers beginning to feel less-important.
But let's study a more long term perspective of the situation. Considering the current growth in developing markets, and the 90% plus penetration that banks have achieved in most saturated/saturating markets like the United States or the United Kingdom - isn't this likely to soon become a 'your loss-my gain' scenario? Can these commoditized banking services continue to grow in organic markets with the bare minimum growth potential left?
At the depth of things and as a direct influence on customer satisfaction, the key has been circled out to be innovation. Smaller banks seem to build a growing base through personalization of services, sometimes even targeted at a select segment of the population. Automation can therefore no longer be the sole answer to growth in such a zero-sum market. The order of the day has to be a carefully concocted solution that balances the stream-lining of process in a way that caters to the growing needs and extending demands of banking consumers.
BPM has proven its worth for the role it can play in transforming customer experiences for organizations. On one hand it enables process streamlining. It optimizes processes, reduces turn-around time and shortens the waiting-period that customers have to go through. And Bingo! A quicker and efficient service leads to increased customer satisfaction. But these once sure-shot solutions of orchestrating various processes through flexible technology architectures or deftly integrating customer information have now become common ground in the banking industry. This brings into the picture BPMs other core advantage - the extent to which it can synchronize human and system integration. Add to this one of BPMs many USPs in its ability to identify and counter change; it could be the trump card for your organization!
The speed at which ideas can be implemented in BPM could hold the key in a market where every player is putting in the extra effort to evolve. Innovative ideas in today's day bear fruit only when implemented in time and well ahead of your competitors. Using BPM, banks can hold their business logic as a separate segment; reuse and modify it as and when needed to bring about any change that may be required. Enterprises can thereby also open their arms to the faster enablement of best practices, constantly monitoring existing processes against market induced changes while simultaneously keeping out any process that is redundant. The focus can then suitably be shifted from less important and time-consuming processes to the actual complex but well paying ones.
Maybe, if BPM has its way, by the next time you intend to contact your banking officer, the anomaly in your account would've warranted a personalized call/message from the bank reaching out to you before you pick up that receiver!
Possible? Has anyone experienced this?
