Sunday, November 22

Indian banks are not leveraging digital technologies as they should

I have bank accounts in couple of leading Indian banks for over 15 years and till date none of these banks have tried to cross sell a single product to me.
1) They have never inquired or tried to sell me an insurance
2) They have never given me advice on how to invest money lying in my saving account
3) They have never tried to sell me other banking products like MIP, FD, car & Personal loans

In short the bank are spending big money to increase their customer base but they not utilizing their existing customer data to cross sell their other products to their loyal customer. Is that because banks are so focused on locating the forest that they are missing the trees? Bankers expert in core business so not have access to smart technology brains who can help them implement cross channel sales? Or are they so bogged down managing existing set of technology systems that they do not dare to venture into developing platforms to enable cross selling?

To give an example, when I wanted a Unit Linked Insurance Product I had to do market research and finally I ended buying a product from the bank that I bank with. I was surprised that the bank that sends 10s of mails a day did not think that 'Their Privilege Saving Bank Customer' would also need insurance products or other saving products that are offered by the bank. They did not consider that if they do not cross sell than they will lose the customer to their competition? May be the Indian banks are happy with the money they are making from my saving account or maybe they are just lazy to analyse my credit history to find if I have any money lying around that can be put to good use or maybe they don't care about growing my money (which they should).

Banks & their associates should understand that there are 3 negatives of not doing customer analysis

1) Bank or Insurance companies are not selling products to the customer who already have faith in their company
2) It is poor customer service if the bank does not reach out to the consumer to educate and guide them in investing their money and their is added risk of losing customer to another bank that provides such services
3) The bank is spending tons of money to find new customer and set new branches to increase their business and customer base but not tapping the existing customer base which is poor business strategy.

I did not get a chance to work with Indian bank in last 14 years but I would like to sit with the CEO's of these banks and understand why they are not using the customer data in a smarter way and to correct the 3 negatives I have mentioned above. Cross selling is a win-win for all parties and it can give birth to some innovative products and schemes. For example I have often wondered if I had bought an insurance product from my bank would they offer me, 'their loyal customer of 15 years' some benefits or free-bees like free accident rider or critical illness rider or maybe lower premium as compared to non-banking customer? Wishful thinking, Bottom line when banks use their data smartly everyone will benefit  - the banks, their insurance wings, their investment wings, their associate companies as well as their customers. Let me tweet Chanda Kochhar & Aditya Puri and may be they will offer me a position in their strategy team!

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