|
|
Banking Industry's CRM
Q&A Session Between G-CEM Advisors And Members
Mr. Rafael Rodriguez, Consultant, Focused Management Inc.
www.g-cem.org
Question : Could you please advise the characteristics of CRM of those leading banks in your country
Reply from Rafael Rodriguez - A Columbia Perspective
Banks in Colombia are perhaps the leading CRM adopters. They are beginning to use CRM technology and some of the leading banks have invested in solutions such as Siebel. Others, like Citibank, have developed their own in-house CRM.
In general CRM in the financial sector is just beginning to make a way. To the present days, the main focus of their CRM strategy has been through Call Center interactions which seem to work quite fine for debt collection and signing new members for new services. Personalized direct mails offers is another of the evidences they are trying to put in good use their immense customer databases. Some Banks still face a shortfall due to the fact that their proprietary backoffice system are still Cobol based which make it a bit difficult to manipulate data the way CRM requires. Nevertheless, the adoption of web services standards such as .NET and JAVA are paving the road for some and making it more easy to deploy CRM initiatives. On the other hand, Online banking has caught up very well and most banks offer a variety of online services. Most any bill can be paid through internet.
Reply from Candice Ng-Chee - A Singapore Perspective
I would like to believe that the banks here are making some inroads moving from pure banking transactions to building customer relations. Some characteristics which are visible include (but not limited to) the following:
* Customer database is increasingly being differentiated in terms of strategic value;
* More efforts are put in to understand profitable customers' needs;
* Most banks have also restructured to allocate dedicated resources for priority banking, loyalty marketing, relationship management, customer portfolio management, wealth management, 121 Banking, concierge services, tailored marketing activities, to cater to these customers;
* Banking charges have also been introduced to sieve out less valuable customers;
* Customers are also more receptive now to consolidating their banking needs with a bank they find worthy of their businesses;
*The ROI is still very much confined to campaign-driven measurements as it is not a straight forward process to attribute results over a multitude of banking activities and a hybrid legacy systems
* Due to the complexity of the banking operations structure, most CRM initiatives are still driven as marketing strategies rather than organizational strategies.
However, as a 'high value customer' of a few financial institutions here, I must say that the interactions and delivery have not been great. So while the changes are commendable, there are still lots of rooms for improvement. In my opinion, there are one key area which they should address immediately so as to bring to life the wonderful CRM concept, and that is interactions strategy with these high value customers. Failing which, it remains a blue-print.
There is a website you can visit should you wish to know more about the financial industry in Asia Pacific. I strongly recommend that you take a look at www.theasianbanker.com
Reply from Marco Deveglia - An Italy Perspective
It's a bit vague as a question.
And generally not easy to answer. Banks are very secretive about their direct marketing and CRM activities.
My feeling - from formal and informal research - is that there is not much CRM done among Italian banks.
Currently, Banca Intesa is doing a good CRM program, if I evaluate it from what they promote. However, I haven't any idea about the inner working, if they for example computer LTV for their strategy and generally what the financial figures are.
A problem, preventing Italian banks from being more active on the CRM field is that the market is still not very competitive. Banks in Italy are mostly letargic, somewhat similar companies and consumers have little incentive in switching.
If and when the market will become competitive, I think CRM in Italian banks will become a must. Currently, it's mostly an half-baked attempt.
Reply from Tony Bruno - A Hong Kong Perspective
"Most retail banking industry participants will aim to attend to their CRM strategy as a primary consideration. Characteristically, they will develop a strategic segmentation of their customer base using value based parameters and compare these to some indicators of customer loyalty, for example, length of relationship, breadth of products purchased, volume of interactions. The segmentation they develop will help them to map out the types of treatment they will provide to different segments. Some organisations develop branded product propositions to serve specific high value segments. Normally these have the form of integrated service accounts - packages of products ranging from simple current accounts though deposits, loan products, investment products and insurance, wrapped with superior levels of service, which may include, for example, special counters in the bank branches.
They will then tactically deploy programmes to meet the needs of each segment, typically aiming to achieve outcomes such as up-sell, cross-sell, Improve service quality and reduce servicing needs, and improve satisfaction overall.
One of the biggest technical challenges for financial services
institutions is the acquisition and management of usable customer information, and integration of legacy applications into a CRM framework. "
|
|
|
Email to Friends |
Print
|
|
|
|
| Top |
|
|
