Customer relationship management (CRM) is an evolving field in the financial services industry, and within that evolution, new information is being gathered and fresh data is being implemented to enhance current CRM services and streamline administrative processes in financial institutions.

As new CRM solutions emerge, the discussion around managing CRM systems and software becomes more relevant for increasingly digital and customisable offerings. This article explores the extents and limitations of CRM systems, new channels of solutions for core banking delivery software, and KYC management, featuring special insights from experts at VeriPark and Innovation Credit Union.

What trends are emerging in CRM?

On new trends developing in the sector, Murat Erdag, principal consultant in the digital banking space at VeriPark, states: “Machine learning and artificial intelligence trends are really shaping up the CRM world. Whatever the penetration point of a product of a customer, you are now able to drive the next best action mapping around that client. Therefore, there is an increased amount of integration and engagement with the customer at each touchpoint getting feedback, and that feedback goes back into the CRM intelligence and structures personalised offers.”

Chief disruption officer at Innovation Credit Union, Dean Gagne, adds that the guiding principles within the CRM space are digital-first and mobile-first, stating that member-driven mobility and accessibility of the systems is essential. He continues that for CRM to be as mobile as possible, there must be a distributed work force operating on the cloud for real-time transactions to take place and for tracking mechanisms to be instated.

Connecting your digital and assisted channels with CRM for customised offers

CRM solutions combine digital and assisted channels which facilitate creating customised offers for individuals based on information collected from them. Erdag explains that the intersection of both digital and manual data collected from customers allows CRM systems to anticipate the needs of the customer and create more demand. For example, when applying for a mortgage new demand generation processes, such as the ability to make recurring payments, earn points on your card, and purchase insurance policy, automatically kick in.

Gagne maintains that the extensibility of CRM in covering more systems beyond transactions differentiates CRM from “monolithic” core banking providers. He adds the capability for CRM to scale up and adapt quickly surpasses core banking capabilities.

Erdag advocates for banks getting their delivery channels from CRM vendors as opposed to software vendors with core banking solutions, even though the latter can provide integration to multi-channel digital touchpoints that can handle simple day-to-day banking activities. “Getting a delivery solution from a CRM-driven vendor has the added value of really understanding the behaviours of your consumers, providing them specialised offers, segmental approaches, and streamlined financial organisation, that will allow them to take advantage of the banking industry at full. An omni-channel CRM will give you that enhanced experience, whereas just the digital implementation with assistance services will give you parts of that experience.”

Erdag compares CRM-based omni-channel delivery to multi-channel delivery reliant on the core banking system vendors through the analogy of a guided tour of a city compared to wandering aimlessly on your own; stating that through the guided tour you can be sure not to miss out on all the city has to offer.

How KYC processes dial into CRM communication

Although Know Your Customer process (KYC) is considered a ‘cold process’ in simply boiling down a customer to their tax and compliance obligation and other financial requirements, Erdag emphasises the criticality of identifying customer needs to truly understand each customer, their likes and dislikes, their social media presence, and the ability to build offers off the back of properly understanding who the customer is and how to get them what they want.

Gagne expounds on how KYC is important in terms of digital ID integration: “When I think about digital ID, I don't want to buy it and then have to integrate it several times. What I want to be able to do is integrate it once and use multiple times across the organisation. When you think about KYC, it is integrated and used across multiple platforms so it doesn't matter whether you are opening an account whether they are for core banking purposes, LLS purposes, or whatever functionality is needed within the organisation.”

On the holistic nature of CRM, Erdag explains: “Imagine your electricity bill. You have physical outlets, a call centre, mobile, and maybe another touchpoint. How would you feel if you went to the physical outlet, explained the situation and they opened the case for you, but that is it? You can never track it on your phone or see if the case has moved or not via internet or SMS. You are just stuck to one channel, and that is a silo failure. It's the same thing with the CRM, the ability to receive offers, for example, on one channel, and then you are stuck to it, you can never stop and start anywhere else. It would make me feel incomplete. That is why we have the omni channels approach, or engagement for reliability. CRM is the one step beyond that is your personal engagement, not your segmental engagement, it's personal to you, and the only CRM will provide that.”

Chasing solutions though AI and machine learning

Gagne describes the philosophy of CRM loosely as “solve, serve, and sell”. This interaction is a basis of how to treat customer inquiries, but another focus is that there should be integration across all touchpoints with the customer. It is important that the same result is being delivered at every interaction in the customer journey.

Current solutions being utilised by financial institutions in integrating communication within omni channel delivery support require knowledge of the customer, an ability to take in information and respond accordingly, provide feedback, and to provide referrals. Therefore, there has been a huge significance placed on machine learning and the emergence of chatbots that offer life assistance. Banks are increasingly developing automated characters that can communicate with the customer, having both digital and human characteristics.

Erdag states that the onset of machine learning and AI technology emerging in the CRM space will facilitate the analysis customer interactions and map out their needs, he adds that the future of CRM processes lies in AI.

On the evolution of CRM systems in the future, Gagne remarks that it will be the central touchpoint for banking services. He adds: “We see the evolution in shifting from a customer service model to a self-serve customer support model. We see in terms of the integration to the CRM is unified communications platforms that should be automatically coming into the system. Looking at artificial intelligence around voice call transcriptions for instance, we are able to analyse the sentiment and know without customer satisfaction surveys, how our members are feeling. I think the AI and machine learning aspects are going to grow within the CRM platforms.”