What is your bank doing wrong in terms of digitisation?

Embrace digitalisation

Physical documents are prone to risks. They could be stolen, forged, or destroyed. Thankfully, current technology already provides better processes. Besides, basic principles remain today such as keeping records of savings, loans, and credit. Secure transactions no longer need a lot of paper.

Danske Bank, for example, is one of the earliest banks to embrace digitalisation. Since we worked with them in 2003, they have cut costs through postage savings as they processed documents digitally. Recently, Nordea signed a three-year deal with us to improve their customers’ experiences.

Going online is just one part of modernisation. Just because your bank is accessible digitally to clients does not mean it is already secure. Transaction security is your top priority in modernising, with savings and conveniences coming in as welcome effects in a digital business transformation. 

Here’s where banks go wrong when it comes to digitisation.

Using platforms intended for consumer-to-consumer use

Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Viber may be convenient since most people already use them for personal communication. Because of this, there are banks and financial institutions in some parts of Asia that use them to formally communicate with their customers and clients.

However, business communication is more serious, and it is always prudent to take an extra step to keep sensitive information exchanged through digital messaging apps secure. What you can use instead is the e-Boks platform to keep your communication secure. Our platform is specifically created for enterprises such as banks to securely communicate with their customers.

Still keeping paper transactions for applications, etc.

There is little point in asking people to fill out paper forms when you are about to digitise the info anyway. Letting customers conveniently sign forms online actually saves you a lot of time. Paper forms consume space, and there is always a risk of compromising the data security of physical copies.

Going fully digital also helps reduce carbon footprint. Businesses around the world have started tracking their own consumption, and have set up environment-friendly policies to contribute to this global effort. Each paper saved by digitisation positively adds to this objective.

Communicating with customers using e-mail

E-mails are prone to breaches and are not the most secure way to communicate with customers. As of the first quarter of 2021, data breaches and e-mail leaks continue to expose consumers’ information putting close to three hundred million people at risk, according to Identity Force. Ideally, a digital postbox solution should be used.

Digital postboxes are more secure since all communication happens inside a closed network. All users are verified from individuals to corporations, guaranteeing that you will not get unwanted messages.

e-Boks’ platform is being used in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, and Greenland, where citizens, public institutions, and corporations all have verified digital postboxes.

Forgetting to customise solutions according to the region where they operate

Each region has its own rules and regulation. The European Union (EU), for example, has the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in place for all companies that have EU customers. It protects consumers’ personal data used in all digital transactions, which includes but is not limited to name, location logins, and browsing data.

Collecting and storing customer information in non-secure platforms

Communicating with customers means that you must deal with a lot of sensitive personal data.

Keeping them secure is one of the requirements for GDPR. If you want to find out if your current systems in place are secure enough, you can book a consultation with us.

Not streamlining bank processes for a better customer service

Being efficient online is different from just being available digitally. If you just simply digitised your forms and still require attached e-signatures in e-mails, for example, you are still doing it wrong. (Again, digital post boxes are better than e-mails.) If your customer must keep jumping on different pages online, you did not actually make your processes simpler.

Signing documents is better done on a secure platform. Do not ask a customer to print out a form, sign it, and scan it. Neither should you tell them to send in their signature as an image file. A secure platform not only gives your customers peace of mind in transacting with you, but you also save money on faster processes.

PenSam Insurance, for example, deals with 1000-1500 signatures per month. Using e-Boks, they saved costs and streamlined processes by automating some actions. They omitted human error while securing transactions in the process.

Being slow in responding to customer needs and wants

The main reason why customers are online is that they expect quick results. For some, especially in this pandemic, this is the only way they can access your services. If transacting with you online is much more cumbersome than lining up in your bank’s branch, you are wasting money while encouraging your customers to look at your competitors who are more respectful of their time.

Meeting customers’ needs is one of the key steps in adapting to the pandemic. You can tell what they need through complaints on your social media pages for example, where most irate customers turn to when direct channels are unreliable.

You can also create services based on the data that you have. Are more customers doing online transactions? What services are being availed much more than before? With some research, you can continuously improve your customer experience. You want to keep them, not shoo them away by not listening to their needs.

Taking on digitisation on their own

Sure, you may have your own IT team. But when it comes to enhancing cybersecurity or creating a communications platform, it is smarter to avail of already-proven systems than start from scratch.

You do not have to face the challenges of digitisation on your own. Be an e-Boks partner and let us help you take on your transformation challenges together.