2. “Personalisation today is about giving customers what
they actually want”
Sandra White, Head of Personalsation, Barclays
“Culture drives our data and data drives our culture”
Marc Granville, Head of Compliance, Jordan bank
Today, both customers and the regulators are demanding that banks provide a more
personal experience, one that addresses the customer’s individual needs with appropriate
advice, products and services. Efforts to meet these fluid demands, through leveraging
customer data across channels, have seen some, but limited success.
However, there is a long way to go before customer expectations are fully satisfied, and the
compliance box completely ticked.
On the face of it placing customer interests at the heart of the organisation might not
sound like a huge challenge but the reality is very different. Banks must ensure that all
customers, from corporate giants to individual customers, receive a so-called ‘fair outcome’
which includes a comprehensive understanding of a given product or service they receive.
The customer and the regulator are two fundamental forces driving and demanding a
change in the provision of banking products and services. To thrive in the new era of
banking it’s vital to create a customer centric culture throughout the entire organisation.
With serving customers’ better in mind, last month OCC and Ciber hosted 18 banks and
fintechs for a thought provoking workshop.
Here we bring you the key talking points…
The impact of open banking and the evolution of a banking ecosystem
Data, legacy and the cloud
Customer-centricity: Serving not selling
(Re)building trust: Doing the right thing for the customers
Personalisation: Relevant, seamless customer conversations
Drowning in information, but starved for knowledge
Banks have a plethora of data. Yet this is used at a very rudimentary level, to provide some
basic data and transactional information. Turning this raw data into useable, appropriate
and timely knowledge provides the opportunity to deliver a more bespoke and relevant
level of service, giving banks the opportunity to bring back the standard of personal
service long lost through commoditisation.
When it comes to personalisation, we have so much data, but so little personalisation, says
Sandra White, Head of Personalisation, Barclays.
“We have lots of data, but are unable to make the most of it as it’s sat in silos and different
systems. We have the data, but not enough of it actually ends up in front of the customer
as something useful to them.”
As John Nash, Senior Industry Solutions Executive, Microsoft puts it: “The more data we
have, the less knowledge we have; It’s about turning data into information, and turning
information into knowledge to better serve the customer.”
3. This disconnect between data, analytics and personalisation is echoed by Chris
Worsley, Director of Strategic Change, Shawbrook Bank.
“Banks have phenomenal data experts who produce millions of leads per month.
However, the conversion of those leads is horrendous.”
So, with the potential of big data to yield fantastic results when it comes to
personalisation and customer experience, what are the major stumbling blocks.
Broadly speaking, the group discussion revolved around two major challenges:
Organisational culture
Technological legacy
Organisational culture
Traditionally banks have looked at customers with a focus on what products they
can sell, but what’s more important now is to focus on how we create value for the
customer.
This is a shift in mindset, says Sandra White, Head of Personalisation, Barclays.
“We must shift our mindset from one that prioritises the bank’s P&L to one that
prioritises the customers’ financial achievement. Ultimately this leads to giving
customers messages that they actually want to get.
“However, banks have large and disparate teams involved, so to unite under
‘serving the customer’ as a concept is difficult. Different business units have their
own objectives, goals and KPI’s, but share the same customer – culturally this is at
odds with giving the customer the ‘right’ message.
“Sometimes the ‘right’ message might be commercial, but it’s how you help your
customer the 80-90% of the time they don’t want to be sold to, that makes the
difference”
Chris Worsley, Director of Strategic Change, Shawbrook Bank, shares a similar
vision.
He says: “The disconnect is where teams look at customers from a data
perspective and not a needs perspective. There needs to be a cultural shift
towards thinking about what the customers really want.
“Additionally, customers oscillate quickly between channels, yet as organisations
we’re largely split into silos which doesn’t accurately reflect what the customer is
doing”
For Rosie Ryleigh, Innovation and Planning manager, Data and Analytics, RBS the
challenge is a fundamental one:
“It’s about getting everyone to understand and get over the fear of the term ‘big
data’”
Technological legacy
Certainly, technological legacy issues continue to loom large for many in the
banking world – a view shared by the group.
Not least for Sandra White, Head of Personalisation, Barclays for whom the
biggest current challenge is convincing people internally to use the cloud and step
away from legacy technologies.
“Technological legacy, built up over hundreds of years can inhibit customers
service, particularly digitally.”
The advantage of being on the cloud is joining up different data sources to get the
single customer view, says James Paley, Director of Professional Services, Veripark.
