Customer expectations are escalating, thanks to their experiences with FinTech’s and mega brands who are better able to understand and adapt instantly to their needs. This increased pressure to deliver a “hyper-personalized” experience, accelerate sales growth, and build longer-lasting customer relationships has led to an ever-expanding range marketing stacks loaded with “best-in-class” point solutions.  

 But there’s a problem: each solution has its own “brain,” data model, and understanding of the customer. They weren’t built to work together and can’t adapt quickly enough to keep pace with customer needs as they change in the moment.  

 Instead, they rely on inflexible campaign tactics, broad-based segmentations, and pre-scored actions that can’t support the kind of relevant, meaningful engagement required to outpace competitors.  

 At a recent GDS Group Banking Summit, Pepe Porrata, COO at Varo Bank says “there are 3 things banks need to do well. Be stable and well managed, deliver great products and services, and need to make sure you have an agile workforce.”   

At a recent Meet the Boss roundtable, industry experts explored key challenges that banks are facing, but the fact is, in the next 5 – 10 years, everything in banking is going to change. Customer expectations are going up, and loyalty will keep decreasing. During the event, a senior executive at Pegasystems states that “Gen Z and Gen X are banking nomads” happily switching from bank to bank. They leave banks at different times for different reasons. Sometimes due to very competitive pricing in the market, sometimes poor service is the driver. People want personalization and good service; and we need to give it to them.  

  So how can we do that? Well, data is quickly becoming the cornerstone of how modern-day banks operate. It’s the communication tool of the future — and it has the potential to help banks solve some of their biggest problems. Today’s financial marketplace has become a data-driven world. Data enables financial institutions to offer personalised service, improve efficiency and increase profitability. And this shift has had – and will continue to have – a profound impact on virtually every aspect of banking: from operational costs, staffing strategies, and of course, those personalised customer experiences. If you’re not sure where the data is from, or if the quality is any good, how can you use it to improve your systems? You must get this key factor right to succeed. 

 Next, standardizing how you measure ROI on each channel is a huge challenge for banks right now. But this is another imperative factor to get right from the get-go. A senior executive from Pegasystems explains that “the channel your customer is in is where they want to be. Don’t force them or push them down a different channel just to suit your ROI needs.”  You must meet them where they are.  

According to a recent report by Gartner, banks and investment firms will spend a whopping $623 billion on technology products and services this year alone, while 60% of large organizations will use one or more privacy-enhancing computation techniques by 2025. So, take a step back and think, where are you on your customer engagement journey? How is AI helping your company embrace its digital future, and provide a personalised experience for all? And where are you getting your data from, can it be trusted?  

To learn more, why not join us at our next GDS Banking Summit? GDS summits are tailored 3-day virtual event conferences that bring together business leaders and solution providers to accelerate sales cycles, industry conversations and outcomes. Regarding the NG Banking Summit 80% of solution providers said they would be interested in sponsoring future events and that same 80% agreed that in this ‘new normal’, GDS digital summits worked well and met or exceeded their expectations.    

For more, click here to hear from attendees on how GDS has helped them to achieve their business outcomes.   

Continue the debate at GDS’ NG Banking Summits where we bring together senior financial executives who are actively seeking to share, learn, engage, and find the best solutions. Apply to attend.