THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

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In an age where consumers wear sophisticated health monitoring systems on their wrists, they rightly expect to manage their financial health in equally powerful ways and with the same consistent reliability.

Periods of altered reality like the one we are currently living in present challenges, but by equal measure, they also provide the opportunity to take a more supportive and valuable role in our customers' lives.

Demand for self-serve processes and the ability to complete all kinds of transactions digitally has increased rapidly in 2020. Financial services have been digitally enabled for some time now, but expectations are accelerating. In a recent report by Accenture, it was forecast that 11.6 billion transactions in the UK will move from cash to cards and digital by 2023.

Lenders must develop their ability to intuitively adapt to shifting customer needs and situations. Customers need to see their lender as a reliable, even comforting resource when shocks such as a pandemic emerge. To act as an ally, rather than another challenge in an already challenging situation. Ensuring customers can quickly and easily access services and acquire support when needed is an essential first step in achieving this.

Of course, even during an event as destabilising as a pandemic, business rules and regulatory obligations remain in place. Maintaining the availability of services and support must be coupled with controls and checks that ensure continuity, even when the outlook is unpredictable.

For certain transactions, where a customer might be vulnerable or feeling distressed, or where the perceived risk is higher because of the value of the loan, human interaction is still highly valued by customers.

Equally, rather than speaking to an agent on the phone, many customers prefer to complete simple administrative activities in their own time, across their preferred channels — in ways that are adaptive and personalised to their specific needs.

Getting the experience balance right demands the deployment of a wide array of expertise within organisations: experience design, communications, QA, data and technology.

Better usage of data makes it possible for lenders to predict whether a customer is better suited to a digital or human experience, and in what ways. Automation technologies allow organisations to bring functionality together seamlessly in ways that deliver powerful, yet simple and satisfying customer experiences.

The challenges are broader than just technology. Developing the right digital strategy is as much about operational structure and culture as it is about implementing the best systems and apps. As we emerge from the current crisis, the banks and lenders that understand this, and embed it deep within their operating fabric, will be those best equipped for the world beyond the crisis.

This means being adaptable and taking a management approach that breaks down organisational capabilities in a modular way. This allows for agility, and the combining of people, technology and knowledge in smart ways. Delivering more satisfying experiences and services to customers and evolving to meet their changing expectations.

This kind of flexibility will diversify revenue sources, expand market reach, improve operational processes and increase business profitability.

These are not just customer service and operational opportunities. The significance of this lies in the environments that financial customer services usually operate within. The large, energy-consuming call-centres, sometimes operating 24/7. At a time when climate change presents a real threat to our future, the ability to turn these kinds of resources on and off as needed can play a vital role in reducing carbon emissions.

Implementing the strategies highlighted above can feel challenging, but they should be looked at as a roadmap. Change does not need to be disruptive to your current operations, or hugely expensive.

There are straightforward actions we can take today to shift our organisations into a higher gear and build cultures of continuous evolution.

There are five key areas we recommend focusing on at the start:

• Get data front and centre - most lenders make poor use of the mountains of performance and behavioural data they have hidden within their organisations. Focus teams on unearthing the information that can better guide decision making and deliver the customer interactions they really want.
• Plug gaps in technology - there are simple ways to ensure systems are more joined-up, which means you can deliver more consistent, seamless experiences to customers. Modern cloud and API frameworks often allow you to overlay new digital features on the older systems that you've already invested in.
• Identify opportunities for automation - speed up high-volume, labour intensive, low-value processes such as payments and restructuring, freeing up your people to focus on the customer interactions that create more value.
• Plan customer experience - planning, measuring and optimising customer experience is a priority that must be driven from the top. Ruthlessly set aside time to make this a regular weekly activity for you and your senior team.
• Embrace modularity - identify your key capabilities, both human and technology, and plan ways to combine and deploy them to solve the gaps in your digital capabilities. Moreover, done right, this is the management approach that will drive innovation and digital differentiation in the market.

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