“You can abstract data wherever it’s from, regardless of historical legacy system
or silo. Leveraging the capabilities of platforms like Azure from Microsoft to drive
intelligence and next best action is a huge advantage.”
Excitingly, from a Microsoft perspective, there will be the launch of the on-premise
cloud next year, says John Nash, Senior Industry Solutions Executive.
“This will give banks true hybrid capabilities where they can build technology in
house and run it on the cloud, all in the same systems – essentially this will enable
more migration toward a cloud based environment.”
The question of outsourcing Vs building technology bought different opinions
from around the table.
At ING Bank, we see ourselves as a technology company that provide financial
services, says Abhishek Khurana, Omni-channel Experience Lead.
“Building our own technology platforms allows ING to maintain control of the
customer journey and experience, from inception to completion.
Having this capability allows ING to have better flexibility, as new scenarios evolve,
our customer journeys can evolve with them to maintain a positive customer
experience.”
Banks must be entirely comfortable with outsourcing data, where ultimately that
data is the bank’s responsibility, adds Marc Granville, Head of Compliance, Jordan
Bank.
On the other side of the coin, where around 20% of discretionary budget gets
spent dealing with regulatory requirements – by outsourcing technology and
data risk to the likes of Microsoft (with the additional benefits of their economies
of scale), you’re freed up to deliver a better experience to your customers, says
James Paley, Director of Professional Services, Veripark.
Start-ups and fintechs start from a problem and build the system, processes
and technology to meet that specific need, says Jeremey Fraser, Head of Legal
Services, Sainsbury’s bank. Banks with legacy must therefore either partner with
fintech companies or build their own, he adds, bringing the conversation towards
the topic of ‘open banking’.
4. The open banking ecosystem
As Bruno Genovese, Head of Banking Products, Tandem Bank puts it:
“Banking is becoming more and more an ‘ecosystem’ where better service is
becoming more important.
“With open banking coming up, over the next five years we’ll see platforms
connecting and data being shared. Through aggregation it’s possible to gain
insight into a customer’s entire financial life and estate.
“What will be interesting will be to see how new platforms collaborate or compete
with the big banks. The relationship is yet to be decided…”
The ecosystem model is a reflection on the interaction customers now have with
banks, adds Will Beeson, Head of Operations and Innovation, Civilised Bank. “As
we move towards a digital world we can expect this sort of fragmentation,” he
adds.
Application programming interfaces, or APIs, are central to any collaborative
venture. Through APIs systems that can interact with each other ultimately
resulting in a more connected experience for all.
Alex Letts, Founder, U, describes how the U platform orchestrates - through APIs -
an incredibly diverse supply chain of banking partners who are connected to it, be
it insurance, payments, KYC providers etc. While on the other side, the platforms
face out to consumers with a focus on superior customer experience, uninhibited
by legacy or the cost of building and managing new products.
Serving, not selling
With a more comprehensive understanding of each customer, the bank has the
potential to help customers to be more in control of managing their finances, to
deliver a higher level of service and customer satisfaction and to gain a greater
share of the customer business.
However, overall it was agreed that there is a fine line between servicing and
selling.
As Bruno Genovese, Head of Banking Products, Tandem, says:
“Banking has traditionally focused on data mining to give customers the right offer
at the right time - but this isn’t personalisation any more, just a marketing/sales
technique.
“Now data intelligence has a different ambition: to give better service and advice.”
Marc Granville, Head of Compliance, Jordan Bank agrees: “Over time as people
realise that servicing is as important as selling, and it’s reflected in the brand,
things will start to move forward. As an industry, we need to put more value on
data around customer service and satisfaction, where historically we have placed
greater value on our sales data.”
However, it’s difficult for personalisation to appear as a service instead of a sales
technique, says Sandra White, Head of Personalisation, Barclays.
“But, the reality is that sales falls out of good service, clients and customers want
to spend more with you if you have a good relationship with them.”
At ANZ, interesting measures are in place to put greater emphasis on serving the
customer better, says Alex Kewley, Director of Client Insight and Solutions.
One example being, “A business unit that we don’t want to grow this year from
a revenue perspective. Instead the ambition is to become more profitable with a
better customer experience.
“Naturally we want to make better returns, but most importantly we want the
customer to be happier at the end of next year.
“As banks we want to put the customer at the centre of everything we do, but that
can be difficult when you’re striving to sell them something.”
Similarly, for Tandem Bank “Culture is at the core of our business model,” Says
Bruno Genovese, Head of Banking Products.
“When we look at ways of monetising we embrace the customers’ best interests
over and above the commercial interests of the bank. Culturally we focus on the
long-term customer relationship.”
