Cisco’s Financial Services Industry Marketing team is pleased to welcome a monthly contribution from industry professionals sharing their insights and observations on key trends in the Financial Services industry. The opinions expressed in these posts are those of our welcomed guests and may not reflect the opinions of Cisco.

Jerry Silva, Principal at PG Silva Consulting, is a 25 year industry veteran and thought leader in retail banking. He recently had the opportunity to discuss what comprises a high quality customer experience with Kelly McSwain-Campbell, Customer Experience Director at US Bank. In this role, Kelly is responsible for working across the enterprise with all lines of business and channels to help ensure teams deliver a differentiated customer experience that builds stronger and deeper relationships.

Delighting the Customer: Simple Works

As a banker and technologist, I’ve spent a lot of time dealing with systems that manage customer self-service channels like the ATMs and online banking, or with the systems that bank staff uses to interact with the customer. As a consumer of banking services myself, I’ve always been interested in the people side of services delivery and how banks can deliver quality experiences at the branch and the attended contact center.

I recently had a chat with Kelly McSwain-Campbell, SVP and Customer Experience Director at Minneapolis-based US Bancorp, and asked her for some insight into today’s challenges and how she manages to delight the customer in spite of the increasing complexity of the banking environment. Organizational and technology complexity sometimes work to hinder our ability to provide an excellent customer experience and we as bankers sometimes find ourselves even more distant from our customers.

But during my discussion with Ms. McSwain-Campbell, she made it clear that given the challenges with managing customer expectations across the multiple delivery channels, she is focusing on simple but effective ways to stay connected with customers at each point of interaction. We spoke about three areas that can ensure customers continue to enjoy the best banking experience possible. Read More »

Tags: branch, Cisco, customerexperience, Financial Services, personalized service, retail banking

Some might argue that retail banking is known more for its inconveniences than its convenience. As an example, the common term ‘banker’s hours’ is synonymous with “being open for the shortest and most inconvenient amount of time”. Despite that legacy, retail banks have made a concerted effort and real progress to extend services through various delivery channels to improve the retail banking customer experience.

Banks may have closed the customer service gap with other industries, but like other industries, must stay ahead of the consumer to deliver an experience that provides profitable value and differentiation. According to a recent report, what most customers want from their banks is greater access and more personalized experiences (in the form of advice, products, and services).

It’s not a surprising conclusion especially to the banking industry which has adapted a retail industry term -- omnichannel -- to describe the needed capabilities to deliver a consistent customer experience across all channels.

The Cisco Connected Customer Experience Report for Retail Banking -- a global survey of consumers and bank professionals conducted in early 2013 -- highlights the opportunities and the challenges that banking institutions face in meeting current and future customer expectations. Globally, consumers ranked Read More »

Tags: branch, Cisco, customer, customerexperience, delivery channel, Financial Services, omnichannel, personalized service, retail banking

Cisco’s Financial Services Industry Marketing team is pleased to welcome a monthly contribution from industry professionals sharing their insights and observations on key trends in the Financial Services industry. The opinions expressed in these posts are those of our welcomed guests and may not reflect the opinions of Cisco.

Jerry Silva, Principal  at PG Silva Consulting, is a 25 year industry veteran in retail banking business and technology, and advises institutions on technology strategy as well as contributing thought leadership to a number of industry conferences and publications like the Financial Times, the Economist, and the Wall Street Journal.

Time for Banks to Join Us in Our Daily Lives

I’ve been in the market for a new pair of earbuds. Due to the big storm that hit Boston a few weeks ago, my earbuds were lost during the hectic scurry to fly home before the blizzard hit. Once I was safe at home, I visited a few “big box” retailer online sites to check out the latest technology. Using the stores’ customer review sections, I found a suitable pair that seemed to fit my needs, then I checked prices and searched for physical locations near me that had them in stock. My local store didn’t have them, but another location five miles away did have a few. After a quick sales chat with a store representative, I bought them through the web site, drove to the store, and picked them up at the customer service counter saving me the wait at the cashier.

Most of you will recognize this series of micro-experiences as a typical, and more importantly, single event in our e-commerce lives. The experience was seamless to me; A single journey – using transparent channels – to acquire a new set of earbuds. I was able to get the “Three C’s” I needed to complete the transaction; Credibility from other consumers on the quality and reliability of several models, Convenience of homework and shopping from anywhere (using my smartphone at one point), and Choice having the earbuds shipped to me if I wanted, or in my case, picked up at a physical location.

This post is about Banking, so you know where I’m headed with this… Read More »

Tags: branch, Cisco, customer experience, Financial Services, omnichannel, retail banking

Increasingly over the past several months, I have been working with more and more retail banking clients. A common theme has emerged during these discussions that centers on video and collaboration in the branch. The top of mind question is, “how are banks using video in the branch to grow top line revenue in a very tightly regulated environment and with ever increasing downward pressure on fee revenues?”

As retail banks have slowly emerged from the global financial crisis of 2008, they are increasingly looking for ways to differentiate themselves with their products and services.  Studies show that the branch is still relevant in the eyes of the retail bank consumer, but the role the branch will play in the future is beginning to change.

Cisco’s IBSG team published a white paper on this topic, which covers the transformation that banks are currently going through. Retail banks are wrestling with moving from a multichannel environment to an omnichannel environment. The difference is, instead of offering a different experience and set of products and services across various delivery channels, they offer a more integrated and consistent experience across delivery channels. These traditional delivery channels include: branch, Internet and contact center to name a few. Currently, the mobile channel is growing in popularity and use, especially with new applications like remote deposit capture right from a mobile phone or tablet. Read More »

Tags: branch, collaboration, delivery channel, Financial Services, multichannel, omnichannel, remote expert, retail banking, revenue, video

The trends and challenges with the ever-increasing tech-savvy society we live in today are carrying over into the retail banking industry. Retail banking customers are more connected now than ever, with most of our customers’ homes having more technology in them than our branches. Couple these technology trends with major shifts in the way customers want and choose to bank, and it is clear why many in the financial services industry are re-evaluating the way their institutions operate and deliver products and services.

When we take a deeper look at the retail banking industry today, we can see that many of the changes necessary are being driven by consumer needs and expectations. The multichannel approach, while an improvement from disconnected delivery channels of the past, is no longer sufficient to address these new consumer demands.

Multichannel versus Omnichannel: What’s the difference?

An omnichannel strategy can be considered an evolution from multichannel. In essence, the omnichannel approach combines the physical channel that is the bank branch with virtual channels such as online and mobile. With omnichannel banking, customers choose how they want to bank, be that at their local branch; contact center; any other bank branch; from home; or from their mobile device. The challenge facing retail banks is how to ensure a seamless, consistent experience for the customer that results in unprecedented levels of customer satisfaction and growth and profitability for the bank.

At this stage, however, we must understand what the exact needs of the customer are and how we can help retail banks meet their customers’ needs. Read More »

Tags: branch, Financial Services, multichannel, omnichannel, retail banking