The customer experience is becoming more complicated. It’s not enough to have what customers need, when they need it. Today, you must be able to create the personalized experience that evolves along with the customer. At the same time, you have to do so efficiently and through streamlined processes or you can’t effectively compete. In banking, this is tough without real time communications.
A recent post in The Financial Brand examines who banks and credit unions are leveraging real time communications to deliver a better customer experience. Juniper Research (News – Alert) predicts one billion mobile banking customers around the world by 2017 and more than half express a real desire for combined personalized, social and human interactions that are integrated into a bank’s online services and mobile apps. In short, there’s work to be done.
Banks tend to be lagging when it comes to customer service innovation. Some are either being led by individuals who don’t understand the challenges of today’s consumer economy or they’re afraid of the compliance issues that accompany new ways of doing business. But the momentum of connected networks and sharing economies is increasing and communication tools like Facetime and WhatsApp are continuing to gain in popularity. This is forcing banks and credit unions to rethink current offerings.
The use of real time communications to handle customer interactions and build relationships when things are not happening face-to-face is always a challenge. On-demand services have to be available without compromising security or usability. Fortunately, customer-centric experiences can be had through communication technology available in mobile apps and through online services.
This means banks can leverage video chat, VoIP calling, screen-sharing, instant messaging, virtual presence and even recording with the touch of a button within the mobile banking app. The experience can then be highly personalized to each individual. Plus, multi-factor authentication enables direct engagement with employees without security compromises. This is where seamless interactions are enabled so customers never have to repeat information and can get what they need in less time.
Real time communications in the banking world also means the optimization of communication, and dialogues with customers that are secure and intelligent. This helps to give customers what they want, when they want it, building loyalty and saving money along the way. It’s the best of all worlds, embracing innovation as it helps create the perfect customer interaction.
