Multi-channel service delivery is regularly stated as one of the top five banking trends for 2017. It seems that to succeed ‘within and across all channels’ is something all banks are aspiring to.
According to “The Financial Brand”, banks are investing over 20% of their budgets on enhancing their digital channels. It’s clearly a high priority, with only their core banking systems seeing a greater percentage of budget allocation. However, given this focus and investment into digital channels, how confident are banks about effectively delivering a true multi-channel user experience and what are the key challenges they are facing?
Digital channels are not new in the financial services landscape: digital banking portals and dedicated banking apps have already been widely adopted by customers. However, there has been limited success in providing a true multi-channel experience, meaning whenever a customer interacts with their bank, the services should be provided in a consistent way. It’s not necessarily the same user interface, but the transaction outcomes should be the same.
A multi-channel user experience is expected to be user-friendly, to allow different banking segments to interact with their bank in different ways, and to access diverse banking services over multiple channels. A true multi-channel strategy should empower banks to reach the majority of their customers on their favourite channel for different banking services and interactions.
To achieve this goal, banks need to understand their customer segments and their preferences. For example, millennials spend most of their time on mobile phones, using a relatively small number of services such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat. etc., which monopolise their screen time. According to the 2016 U.S. Mobile Report by ComScore, the share of time spent on mobile apps was 87% compared to only 13% for web applications in 2016 in the U.S. Given this data, financial services companies cannot ignore the opportunities that these channels present for capturing the attention of this important segment. How much more likely is a millennial to take out a loan if he or she can discuss the terms and conditions with the bank over WhatsApp?
So why have banks not succeeded yet? The reason lies in two main challenges: security and user experience. Security is regularly cited as being customers’ main concern when they access digital banking services. In 2015, a survey by the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers showed that almost 80% of banking customers who have not tried and do not intend to try mobile banking apps stated security was the primary reason, up from 72% the previous year.
As the number of digital channels and variety of services offered over those channels increases, so does the complexity of keeping everything secure. Banks often end up using multiple siloed security solutions for different channels which quickly becomes expensive and difficult to manage.
Customers expect to get the same level of service across all channels and access to the same products that they receive in the branch. Although security is essential, customers have different acceptance levels in terms of security versus convenience for different types of transactions. For example, a customer may be very happy to use a token and go through a multi-step login process to access a banking portal to trade shares. However, that process may be deemed too complex and frustrating just to view their balance, see their latest statement or ask their relationship manager a simple question on their account.
Banking customers have become accustomed to seamless delivery of innovative services by companies like Airbnb, Uber, or Apple, and so they are now demanding the same outstanding experience when they deal with their financial services providers. This means that banks must deliver valuable digital capabilities that are effortless for average users while also being intuitive and well designed. The banking customer experience should be streamlined, efficient, consistent and personalised no matter what channel they choose.
What are the benefits to banks that are first to deliver a truly multi-channel experience to customers? Most importantly, they will have the best shot at capturing the millennial generation who is set to become highly profitable in the years to come. Also, by understanding different customer segments and then reaching those segments on their preferred channels, banks can increase the number of client touch points and interactions, maximise customer engagement and create new revenue generating opportunities and services.
APrivacy offers solutions to help banks become truly multi-channel. By adopting a data-centric security approach that secures the data itself, banks and clients can interact and communicate in total confidence over their preferred channel. APrivacy delivers security on any channel while providing a seamless user experience. For clients, the security is invisible. Once registered, they can receive or share information and communicate over their favourite channels without the need for passwords, tokens, or multi-step login processes. If you would like to learn more about our solutions, please contact us.
Digital Security Perfected – APrivacy Ltd. is an award-winning company which combines military-grade data security with a seamless user experience on any platform, any device, anywhere. APrivacy Ltd.’s enabling technology now allows the financial services industry to confidently communicate with clients using their favourite channels leading to increased revenues and reduced costs while meeting the strictest regulatory requirements.
