BOSTON — Financial institutions might best recover from the meltdown on Wall Street by focusing on Main Street, and there are some well-known software tools out there that can help, according to a new report.
Customer relationship management tools are a prime example of that, and should be at the top of the list of technology expenditure considerations for credit unions that want to begin the economic recovery at the bricks-and-mortar level.
That is, if they want to do as the big banks do. That takeaway is from a report by Aite Group analyst Kate Monahan, who said that despite the troubled economy, now is no time not to work to aggressively build business at the branch level.
Recommended For You
"Executives need to find ways to meet their own business goals, which include increasing revenues despite economic conditions," the Aite Group analyst said.
"Improving efficiency, processing more transactions, processing transactions faster, freeing up staff to assist more customers and improving branch processes are some of the ways in which branch technology can assist branch executives in meeting their goals," she said.
To meet these goals, however, requires the technology infrastructure to support them. In her report, Monahan sought to explore what technology products and services are perceived as essential purchases at the branch level over the next two years and during tough economic times. To do so, she surveyed executives at 14 of the top 100 banks in the U.S.
CRM and other sales automation solutions topped the list of expected upgrades for these executives, with 92% indicating it as "likely" or "extremely likely" that they will buy or replace a current system within the next two years.
That's because those kinds of tech tools are seen as key to making the most of existing customers, the Aite Group analyst said.
"Providing a high level of customer service is important or extremely important to nearly 80% of participants, which makes this type of technology investment a logical choice for banks placing similar importance on customer service quality," Monahan said.
To service these customers, executives picked more current branch staffing solution software and updated loan origination solutions as of next greatest importance.
In an earlier study, Aite Group discovered more than 1,500 banks and credit unions ready to deploy remote deposit technology for the first time and/or replace a first-generation solution by the end of this calendar year.
But not all technology concerns are created equal. Replacement of self-service kiosks was seen as a low priority technology upgrade for the executives surveyed by Monahan this time around. Unlike ATMs, such kiosks do not exchange cash, accept checks or perform other transactions typically executed via their more robust counterparts.
Video-over-Internet protocol, queue management and coin-counting capabilities likewise ranked as low technology priorities for banks and credit unions over the next two years.
Technology vendors responsive to these predicted trends might find a ripe business opportunity in the making. In particular, Monahan's sample of bank executives significantly (60%) preferred vendors who offer solutions as a service as opposed to a standalone software product.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
