Interaction in action

A unified set of communication tools can enable a bank to reach and surpass its customer service objectives, and they are easier to use and implement than you might think, as FST discovered.

“Our unified communication tools allow us to analyze our contact center in order to optimize staffing levels. So if waiting time is too long, we can identify and respond. In the past, the only way we could have known this is if a customer complained”

Short of handing out free money, complimentary head massages and interest-free, no-questions-asked loans, there is not much a bank can do to make its customers completely happy. They can be made content, accepting, and even occasionally pleasantly surprised by the level of service they receive, but in terms of pure and unadulterated happiness, banks sadly inhabit a bracket that will forever be filed under 'mistrust' in an individual's mental compartmentalization of things 'good' and 'bad'.

This situation is testing enough, but banks also have to employ a team of staff that is ready and willing to face this flak on a daily basis yet remain steadfastly calm, positive and helpful throughout; a task made all the more difficult in light of the global economic crisis that has shaken the banking world like an ornithophobic let loose in a parrot store. The fragile road to recovery is littered with pitfalls and potholes, but the financial world must start somewhere, and restoring confidence with the wider banking population is most definitely one of the first steps.

But where, and how, to start? Customers no longer blindly trust their bank, but they still, by and large, need to use them. Hence, a bank would be well advised to adopt and utilise the latest technology in order to recover that most basic form of customer satisfaction - great service. George Walker, SVP and CIO of First Community Bank, was quick to recognize that his customers wanted, first and foremost, clear, accurate and swift service from their bank, and identified a unified communications software platform that would enable the bank to deliver and surpass its customers' demands, while also equipping its staff with the tools necessary to hit these previously unscaled heights.

"We are a community bank, so one of the things we do well is what I like to call relationship banking," begins Walker. "We know our customers and they know us, so to be able to provide our banking staff with the tools that enable them to receive customer communications no matter where they are is ideal. These communication streams are delivered in an extremely simple way, because the last thing our staff want to do is learn how to sign on to five different systems and be required to remember a bunch of passwords and logins. For them, it is a one-stop shop for service and communications."

This one-stop shop is reflected in the level of customer service the bank is now able to offer since it adopted a unified communications software platform.

To the uninitiated, unified communications is a platform that integrates all of the systems that a banker might already be using (such as email, telephone, video call etc.) and enables these systems to work together in a real time fashion. So staff at the bank can connect seamlessly to their customers regardless of their location. As long as they are in possession of one of the integrated platforms for end use, staff are connected and able to communicate.  In addition, a unified communications platform will come with an interactive directory, which enables staff to access it and locate a fellow member of staff, engage in a voice call, a video call, a text messaging session or even a discussion on a social media-type platform, thus drastically increasing the channels of communication a banker has with not only the customer, but also with fellow members of staff.

"Aside from our staff being able to communicate with our customers better," enthuses Walker, "one of the other things that we have worked on is enabling more real-time communications with those who bank online or conduct mobile banking. One of the things that we found is, for some of our higher-risk customers, instant alerts to our team about customer transactions have really made their job much easier. For example, if somebody has sent in a big wire transfer and it is outside of their normal pattern of transactions, in the old days you had to call around to try to get hold of them, but now we send them instant alerts and they call us right back."

This is just one example of how unified communications is able to reconnect the customer with the bank, and slowly erode the walls of distrust that were erected during the credit crunch of 2008. Since incorporating unified communications into First Community Bank, Walker has seen a reduction in business latency and less reliance on the dependency and availability of a certain device or medium.

"Our staff are now much more mobile," says Walker. "Almost all of our bankers now have Smartphones and with them they can be anywhere, at any time, and are able to conduct almost any form of banking. They have access to almost everything that they have access to when they are in the office."

A personal service

But it is not just the ability of the bank's staff to work from home or remote locations that yields the greatest benefit for the customer; it is the fact that First Community Bank can make good on its promise to deliver a more personal service, empowered by the unified communications tools they now have in place. "One of our key business models is that we provide a better service than the larger banks do," explains Walker. "One of the reasons that we are able to do this is because we have such a unified set of communication tools, and they allow us to analyze our contact center in order to optimize staffing levels. So if waiting time is too long, we can identify and respond. In the past, the only way we could have known this is if a customer complained."

