Banks are feeling the pressure to dramatically improve the customer experience (CX).
They’re responding to fintechs and hi-tech giants, such as Amazon, Apple and Google, who are harnessing emerging technology and advanced analytics to better understand the motivations, desires and needs of customers. Such knowledge enables fintechs and other disruptors to personalize the experience and effectively cross-sell, up-sell and build customer loyalty.
Banks want to, and must, do the same.
When the expectations of customers are met or, preferably, exceeded, the reward for banks is greater customer loyalty and trust. This results in enduring relationships with customers, which can boost deposit retention and is critical to the stability of banks.
Delivering a winning CX in the digital age increasingly depends on the ability of banks to harness data and leverage artificial intelligence (AI) in CX initiatives, especially within their contact centers. And while banks are making some progress toward digital transformation, a recent global CX in banking survey shows that only 10% of these financial institutions report making “significant” progress.
Conducted by Worldwide Business Research USA, the Talkdesk survey of financial institution decision-makers reveals that more than one-third (36%) of banks struggle with migrating legacy CX technology to the cloud. Failure to migrate legacy contact center operations to the cloud deprives banks of the flexibility and scalability necessary to ensure a superior CX.
Nearly one in four (24%) banks report difficulties with implementing data analytics in their contact centers. Organizations that use analytics in their contact centers to identify customer trends, pain points and opportunities to introduce new products and services are better able to stay ahead of competitors who lack visibility into their customers.
Specific barriers to digital transformation
At least one-half of all survey respondents cited several major obstacles to implementing a digital transformation strategy. Topping the list (at 62.5% of respondents) is the difficulty their banks experience in consolidating and using customer data across multiple silos and channels, a problem that impairs the ability of contact center employees to resolve customer issues or provide requested information.
For example, when a contact center agent on a call can’t easily find customer information from previous emails, texts, or a mobile app, both the employee and customer will become frustrated. Consequently, customer satisfaction and employee morale will diminish, often to the point that customers will look for a new financial institution and contact center employees will quit or simply become less invested in doing a good job – further diminishing the CX. Both outcomes can damage a bank’s growth and retention strategies.
More than half (51.5%) of survey respondents said their organizations struggle to integrate new technologies that could improve contact center efficiency or provide customers with self-service options, while 50% report issues with collecting quality data to inform CX strategies. Finally, roughly one in five (20.5%) survey respondents said their inability to find and retain contact center employees is an obstacle to digital transformation.
AI adoption challenges
Given such data quality problems, it’s no surprise that a dearth of quality information is a top challenge for nearly three-quarters (74%) of large banks seeking to implement AI in their contact centers. The effectiveness of AI, after all, is heavily dependent on the data fed to algorithms; bad data inevitably leads to bad outputs and continued lack of transparency into the CX.
Other stumbling blocks to AI adoption in bank contact centers include resistance to change (63% for large organizations and 69% for small ones) – a perennial obstacle to technology adoption – and insufficient talent to maintain an AI initiative (61% large, 64% small).
Overcoming barriers to AI in the contact center
Internal resistance and shortages of AI talent combined can undermine efforts by banks to meet the needs of digital customers and stay ahead of the competition. From a strategic perspective, banks pursuing AI migration must be able to:
- Secure executive buy-in
- Eliminate fear of failure and encourage innovation
- Deliver effective change management – both internally and externally – to drive adoption
- Partner with technology companies that have AI at the core of their platforms
To counter opposition to, or lack of enthusiasm for, AI solutions in the contact center, banks must emphasize the benefits of these cloud-based technologies to customers, contact center employees and other business stakeholders:
Omnichannel options: Not all bank customers want to call a contact center (though many still do). Some prefer email, text or chat bots. Still others prefer whatever method is convenient for them at the moment that they want to transact. Providing multiple communication channels to today’s digital customers is essential to a quality CX.
Supporting customers wherever they bank, via an app or website: Many customers prefer the convenience of self-service for simple needs, such as checking account balances or exploring loan options. Self-service allows customers to help themselves while also freeing up support agents to handle more complex customer issues.
Personalization: AI and advanced analytics enable bank support staff to better understand customers’ unique needs and preferences. In addition, AI can conduct sentiment analysis and use natural language processing (NLP) to fulfill customer inquiries and understand their emotional state in real time.
Improved agent support: AI analyzes conversations and, in real time, provides relevant help articles and scripts so agents don’t have to search for them. AI can guide agents through these difficult conversations and analyze interactions with customers to provide tips that can lead to better agent performance.
A frictionless experience for customers and agents
For banks in the digital age, CX is a powerful differentiator in an increasingly competitive market. Ensuring the success of their CX depends on the ability to provide customers with frictionless advice and service.
A modern, cloud-based contact center powered by AI can likely provide customers with the personalization and self-service functionality they demand, while supporting contact center agents with tools that allow them to do their jobs more efficiently.
Rahul Kumar is the vice president and general manager for financial services at Talkdesk.
