Financial Services Companies Work More Effectively With Customers

SAP NEWSBYTE - October 07, 2009 - While banks are increasingly facing cautious regulators, higher capital costs, and challenges to core business models, both banks and insurers are dealing with weaker demand and hesitant consumers. When banks and insurers are trusted by their customers, they find it easier to tap into the knowledge and emotions that drive their customers’ behaviors. By rebuilding trust through improved internal processes and customer-facing operations, financial services firms can work consultatively with customers to help them meet their personal goals in a tumultuous economic environment.

In July 2009, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), sponsored by SAP, surveyed 86 executives at 86 financial services firms across the globe about the challenges of getting customer-facing departments to work together consistently and effectively.

Survey Findings:
• The majority of respondents among banks and insurers agree that customer satisfaction is top-priority objective, second only to improving efficiency.
• According to 58 percent of the financial services executives, customer relationships have improved over the past year despite the global economic downturn.
• In turn, 70 percent of those surveyed do not know which of their customers account for the profits received from their investment in customers.
• From a global perspective, banks and insurance companies prioritize their core strengths by putting customer service first, operational excellence second, and innovation third. But in each region the financial service firms have a different focus: the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region puts most focus on customer service; the Asia-Pacific region focuses on operational excellence; and in the Americas the focus is on innovation.