For Alex Letts, Founder, U, serving customers better has a very moral purpose.
“Unnecessary stress from financial difficulties is a huge strain for about 16 million
people in this country. What we do supports people through personalised contact
from services that can help them if they’re running out of money; not just in terms
of loans and overdrafts, but through an infrastructure of third parties who can
educate and support those who genuinely need it.”
5. The Personalisation puzzle
No doubt the ability to track customer interactions creates an opportunity to fine-
tune personalisation to such a sophisticated degree that it reflects the relationship
between a customer and the ‘old school’ personal bank manager of days gone by.
The ‘old school’ bank manager knew their customers personally, understood their
financial situations and needs and offered them timely and relevant advice to help
them effectively manage their financial situation.
U, a highly personalised banking as a service platform launched last month, sees
personalisation as a key differentiator.
Alex Letts, U’s founder identifies 3 layers of personalisation
1. Gimmicks: “While fairly simple, quirky and fun functionality like the ability
to personalise the look and feel of your account (through a profile picture for
example) creates a sense of familiarity and brand loyalty.”
2. Data driven segmentation: “Using data and analytics to understand your niche
and the needs of your customer, you are able to better personalise customer
communication. For instance, data coming out of the account will allow us to
create bespoke messages and offers – for example, we can identify if a customer
is safely spending based on previous spending trends. Through our integrated
partners we can get in touch before the safety threshold is met to support the
customer. Crucially, however this must be packaged as a benefit to customers as
opposed to an opportunity for third parties.”
3. Customer driven personalisation: “Every account allows the customer to be their
own manager. Customers can adjust and analyse their account in a way that suits
them.”
Group consensus was that personalisation is vital, but equally tricky. Too much
personalisation can be off-putting for customers who feel their privacy is being
intruded upon by the bank while sending the wrong message at the wrong time is
equally counterproductive.
“An average household has numerous bank accounts, each of which must be
treated differently.
“Take a bills account, for example. Typically, this would be topped up by direct
debit with only enough to pay the bills. A conversation about the balance running
low would therefore be irrelevant.
“Banks mustn’t assume they have a relationship where they don’t. Perhaps there’s
something to be said here for cooperation between banks and service providers in
a way that takes the customer’s entire financial estate into consideration.”
For Bruno Geneovese, Head of Banking Products, Tandem Bank, the success (or
failure) of personalised communication hinges on how a message is delivered.
“It’s important to deliver the outcome of your data analysis (your customer
communication) in a way that that feels like a conversation, instead of just saying
‘here’s a loan’, or something similar.
“This must be a two-way conversation that appeals to the customer in a very
human way.”
Certainly, it was agreed that while digital empowers banks to bring about a high-
quality of personal service to the mass market, there is great deal of value to
be had from a very human element to serving customers. The challenge, from a
digital perspective, is how we empower the people within the bank to deliver the
best possible experience to the customer.
“Personalisation is a delecate balance - the ultimate
objective is to delight your customer”
Paul Carty, Financial IT Solutions, Ciber
Right message, right time, right channel
While there is correlation between the channels people use and demographic
data like age, it’s important not to be drawn in to assumptions, says Alex Kewley,
Director of Client Insight Solutions, ANZ
.
“The situation plays a big role in how the customers wants to engage. A customer
may choose to engage on a different channel for a payment as opposed to a
mortgage, for example.”
It’s about where you are as a bank in the customers’ mindset, says Rosie Ryleigh,
Innovation and Planning Manager, Data and Analytics, RBS.
Humanising personalisation
Empowering our colleagues is highly important for Coutts, Says Robert Hemphill,
Director of Digital Solutions.
“Our clients tend to be receptive to and appreciative of proactive communication
from our relationship managers – partially because you can better position this
communication with a human approach.
“What we want is to help our relationship managers to be more efficient and more
effective – and technology plays a big role in this. Technology allows us to enable
the pro-activeness which fosters closer relationships with clients.”
Will Beeson, Head of Operations and Innovation, Civilised Bank, adds: “There is an
interesting dichotomy in communication depending on how it’s presented.
“As mentioned, customers value proactive communication from relationship
managers - they can position the conversation with a very human approach. Tone
of voice, nature and personal history plays a big role in this. However, the dynamics
are changed if the same message (ultimately based on the same insight) comes
through a digital medium.
“It comes back to basics: Understanding what customers want - a tech savvy
customer who understands the value of big data and expects it to be leveraged
to their benefit may appreciate an email which used those techniques; for another
customer, this may be beyond their comfort level.”
