There is a saying that goes “ the customer is always right .” Customers obviously prefer to deal with their businesses of choice that assure both good service and products . This is especially true with the FSI industry , where beyond smart investments and transactions , customers build long-term , trusted relationships with their preferred banks or insurers .
According to our latest study , “ Unlocking the Economic Impact of Digital Transformation ”, organizations that have embraced digital transformation are seeing business improvements , especially in increasing customer acquisition rates . By 2020 , for example , respondents expect an additional 70 % improvement in customer acquisition rates . However , digital transformation goes beyond digitization of existing products and services . Any implementation needs to make sense for customers at the end of the day , whether increasing convenience , or empowering customers with more visibility and choice of products . FSI organizations need to move from selling products to offering solutions , and by re-imagining new business models with speed and agility . Simply doing what has proved to work in the past is not acceptable in the new digital era . What we are seeing today is a shift in mindset , where addressing customers ’ needs is now a priority . More than half the FSI organizations ( 55 %) polled highlighted that they will be focused on transforming customer service and support this year as part of their digital transformation initiatives . In addition , FSI organizations are concentrating on measuring customer advocacy as one of their top KPIs . The question is then about how business leaders can adopt an effective digital transformation strategy to better serve customers . The answer could lie in the volume of data available within their organizations today .
The Future of FSI Organizations in Asia Pacific Hinges on Data
Digitalization of FSI services should focus on turning the customer journey into something personal , rather than utilitarian . Financial services should work seamlessly as part of the lifecycle of a transaction . It should be an end-to end journey , from transacting on mobile devices , understanding customers ’ financial status through self-service analytics tools , to interacting with financial consultants . A customer can receive personalized offering developed from artificial intelligence ( AI ) tools to meet specific financial goals , rather than a cookie-cutter plan . All these can be enabled with the smart use of data . Today , organizations need to ensure they have a three-step data strategy to develop a new generation of customer experiences and solutions :
Step 1 : Collection of Data
FSI organizations first need to evaluate whether they have a data strategy in place to make the most sense of existing data , both internal and external , to develop real-time insights about their customers
Step 2 : Optimization of existing products and services with data
Leveraging data and advanced data tools such as big data analytics , machine learning and even AI , organizations can improve products and services for the customers and to deliver optimised and personalised financial services through digital channels .
Step 3 : Creating new experiences and solutions
Ultimately , customer behaviour data should provide feedback to the data insights to help continuously create new experiences , services and solutions for the digital customers . For example , smart banking , intelligent consulting and even enabling open banking APIs for organizations and fintech institutions to collaborate in developing a new generation of products .
Data is already enabling Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation ( SMBC ) to enhance their customer experience with Microsoft Cloud by developing chatbots for personalized and interactive service delivery . The organization notes that its collaboration with Microsoft has enabled it to build an AI system that generates learning data , helping constantly improve service efficiency .
FIND OUT HOW FSI ORGANIZATIONS CAN EMBRACE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION