‘Banks actively use social media to communicate with customers’

In an interaction with VOICE&DATA, Amit Sethi, CIO, YES Bank talks about how banks are looking at strategic partnerships with technology vendors to develop innovative system features in order to improve process efficiencies and co-create sector-specific banking solutions. Excerpts-

What are the key technology trends in the banking sector, if we look at it as an enterprise?

Mobility has become need of the hour due to its convenience of being available anytime anywhere. It is the fastest-growing platform for banking interactions and transactions and could also be used for customer on boarding, lead capture, cross selling, etc. Also since the end-user device preferences are diverse and ever demanding, it becomes imperative that the technology becomes agnostic and accommodative to user preferences. Social media and cloud based services are also gaining momentum. Banks actively use social media to communicate with customers in about everything from new credit card offers to branch closures. Banks presence on social media is playing a critical role in understanding customer needs.

With evolving social media, the banks can look at utilizing it as a channel for lead capture, marketing, segmentation, brand equity building, etc. YES Bank has always believed and adopted this technology and has been the early adopters of cloud based services in banking with the first mover implementation in payments.

One more important trend for banking industry is business analytics. Advanced business intelligence and analytics are the keys to better information at lower cost. BI can enable advanced analytical abilities which will help banks in creating personalized customer experience, service differentiation, and customer acquisition. With maximum percentage unbanked population living in rural areas and regulators' focus on financial inclusion, it has become very important for banks to look at technology which can enable them to cater to this population in cost effective manner like micro ATMs, bank on mobile, etc.

What are the business challenges faced by the banking industry?

People management issues like lack of skilled staff, training, attrition; change in customer demographics and preferences; evolving technology; regulatory framework; security threats on various channels; commoditization of products; service differentiation since everybody is offering everything; cost; efficiency and margin pressures are some of the key challenges that the industry is facing currently.

How has the banking sector technologically evolved over the last few years?

Earlier the banks had an internal approach towards technology with larger focus on back office, batch processing, etc, but over the years, banks have realized the importance of customer experience becoming a service differentiator and have evolved with focus on front office, customer facing channels, use of business intelligence for apt decision making, real-time processing, end-user devices, mobility, social media, SOA based architectures, scalability, revamp of legacy infrastructure, etc.

What are the technology requirements of your bank and who are your vendors that look after your ICT tools?

We are looking at unified communication (UC) since it has the ability to integrate different communication mediums such as voice, data, video, instant messages, audio and video conferencing into one common interface to realize benefits of increased productivity, enhanced competitive advantage, improved customer responsiveness, and a more sophisticated end-user experience

VOIP-A cost-effective IP to IP calling between internal YES Bank employees across offices thus reducing STD calls.

Video Phone-Video calling is as easy as making a phone call but with a video advantage. Easy access to faceto-face communications between MANCOM members. Enhance interactions, build relationships, and speed decision making. Significant savings in time and travel costs.

Video Phone Banking-We have deployed one Kiosk set up at IFC, Nariman point branch and contact center agent at Gurgaon. A face to face rich user experience for customer while talking to a contact center agent.

Instant Messaging-'CISCO's Jabber (Presence)' an instant messaging solution which provides an integrated collaboration.

What strategies have you planned for your company to reduce costs?

Few areas where technology has been identified as a key pillar are strategic partnering with businesses, focus on technology innovations, and strategic partnerships with some of the best known IT majors globally to develop innovative systems in order to improve process efficiencies and create sector-specific banking solutions. Another area is the development of a robust business continuity plan for addressing risks and secure systems that are vital to business operations.

The bank also heavily outsources its needs, and that strategy is paying off in many ways. For one, it allows it to shift management focus away from routine tasks to ‘business transformation' projects to drive growth. It also needs to make fewer investments in various kinds of technology infrastructure as much of that responsibility gets shifted to its vendors. It can also operate with smaller IT team ves flexibility and agility.