The contact center at First Community Bank has now been transformed. Callers are dealt with much more swiftly, and many are even given the option of immediate call back. If a caller to the bank leaves a voicemail, the bank's response is also much faster and more accurate than ever before. "This is perhaps one of the most obvious benefits to our customers," says Walker. "When an account holder calls the bank and leaves a voicemail, we can get back to them much quicker than before, because that voicemail doesn't get lost, our bankers no longer forget their voicemail password. This all equates to a much greater service for our customers."

A complete unified communications system will incorporate the ability for users to automate the processes behind setting up things like conference calls, video and web conferences, and pretty much all other types of communication in a much quicker, easier and controlled manner. Such technology enables staff members to maintain and enhance customer connections, quickly identify problems and issues, respond to them, and collaborate in real-time with fellow staff members in order to ensure that all tasks are resolved in a satisfactorily fashion.

"We have some pretty cool technology here that not only serves the customer but also helps to attract and retain people to the bank," says Walker. "They find that when they come to work for the bank we are able to provide them with the tools they need in order to be successful and good at what they do. They are able to service our customers in the best manner possible, and this ensures that they want to keep on working here."

Second nature

There would be little point incorporating a complete unified communications system into a bank's technology architecture if the software itself proved too difficult to master. For George Walker, the tools' ease of use and intuitiveness were one of the main drivers behind his decision to adopt the software for the bank. "They were all very simple to learn. There was very little training involved. It would have defeated the purpose completely if the staff found the software hard to master, so there are very few barriers to adoption."

From a cost perspective, unified communications tools are obviously not free to implement, but Walker argues that cost savings are relative to the actual real time savings a bank can make in terms of efficiency, productivity, staff retention and customer satisfaction. "As far as cost savings go, I'm not sure if there have been a lot of hard-dollar savings. I think there have been a lot of timesavings though, for sure. Our staff members have been able to access their messages and their email and everything else much easier, so I think our unified set of communications have allowed everyone to be more productive than they were before."

The future of banking will naturally feel its way along a number of evolutionary paths. Mobile banking is still pushing the boundaries of possibilities. Social media platforms are making their first, tentative forays into the financial world. Collaboration tools and unified communications are part of this natural process of evolution, so it is up to the banks themselves to decide which methods are going to work best for their own needs. "For us, I think it has just been a natural evolution of service," concludes Walker. "I can remember when we just had voicemail, then it became email that was driving service. They were two completely separate things and now, I really believe that the access to customer communication and the ability for staff to collaborate in an increasingly efficient way will be huge for the banking world. As banking becomes more and more electronic, I believe that banks of all sizes are going to need these kinds of tools and technologies otherwise they are not going to be able to keep up."

Banking is indeed more electronic than ever before, and it is in this context that banks have to begin to think and operate. Customers are becoming more and more tech-savvy, so maintaining customer connections is, ostensibly, easier than ever. However, expectations of service have increased in line with technology, and customers now expect service quickly, accurately, and whenever they want it. If a bank can adopt unified communications capability, it can not only augment and improve its service to its customers, but it can also make the job of the bankers and tellers a great deal easier.

What is unified communications?

Unified communications is the integration of real-time communication services - such as telephony, video conferencing, instant messaging, presence information, speech recognition and call control - with non real-time communication services, such as unified messaging, which is integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax. Unified communications is not a single product but rather a set of products that provides a consistent unified user interface and experience across a multitude of devices and platforms.

Unified communications allows an individual to send a message via one medium and then receive the same communication on another medium. An example is receiving a voicemail message and being able to access it through e-mail or via a smartphone. If the sender is online according to the presence information and currently accepts calls, the response can be sent immediately through text chat or video call. Otherwise, it can be sent as a non real-time message that can be accessed through a variety of media platforms.

One of the main drivers behind the growing adoption rates of unified communications in banking is to reduce communication response time, or perceived speed. Unified communications differs from unified messaging in that it allows individuals to check and retrieve an e-mail or voicemail from any communication device at anytime, and it expands beyond voicemail services to data communications and video services.

FACTOIDS

Reports by computerworld.com attribute the growing adoption rates of unified communications solutions to better return on investment - what was once an IT luxury is now viewed as a technical necessity.

With growth comes choice: there is very little consistency in the types of unified communications solutions being chosen, with each company throughout the world opting for something that works for them.