The Dawn of Digital Customer Experiences in the Indian BFSI Sector

With the rise of cashless payments, overseas expansions and internet penetration, the Indian BFSI sector has evolved to become contemporarily relevant in a market where companies like PayPal have emerged as competition. To reach out to a wider market, RBI has recently given permission to Axis Bank for expansion in China.

Global presence and technologically advanced customer expectations has urged the BFSI sector to come out of their traditional ways of customer relationship management to the digital forefront. The modern BFSI scenario has invested in creating and maintaining a solid digital architecture.

How do Banks and Financial Institutions impress customers in this digital era?

Customer experience enhancement: BFSI sector deals with an overflow of customer data, which if used rightly can give them the most accurate profile of each and every customer. Customer buying a house? Offer insurance. Customer's daughter graduating? Offer education loan. The sector had invested in technology to ensure their commitment to seamless customer experience throughout platforms. For example, customers don't need to visit the bank to link important documents or paperwork. Banks like ICICI are providing the service via app and net banking. SBI has made it easier to download bank statements via ATM, mobile and of course net banking.

Omni channel: People nowadays like to carry their banks on themselves, also for bill payments and money transfer. Mobile apps have drastically changed the banking scenario. ICICI Bank offers free gift vouchers to bring in more customers via mobile banking. SBI has an app for retail bankers that takes care of many of their banking needs on mobile. Banks and financial institutions are not just confined to a building any more but beyond. The moment digital architecture is implemented, they become omni-channel by default with the help of mobile and internet.

Collaboration: A sector that functioned in silos now integrates data for the purpose of better customer engagement. With a number of enterprise collaboration tools and solutions, it is easier for them to have digital personalisation for multiple stakeholders across multiple touchpoints to make real-time decisions. This is particularly true for the BFSI sector, be it mutual funds or insurance - stakeholders take decisions based on what is happening now. Tracking social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn gives real-time data about the customers, helping service providers to customise offers and services to carve a more personalised experience. From digital marketing to brand building, BFSI is taking advantage of the social network.

Customer 720 View: Thanks to Big Data and Analytics, the BFSI sector is able to gain a 720-degree view of its customers. Having an all-round view of customers is not enough for effective customer experience. The BFSI sector now makes sure that the internal operations and external data and analytics work in tandem to give a clearer picture of the market for a 720-degree view of customer. It makes it easier to market schemes and products at the right time to the right customers, building strong brand loyalty and curbing competition. For example, an individual customer can complain of receiving a credit card marketing call even though he or she is already a card holder from the bank. This glitch could be avoided with the help of data analytics and seamless collaboration of departments working in silos.

User experience: BFSI has not only used technology to gain speed and market their products better, they have used it to become more customer-friendly. The iMobile app by ICICI Bank, for example, allows its customers to tag frequent transactions as favourites for ease of access.

Security: Digitisation has improved security scrutiny with varied secure platforms to store and analyse accumulated data. Maintaining PCI and PII compliance have also become easier with secure data storage platforms. Enhancing technological commitments making banking safer is biometric authentication, which is safer and more accurate than the ipin.

Fintech companies have embraced disruptive sustaining innovations to transform customer experience and other traditional financial institutions are looking to capitalise on this trend.

The author is Head of Digital User Experience, BFSI, Aspire Systems