“Across India, economic growth, changing demographics, the expanding middle class, and rapid urbanization are disruptive forces which are creating new opportunities for banks with forward-looking leadership. The most successful banks of this decade will be those which use technology to optimize customer experience and create many happy customers through multi-channel banking, utilization of cloud and real time big data analytics.” said Andrew Pitcher, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Financial Services Industries at SAP Asia Pacific Japan.
According to the research, the standout factor for Indian customer happiness is a bank’s online services. This is followed by banks’ transaction efficiency and finally their physical locations. Customers at smaller Indian banks are happier on average than their counterparts at larger institutions, which may create an environment where smaller upstarts can grow quickly to better compete with larger, established players.
Top Three important findings from the research are as follows:
· India had the highest happiness score of the countries included in the region
· 30 percent of respondents from India were phone banking users in a country where online still remains an important channel – the highest among all countries researched.
· While SMS-based systems remain popular in India, mobile banking through smartphones has yet to take off primarily because of low penetration of such devices in the country.
SAP is a leader in specialized technology solutions for the banking sector, with a comprehensive array of industry-specific offerings to address every facet of the business. The industry-specific solutions from SAP — core banking processes, business analytics, cloud and mobile solutions and in-memory computing — have been used by leading banks across the globe to drive success.
SAP sponsored the IDC Financial Insights white paper which contained insights from 600 bank customers in Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore. As part of the white paper, IDC Financial Insights shared 10 Technology Imperatives which are driving bank activity in the region:
1. Escalating single customer view programs.
2. Using advanced analytics to improve customer insights.
3. Expanding traditional channels.
4. Bringing to market new channels.
5. Initiating the bank's omni-channel strategy.
6. Entrenching the "social" element into the customer experience.
7. Making a strategic call on the future of customer payments.
8. Preparing for differentiated pricing.
9. Bringing more customer centricity into corporate banking.
10. Gratification.
“The banking industry in the Asia Pacific region is going through significant changes as competition increases, Gen Y customers adopt banking, and people turn to new devices. After a long crisis that saw the financial industry put extreme focus on risk management and compliance, banks are once again ready to focus on the customer,” said Michael Araneta, Director of Research and Consulting at IDC Financial Insights.
About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 248,500 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.
