'Inflection Point' as Finance Firms Poised to Invest to Improve Customer Experience
4 min readIT’S GREAT NEWS THAT BANKS AND INSURANCE COMPANIES APPEAR READY TO START SPENDING TO UPGRADE THEIR DIGITAL SERVICES IN WAYS WHICH WILL MAKE A TANGIBLE DIFFERENCE TO CUSTOMERS.
New research shows that financial institutions are prioritizing investment in higher quality customer experience capabilities at a key inflection point in IT-led growth initiatives. But feedback from that survey also reveals the challenges they face to achieve this objective, including legacy IT infrastructure and regulatory restrictions around data storage and processing.
We at SoftServe are delighted that the findings, in research undertaken on our behalf by Finextra, show a genuine and growing appetite by banks and insurers to invest more in making customers’ digital engagements easier and more fulfilling. It also confirms what we are increasingly being told by our own clients in the sector.
Many of the responses show that financial service providers see this point of customer engagement as a critical competitive differentiator that cannot only increase efficiency but grow revenues. There is a recognition that investments in these resources have not kept pace with other IT initiatives and that customers now expect a more personalised, relevant, and intuitive response from their banks.
These findings corroborate our own experience dealing with a wide cross section of financial institutions in many parts of the globe, particularly EMEA and North America, where historically organizations have been more cautious about committing investment to new technologies. However, increasing competition and faced with more demanding customer expectations, banks now appear to be opening their IT investment purse strings.
Some of the key takeaways from the survey show that it has become a strategic priority at C-level to develop customer experience, with budgets for creating this shared journey now growing to significant levels. Responses indicated that intention, ambition, and vision is there for the most part, to develop and deliver a more seamless and intuitive customer digital experience.
We know that most financial institutions are not natural early adopters when it comes to new technologies, partly due to an embedded risk-averse culture but also a tendency to want to see these proven elsewhere first. The responses from this survey suggest that wait-and-see approach is coming to an end and that bank and insurance customers could be soon enjoying the digital experiences they have become accustomed to from other suppliers.
For example, some 42% of respondents said improving the digital experience is a core part of their strategic commitment to customers, while only 19% of them believed they have what could be called a “seamless omnichannel experience.” The survey identified many specific areas that will need to be addressed, but one of the most common was the lack of an intuitive experience with 48% admitting that customers complain about having to re-enter information when pursuing an enquiry.
But there was a general recognition that most finance firms are still held back by legacy systems and the need for infrastructure upgrades, with less than one percent disagreeing this was the case. With regulatory requirements and competition galvanising these transformation efforts, it can therefore be expected that the next two years will bring a raft of digital innovation, and fast times to market as organisations rush to deliver their improved service and digital experience goals.
It was not a surprise to see the survey responses also show that to deliver these new capabilities banks are having to tackle legacy IT issues and regulatory concerns. But it is something many of our clients have already discovered can be overcome by working with trusted and experienced partners, which is a service we look forward to continuing to provide.
Enjoy reading the rest of the survey detail to realise that not only are you not alone in facing these serious challenges, but to get a better understanding of how your peers are tackling them. We hope the findings can help with more informed debate on the subject within your organization and lead to the better outcomes your customers expect.