Profits are virtually out there!
It’s not something we’d debate about today…banks don’t have it easy when it comes to retaining customers, and winning back their eroded trust. People out there seem to want it all…exemplary service, convenience and tailored products. And worse, they are willing to take their business elsewhere if they don’t get all of it and more. And what has that done to the bank next door? Well, they just went looking outside of the branch for answers.
But to make it all work while exploring direct and automated channels, like direct banking, I think banks will do well to adopt what we like to call ‘the 3E approach to business beyond the branch’. It’s all about enticing customers, enlivening the banking experience and enhancing technology muscle.
Setting up one-stop-financial e-shops, deploying online marketing and promotional strategies, or even conjuring offerings to bank the unbanked are great ways to start with the first E-entice. The product design-develop-deliver and distribute cycle must then be streamlined to ‘enliven’ the experience and technology ‘enhanced’ for greater integration and simplification of the IT landscape.
And it’s easy to see why. Revenue opportunities are shrinking, and branches are an expensive overhead for routine transactions. Why wouldn’t a bank want to put in place a cost-effective structure through different channels for both simple and advanced transactions like product simulation and tailored cross-selling? Today technology enables banks to automate a large part of their servicing requirements and this drives growth and profits.
I am sure, most bankers will agree with me when I say that with direct banking both the bank and its customers come out winners.
