Customers: The real “core” of your business

by: Michelle Harbinak Shapiro

“Sales 101, know your customer,” I overheard a colleague repeat several times at a recent training event.

As cliché as it may sound, knowing your customer is the single most important thing for today’s financial institutions.

Technology is changing consumer expectations. Today, your customers expect the most up-to-date information, anywhere – whether it’s for their personal, professional or financial lives. This, along with an increase in non-traditional banking options, has put consumers in the driving seat to force change in financial organizations. To stay relevant – and increase loyalty – banks need to focus on meeting these increasing customer needs.

Be customer conscious
Technology such as enterprise content management (ECM) supports today’s crucial customer-centric banking strategies. With electronic documents and information saved in a secure, central system, employees are able to access customer information and documents directly through their core banking system or line-of-business interfaces without having to switch screens or applications. That means they can answer customer inquiries with a simple mouse-click.

It also means they’re focusing on customers, not looking for information.

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