Article

The omnichannel imperative

In a panel discussion at the ATM & Mobile Summit, bankers spoke about the role of omnichannel and how it is driving companies to develop a more seamless customer experience.

September 23, 2015 by Suzanne Cluckey — Owner, Suzanne Cluckey Communications

Financial institutions are feeling pressure to provide the same type of omnichannel banking experience that smartphone-carrying customers are getting from an increasing number and variety of retailers. But as they invest in technology, facilities, backoffice upgrades and employee training, they face the challenges of breaking down service silos and then coordinating, securing and monetizing all products, services and delivery systems. At last week's ATM & Mobile Summit, a panel of bankers from a range of FIs talked about how they're managing change.

Panelists included:

Bernie McLaughlin, president and CEO of Point Breeze Credit Union
Patricia O’Donnell, senior vice president of client solutions and enterprise payments at Key Bank
Gary Pearcy, senior vice president of the deposit products group at Wells Fargo

The panel was moderated by Ed O’Brien, director of banking channels advisory service at Mercator Advisory Group.

EO: What does omnichannel mean to your institution?

PO:I would say that what's important is ubiquity. As a customer, I want to be able to do business anytime, anywhere through any device. I want to be able to start a transaction, I want to be able to close out because I got busy and go and pick it up somewhere else.

I think that's pretty widely what people are looking for from banking, because as consumers that's the experience that we have with retailers that have brick and mortar as well as online presence. It's what we've gotten used to and so we have an expectation that we're going to be able to interact and get instantaneous response and high quality with high security.

EO: Why now?

GP:We're pressured all around. There's so much competition out there. And from a banking standpoint, we can't rest on any laurels — we don't have laurels to rest on at this point.

We're being challenged left and right by folks outside our industry to make it easier, to make it more convenient ... So it's urgent for us as banks to service our customers the right way, which is allowing them to interact and have options for transactions anywhere at any time they desire.

PO:[W]hen you think about the opportunities in front of us and how other industries are using these technologies to cross sell, to enable an increase in revenues per customer — these are all business considerations that are imperative to our industry. It's as much about that as it is about improving the customer experience.

EO: Are there things we should consider based on what you're hearing from customers?

BM:The issue is to be aware that putting all of this [technology] in changes your brand somewhat with existing customers, particularly older ones. And you have to kind of be careful, because when you do this it's going to change the way you feel to your membership.

One other point I want to mention here is that as you migrate you have to consider employees, because not only do they have to know what to do but they have to be trained across all the touch points so you have that consistency; so that if [customers] go from one channel to another they're not getting different messages. And if something goes wrong with any of your technology [employees] have to know what to say and where to get answers.

EO: Is this more of a B2C play or a B2B play?

PO:I think it's both. We tend to focus on the B2C play because we think about consumers and how we are as consumers interacting with banks. But the business community, in my experience is as interested in omnichannel and multiple channels of delivery per service as are consumers.

I look at it as businesses demanding the same kind of omnichannel experiences as consumers do, I just think the user interfaces need to be different and the needs are going to be certainly much more sophisticated at a business level than they are at a consumer level. But the requirement for omnichannel is consistent across both.

EO: It seems like omnichannel banking will need various iterations and updates.

GP:Anything you develop anymore, you have to have the mindset that it's going to go across channels and so that's a different type of thinking [in] your technology environment. ... And you have to share the lessons learned across the board.

PO: I think that omnichannel banking is a project without an end because it's going to continue to evolve. Technology is not standing still; the forward movement is astounding and it's hard to keep up.

We also have to think about the glue that puts all of those pieces together — which is really the integration — looking at the systems we put in and making sure that there is the interconnection point and also assimilating a lot of different hardware and software from partners.

EO: What role does the ATM play? Off to the side? Totally integrated?

GP:Certainly, mobile-and-ATM is the kind of front-and-center channel. ... Especially with your Apple Pay and your Android Pay and things of that nature, [customers] want their banking to be just as easy. They want to drop up to the [ATM] and wave their phone and have their cash disbursed.

And the mobile channel is continuing to grow in terms of the functionality and the capability that it's delivering to the customer. So ATM and mobile channels are just huge.

PO:I think they're inherent in what you have to do with omnichannel.

BM:Mobile is the big winner. It just keeps growing and growing. ATMs stopped at about 50 percent or 60 percent, but mobile just keeps going.

About Suzanne Cluckey

Suzanne’s editorial career has spanned three decades and encompassed all B2B and B2C communications formats. Her award-winning work has appeared in trade and consumer media in the United States and internationally.