The group agree that a two-way conversation and a human approach to
communication are very important for customers, but in reality, for the ‘big banks’
this conversation must be automated somehow. The challenge being: How to
automate personalisation, beyond just a sales technique?
6. For James Paley, Director of Professional Services, Veripark, the solution is
in understanding what the customer wants and talking to them about that: “
Customers don’t want a mortgage or a loan; they want to buy a house, buy a car
or start a business”
Rosie Ryleigh, Innovation and Planning Manager, Data & Analytics, RBS agrees.
“We’ve moved towards what’s known as ‘Next Best Action’ - this means pulling
in customer history from a variety of channels: call centre, social media, website,
branch etc. - the ‘Next Best Action’ therefore is tailored to a more personal level.
“Crucially we have the ability to override and discredit data. For example, where
a financial transaction is out of character. This means we can avoid irrelevant
conversation with our customers.
“Next Best Action is crucial in empowering our front-line customer facing staff
too.”
Front line empowerment
As James Paley, Director of Professional Services, Veripark, puts it: “Because
we have so many channels, we must analyse our data to enable our digital
channels, as well as our people on the front line, to maintain that same level of
personalisation so that they feel like the bank knows them.
“By diverting largely to digital channels this in fact supports your human
interaction. For example, the telephony channels can focus on those high needs
and those longer conversations, where staff don’t have to clock watch, aren’t
expected to turnover calls in volume and can instead focus on quality customer
service.”
Civilised Bank, who bring the personal touch to SME banking, share a similar
philosophy, says Will Beeson, Head of Innovation and Operations.
“By cutting the branch network, and empowering our relationship managers
with iPads armed with the full banking suite, they can be out in the field with
customers.
“While the adoption of technology has typically been to combat regulatory
and market headwinds, for Civilised Bank the real opportunity is to leverage
technological developments so savings can be directly invested into customer
(Re) Building trust
As the banking ecosystem becomes more and more fragmented with digitally
native banks and fintechs developing propositions to entice customers away, the
question of trust remains a hot topic according to the group.
We spend a lot of time thinking about how the customer views the bank, says Alex
Kewley, Director of Client Insight and Solutions, ANZ.
“Imagine a world where the customer actually has no interaction with the bank;
Banks should be a utility with no face to the customer.
“What the customer currently gets from the banks is generally negative, be it a fee
for an overdraft, or the stress of a mortgage. The challenge therefore is minimising
the bad stuff, and the opportunity is creating value.
“Rarely a customer would say they love their bank - with services being widely
commoditised - but people do love other services. Customers love Uber for
example, because it adds value and makes a real difference to their lives.
7. “Similarly, at ANZ we’re trying to place ourselves in the customers’ mindset by
creating value for them and building a brand.
Minimising the bad stuff, and maximising value is something we focus on at
Sainsbury’s banks also, says Jeremy Fraser, Head of Legal Services, Sainsbury’s
Bank
“Our loyalty scheme gives us access to a lot of information about customers’
preferences and habits – we can give customers a range of lifestyle offerings that
go beyond banking services.”
For Marc Granville, Head of Compliance, Jordan bank, rebuilding trust means
building a customer-centric culture: “Due to historical mistrust, institutions must
get their culture better. By doing so they can be trusted to meet people’s needs
better – in which case there wouldn’t need to be as much regulation and banks
could focus their time and energy on serving the customer better.”
Conclusions
The banking landscape is evolving, whether you like it or not. The disruption of
open banking coupled with ever increasing customer expectations acts as the
catalyst for a massive change, and there is no sign of slowing down.
Amid all this change, the ultimate goal for banks is to build a strategy to
accomplish three different tasks:
Understand customers’ needs and desires, studying their behaviour patterns
Serve customers better across all touch points from mobile app to the call centre
Delight customers, offering experiences that are enjoyable, innovative, and
contextual
Things haven’t changed that much, says Paul Carty, Financial IT Solutions, Ciber.
“What customers really want is a good service. We have a tremendous opportunity
with big data - through the systems we have we can pull in data, understand it and
present it through our people and through the technology that interacts with our
customers.”
Brought to you by:
It’s more important than ever for banks to delight their customers and win their
trust by offering personalised, relevant products, and services via their preferred
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Ciber offers years of relevant industry experience that can be deployed to help
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By helping to truly harness their data, Ciber together with our partners, can
help financial organisations achieve business growth through improved levels of
personalisation and service, increase customer retention and proactively respond
to customer demand using innovative tools such as Next Best Action from
Veripark.
