Customer experience has become both a challenge and a key competitive differentiator in business—and the financial services industry is not immune. The uptake of digital technology has changed customer expectations towards more personalised, timely and relevant experiences, delivered when and where customers want. In response, financial services companies are rethinking their approach to customer interactions and making customer experience a priority.
This trend was highlighted at FST Media’s Technology & Innovation – Future of Banking & Financial Services conference held in Auckland in late September, and was corroborated by a live poll conducted at the conference by ClearPoint. Results showed that around 50% of event participants have leveraged big data analytics to improve customer experience, see ‘personalisation’ as critical to the success of their digital touch points, and will embrace digital service innovation as their ‘top technology priority’ over the next 12 months.
I was invited to participate in the “Spotlight on Innovation” panel with Oscar Peppit, General Manager of Uber, New Zealand and Brett O’Riley, Chief Executive of Auckland Tourism, Events, & Economic Development. The main focus of the panel was on technology, agile development and specifically how these work together to enhance the customer experience.
During our discussion, we identified some key factors for successful customer experiences:
Continually collect customer feedback and respond quickly
Fundamental to improving customer experience is knowing their current experience, which requires collecting the right information, at the right time. However, it’s not enough to simply collect feedback, organisations need to act on that information in an immediate, flexible and transparent way that creates meaningful connections with customers. This means driving the importance of customer-centricity throughout organisation, giving the data to those who can use it, and empowering them to take the action needed.
This is incredibly powerful in a digital world where trust and transparency are increasingly valued, and will become expected, giving those that embrace it a competitive advantage.
Measure the user experience
“Often some of the most pervasive problems that you have with user experience in a traditional company are as a result of not measuring, not necessarily as a result of the size of the problem that needs to be fixed.” Oscar Peppit
If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it. People, processes and technology must work together to deliver what the customer is looking for. Data and analytics allow businesses to gain feedback from customers by studying the way they behave in real time. This makes it incredibly easy for customers to give feedback because it requires nothing other than acting as they would in the environment they’re given. It also provides a benchmark for comparison to see if changes made are effective in improving the customer experience.
Understand the story the data tells
Taking the time to understand the story that data provides will set apart those who can differentiate between signal and noise, and take predictive and preemptive action. For example, Uber maps car travel patterns, which allows them to be predictive about solving problems. By analyzing trends, Uber can predict when customers may need a ride from a certain area and ensure wait times are short, even in peak traffic.
Build an agile, flexible, iterative approach to software development and business leadership
Delivering superior customer experience requires processes and technology that can capture insightful customer information and enable rapid response to changes. A flexible, agile approach to software allows a ‘confidence in flexibility’ where changes can be quickly in response to customer needs and new opportunities by applying methods of continuous integration, continuous delivery and automated testing. This approach can be applied to business leadership as well, encouraging fresh thinking that will help organisations respond more rapidly to change.
Thank you to fellow panelists Oscar Peppit and Brett O’Riley for the insightful discussion. Brett summarised the discussion well when he said, “It’s the companies that are able to pivot really quickly that are going to be successful.”