Chinese banks should consider three key aspects in their journey toward becoming digital.
First, make the entire customer experience digital－from taking on clients and educating them about new products to self-service banking and reporting.
Second, customize information to suit each client and provide better advice through digital channels.
Third, give customers more control with digitalized self-service tools, personalization, and reporting.
Whether a bank chooses to go down the route of exclusive digital services or the more traditional blend of brick-and-mortar banks with digital capabilities, it doesn't matter. What is key is that it ensures services are seamlessly integrated. If a customer begins a service transaction on his or her smartphone, that customer should be able to complete it on a laptop, tablet or in person. If a customer provides personal data once to a bank, that information should be available across all networks and channels of the bank and not repeatedly obtained.
For most banks, that digital experience implies an operating model transformation at all levels, from the branches to the back office to the customer-service functions. It is extremely important that banks become more collaborative. It won't work otherwise. It requires a new level of automation and digitized processes to enable the "just in time" services that customers want. And this requires breaking down bank silos and ensuring collaboration.
What kinds of bank are likely to achieve this? Those that truly embrace technology.
Signs of that include, but are not limited to, banks that put "tech people" on their boards because it implies that it sees technology and digital strategies as important, strategic capabilities; banks that demonstrate they see the importance of being an integral part of customers' everyday lives; banks that embrace new solutions, developing in-house incubators and accelerators; banks that renew or replace core systems, instead of constantly reinvesting in legacy systems; banks that spend on acquisitions and partnerships to gain access to new digital technologies; and banks that bring business and technology together and create a joint culture around innovation of the customer experience, and reward people for that.
Banks in China have a choice when it comes to these new digital disruptors of Internet finance at their door. In fact, leading banks can demonstrate their leadership not only in their compliance capabilities, but also in technology innovation, when the market and the regulator request them to collaborate with the digital players, such as platforms for peer-to-peer online loans for small enterprises. They can stand back and watch their market share be eroded, or they can tune in and recognize the threat and decide that digital has to be a priority. Now.
Albert Chan, the author, is managing director and head of Accenture's greater China financial services business. David Levi is managing director of Accenture Strategy.
