Whether you want to admit it or not, the Covid-19 pandemic has upended delivery of financial services. There was already a trendline toward increased digital delivery at financial institutions in recent years, but the rate of adoption grew exponentially in 2020 — out of necessity. Face-to-face access inside of banks simply wasn’t an option for many, many months.
If they hadn’t already, financial institutions scrambled to adapt their processes to bring digital services online; once they did, they quickly realized there was no going back. Furthermore, when customers do visit a branch, they don’t just want convenience — they expect it!
That means branch banking must continue transforming to stay competitive. Now is the time to focus on how you deliver services inside the branch.
People demand convenience everywhere
Retail and commercial customers reside in a digital landscape. Their smartphones are replete with apps that give them access to everything, from news to entertainment, from shopping to socializing. Now they expect their financial institution to offer access to their money, budgeting tools and financial planning goals in similar easy-to-use fashion.
In the face of clunky manual processes, people will turn away to seek convenience. Financial institutions cannot afford this. So the question is: What technology does your financial institution have in place today to offer customers the convenience they demand?
In-branch automation is baseline
Deploying automation to save resources is a bottom-line benefit, but it’s not the whole picture. Financial institutions must automate transactional processes to retain customers.
Community-based financial institutions have built their franchises on relationships, and they need to understand that technology supports those relationships. Consider that automated processes allow universal bankers more time to learn about the customer and their needs.
As it becomes increasingly rare, the face-to-face, in-branch time can be spent on meaningful interactions rather than on data gathering. (We call this Heads Up Banking!)
Your customers value the time you spend with them as long as you aren’t wasting their time. Automation gives you this ability. The days when tellers need to stop interacting with customers in order to count money or complete other transactions need to end.
Branch transformation and automation allow your financial institution the ability to focus on customer engagement. Self-service kiosks, ITMs & ATMs, currency recyclers, lobby self-service coin, and more allow you to streamline certain services, freeing up staff time for more valuable interactions and branch tasks. It’s about migrating daily transactions to be more efficient, faster, lower cost and provide a better user-experience.
What people want and need from their financial institution is evolving whether it’s deposit automation at the ATM or extended hours with an ITM. The challenge facing today’s financial institutions is figuring out how to transform service delivery while still maintaining a branch presence in the community. Technology is a substantial part of the solution.
Contact Bankers Equipment Service to learn more about Heads Up Banking solutions, and how technology can drive a better customer experience and improve your efficiency ratios.
