The 2022 SITEisfaction® survey emphasises the need for digital inclusivity in digital banking for clients, stating that banks should empower clients to use digital platforms autonomously, which allows them to stay in better control of their finances.
The survey results revealed that there are three aspects of digital inclusivity that banks should aim to fulfil:
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Access (or technical inclusion, which is about ensuring a client has access to the relevant digital platform and that the platform works seamlessly)
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Ability (or information inclusion, which relates to educating and informing clients about how to use a platform)
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Affordability (or economic inclusion, which means providing access to an affordable device and data to access a digital platform, but also includes affordable banking fees)
In the fast-growing digital age, digital banking must constantly strive to find ways to understand its clients better and deliver the right services and solutions tailored specifically for them. And therein lies the opportunity to leverage big data and business intelligence (BI) to serve a growing client base more effectively.
Enhancing the client experience by predicting future needs
As a leading digital bank, Capitec, which recently reached over 10 million digital clients, realises the importance of harnessing big data and BI to predict clients’ future needs by profiling and segmenting them based on their transactional history.
Data and intelligence are crucial in creating a personalised and affordable client banking experience and improving the bank’s responsiveness to these requirements. They also allow the bank to introduce effective communication and tailored educational tools through the client’s preferred channels like email, SMS, phone calls, in-app messages, and social media.
By personalising the clients data, banks can also identify opportunities and gaps in clients’ understanding of services and products, enabling them to provide targeted education tools and create more proactive client engagement. Big data helps banks find areas where clients may struggle or not engage with products as expected, presenting opportunities for improved education and communication.
In addition to helping digital banks understand client preferences for communication, insights from big data can also help banks identify gaps in clients’ understanding of certain products and services. Banks can then create targeted educational materials to educate clients on their offerings, the safest way to use products, how to protect login information, and to avoid falling victim to hackers.
Leveraging business intelligence to mitigate banking risk
Not so long ago, the data available to banks was limited to collecting basic customer information. Today, massive volumes of untapped and invaluable data generated by customers preferred usage of channels like apps versus our physical branches and other digital resources, have become the new oil of the digital economy that powers Business Intelligence (BI).
Leveraging BI helps banks create client relevant solutions, mitigate digital banking risks and prevent fraud. By assessing insights from the data, banks can identify repetitive patterns that threaten their clients and manage their risks better, securing their clients’ money more effectively than ever in the digital era.
There are countless opportunities for the banking industry to use BI to leverage big data captured through customer interactions, from transactions, and digital app channels to:
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Detect fraud: By analysing large amounts of transactional data, business intelligence tools can identify patterns and outliers that may indicate fraudulent activity. Banks can train machine learning algorithms to detect and flag suspicious transactions in real time, allowing banks to take swift action to prevent fraud.
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Manage risk: Big data analytics can assess the risk associated with different types of transactions or customers. This can help banks decide which client transactions to approve or decline as an example.
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Personalise client experiences: By analysing customer data, banks can create relevant experiences for their customers, including helping clients identify possible fraudulent interactions and delighting them with a pleasant support experience.
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Educate the client: Big data allows banks to identify opportunities to provide their clients with insights in the way they utilise their products retrospectively, and even identify safer ways to use products. In certain cases that could help clients improve their personal financial management, or be more cautious with their financial information, resulting in them not falling victim to hackers.
Harnessing big data and BI for personalised, accessible banking with a human touch
The banking industry generates massive volumes of data. By leveraging big data and BI, banks do more than enhance the client experience; they can pave the way for banking services to be easily accessible and personalised. They can enable banks to proactively offer solutions based on a client’s preferences and financial situations, almost like creating a personalised relationship with the ability to address all their banking questions and anticipate their needs.
Technology like AI, business intelligence, big data, and chatbots allows banks to become more relevant, relatable, and supportive to clients while fostering financial growth. Most importantly, they can mitigate risks in the era of digital banking, anticipate their clients’ future needs and prioritise their financial safety in 2023. This will enable the sector to provide better services and create a safer and more responsive banking environment.
By: Blessing Mgaga, Divisional Executive: Client Experience Delivery
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