e-point’s President of the Board featured in Puls Biznesu magazine discussing effectiveness of omnichannel strategy in the banking industry

Mirosław Konkel of Puls Biznesu recently interviewed Marcin Żuchowicz, President of e-point. Żuchowicz spoke about how the omnichannel strategy has proven effective within the banking industry.

The effectiveness of sales channels depends on their consistency

The fusion of all channels that enable business operations to be performed online, in stationary facilities, via mobile devices and the customer hotline is the key to success in the banking industry. However, the so called omnichannel, i.e. integration of the methods of contact and sales, is just in its infancy in this industry, which puts into question the sense of many technological deployments. And for the banks, this means a loss of revenue and customers.

Revenues of companies outside the technology sector are increasingly dependent on the proper use of IT innovations. One of the industries that desperately needs such solutions is the financial sector. Young customers in particular are not satisfied with just the ability to visit the branch office, explains Balazs Fejes of EPAM Systems.

Dissatisfied customers drive innovation

According to e-point’s estimates, more than 75 percent of customers visit branch offices, use ATMs and do online banking. Less than 30 percent contact the call center. Although customers download financial apps to their smartphones, they use them only for the simplest of operations like checking account balances or transferring money. The sale of complex products is almost entirely done offline.

Many roads lead to the branch office. When it comes to personal services, customers usually start by talking to their loved ones, then search the internet, and sometimes call a consultant. These sales channels are complementary, albeit insufficiently - says Marcin Żuchowicz, president of e-point.

Banks are trying to outdistance one another in the implementation of new forms of contact, transaction solutions and convenient online payment forms, but the consistency of these tools leaves a lot to be desired.

The customer should be able to use the channel that best suits them without the need to repeat the activities performed before. If the customer started to fill in an application to open an account or obtain a loan, why wouldn’t they continue this operation on another device, during a conversation with a consultant or an advisor in a traditional branch office? - wonders president Żuchowicz.

In his opinion, what the financial institutions are missing most is the ability to share applications between a potential buyer of their services, a call center consultant or a specialist at a branch office. For now, everyone is working in a separate system, and the bank’s representatives cannot always see what actions the customer has already taken in other channels. Meanwhile, the essence of omnichannel is the ability to switch freely between channels. According to Marcin Żuchowicz, what the financial sector experiences most at this time is abandonment.

We switch from one channel to another due to our disappointment. We do not understand the descriptions on the banking site, so we call the call center. We are not satisfied with the teleconsultant’s explanation, so we pay a visit to the branch office. Every time we begin the process from the start – emphasizes Marcin Żuchowicz.

Security concerns

What discourages people from the omnichannel model are security concerns. According to a study carried out by the Polish Bank Association with the support of the National Clearing House, 40 percent of the IT and financial market experts surveyed said that cyberattacks could be the most important challenge for the banking sector this year. The mobile channel seems to raise particular concerns.

We store information about payment cards on our smartphones and tablets. Fraudsters know this and attack the mobile equipment using dangerous apps and more traditional methods, such as trojans designed specifically for mobile technologies - informs Wassil Barsakow, sales director for Central and Eastern Europe in RSA/EMC.

The standard security measure is login. But most often it must be done differently, depending on how we use e-banking. We get passwords and PINs separately for the Internet account, mobile app, ATM, and call center. Many people write them down on their phone or a piece of paper. And these notes can be intercepted quite easily.

Sometimes the bank allows us to come up with strings of digits, which also poses a big threat because we reuse the same numbers on several occasions. To be able to remember them, we use the simplest, and therefore the easiest to crack combinations – warns president Żuchowicz.

He believes, however, that it is only a matter of time when omnichannel systems are easier to use and safer. At that point, multichannel systems will be the standard in the banking industry.

46 percent This is how many bank customers change devices before the end of the transaction - according to a study by Pew Research Center.

Author: Mirosław Konkel
Source: Puls Biznesu