UK Internet bank Intelligent Finance has licensed VeriSim's vSIMBanking 3.0 software to provide customers and employees with a fully-functional replica of its online banking service in an effort to encourage user adoption.
The agreement marks the first live implementation of VeriSim's vSIMBanking 3.0 software, and learning technology vSIMPle. The package will be used to guide IF's customers and employees through the online banking service at their own pace.
Mark Curran, head of e-commerce at Intelligent Finance, says the bank is using a number of fictional characters to recreate typical product holdings allowing anybody to play-and-learn before they register for online banking.
"We find that customers unfamiliar with online banking can be wary about doing so," he says. "Few people buy a car without going for a spin in it, and this new system will let people take our online banking service for a spin in a fictional environment and without using their own finances."
The agreement with Intelligent Finance follows a five-year deal struck between VeriSim and IF parent bank HBOS to develop similar interactive simulations using fictional accounts.
The replica will be available on Intelligent Finance's Website as a demo application, as a CD-ROM in welcome packs for new customers, through its direct and intermediary channels and as part of a direct mail initiative to encourage existing telephone customers to use the online channel.
The VeriSim simulation will also be used for employee induction and call centre training. It will enable employees to fully interact with the system as if they were the customer. Subsequently, employees can use the replica to talk a customer through the service whilst on the telephone.