Running an errand at your local bank branch is no more necessary than slapping stamps on envelopes to pay your bills. There are better, easier ways to bank, and lots of people know it -- people who will flock to the bank that offers the most convenient and personalized services across online, mobile and other channels.
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| Customers want to bank whenever and wherever, regardless of a branch’s location or business hours. |
This is the omnichannel banking experience.
“The Internet and mobile apps have whisked away the captive consumers who once frequented local branches,” INSEAD blogger Joerg Niessing stated last month. “There will be some casualties among the major banks in the next decade, if they don’t offer a holistic customer experience that Generation Y is expecting today.”
Tear Down Those Silos
Millennials aren’t the only ones who want to bank whenever and wherever, regardless of a branch’s location or business hours. Customers from all generations could make a transaction online one day, and the next day make an identical transaction via a mobile device -- or they could start the transaction on one of these channels and finish it on another.
This presents a tremendous challenge for financial institutions, which are often involved in many types of banking, such as retail, corporate, credit cards and mortgages. But omnichannel banking is also an opportunity.
“It creates enormous value by de-siloing the resource that -- more than any other -- defines established banks’ advantage over the tech upstarts: vast reserves of customer data,” Niessing said. “With all the data at their disposal, banks can develop applications and financial products customized to the needs of individual customer segments, and market their existing portfolio more effectively.”
Beyond that, financial institutions could adopt SAP Omnichannel Banking solutions, which provide on-demand access to banking services on any device, anytime and anywhere. New content and enhancements released last month use predictive analytics and omnichannel technology to offer:
- Comprehensive 360-degree view of customers
- Real-time marketing, sales and services
- Seamless digital banking across channels, such as mobile, social, the ATM and in-person
SAP is a uniquely capable provider of this technology and service because of its leadership in mobile, especially in mobile banking, as well as the company’s prowess in eliminating duplication across silos.
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| SAP Omnichannel Banking provides on-demand access to banking services on any device, anytime and anywhere. |
Transform and Roll Out!
“Innovations in mobile and online banking have created a much savvier banking customer,” Ross Wainwright wrote on SAP Banking View. “This customer is harder to sell to and quicker to move on to another bank when they see a more innovative or satisfactory service.”
And an “unprecedented” transformation is shaking up the British financial services sector, according to Norman Blackwell, who chairs Lloyds Banking Group, which announced 9,000 layoffs and 20.... The Group is going digital in response to “more fundamental change happening over the next 10 years than has happened over the last 200 years.”
Part of SAP’s pledge to help all of its customers Run Simple, Omnichannel Banking can help banks:
- Sell better by retaining customers, converting loyalty into revenue and profitability
- Service better by exceeding customer expectations anytime and anywhere on any channel
- Market better by attracting more customers, as well as driving profitability and growth
“For the banks, omnichannel is a major opportunity to really understand their customers -- their transactions and the channels they like -- so they can better serve them and suggest the next best offer in a more personalized way,” Andy Hirst wrote on SAP Banking View. “This will help retain their loyalty and deepen relationships, something all banks desire.”
Follow Derek on Twitter: @DKlobucher
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