Financial Services
Digitising customer onboarding in banking
Traditional customer onboarding processes for banks and financial institutions are cost-intensive and time-consuming. They can cause the customers inconvenience with in-person verifications and lengthy forms. The whole onboarding procedure, from the time a potential client first interacts with the sales team to when they can operate their account, can span several weeks or even months.
The major challenge in the process is a lack of coordination between the various teams and departments responsible for collecting data, authenticating information, processing client documentation, and moving along the application. Lacklustre customer service doesn't help either. Other issues and bottlenecks include disorganised customer data in various incompatible formats, outdated legacy systems, and changing compliances. This friction can lead to strained relationship with the clients right from the start. It is not uncommon for prospective customers to abandon an ongoing onboarding process due to one or a combination of the above-mentioned onboarding challenges. It's no surprise that established financial institutions are losing business and revenue every year as more and more corporate clients are choosing to take their business to financial institutions with more modern approaches.
Customers want to manage their accounts via their smartphones, and banks need to upgrade and successfully deliver digital banking options and a contemporary user experience.* Embracing and incorporating cutting-edge digital technologies will let banks provide their customers with a lot more value, efficiency, and flexibility at every step and even onboard new clients remotely.
Digitising customer onboarding in the banking sector
It is time for traditional banking institutions to digitise the customer onboarding process and create a streamlined experience for new clients. This is the only way to ensure consistent growth in the face of today’s new-age competition. Incorporating digital technologies will reduce onboarding-related expenses, hasten the process, and allow banks to verify new customers remotely. Below are some cutting-edge technologies and approaches that aim to make arduous customer onboarding processes a thing of the past.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Incorporating AI-driven algorithms into the customer onboarding journey can speed up decision-making and take weeks off the procedure. The technology can rapidly collect and sort data, verify digital signatures, and offer insights to simplify the entire customer onboarding process. Implementing AI-based technology will significantly reduce outgoings while improving the customer experience.
Robotic process automation (RPA)
Automating repetitive manual tasks can save time and eliminate expenses and repeat work resulting from human error. In digital onboarding for banks, RPA can contribute to speeding up everything from registration to setting up an account, making it possible to completely automate the customer onboarding process.
Optical character recognition (OCR)
The digitisation of physical documents using OCR can greatly modernise customer onboarding. OCR technology can remotely scan and extract data from identification documents and application forms and work with RPA on compliance and verification activities. Customers can upload their documents to an online portal, and these smart technologies can absorb the data and flag any inconsistencies without human intervention.
Computer vision and natural language processing (NLP)
Computer vision is designed to help machines see and interpret visual information, including images and videos, while NLP teaches them to interact with humans using text or speech. These technologies are game changers for the KYC process, allowing customers to open accounts remotely via selfies or video calls. These technologies can also help banks find and review documents or power virtual assistants to service customer queries.
Big data and advanced analytics
Banks can use big data and advanced analytics to divide clients based on their habits, likes, and dislikes and create personalised customer experiences. The knowledge gained can also be used to identify cross-selling opportunities for relevant banking products and services.
Biometrics
Contactless biometric technologies, including voice recognition, face recognition, and iris scanners, are slowly eliminating the need for in-person verifications during the customer onboarding process. Employing these biometric identification techniques can save time and money and make the process of opening an account extremely seamless.
*For organisations on the digital transformation journey, agility is key in responding to a rapidly changing technology and business landscape. Now more than ever, it is crucial to deliver and exceed organisational expectations with a robust digital mindset backed by innovation. Enabling businesses to sense, learn, respond, and evolve like living organisms will be imperative for business excellence. A comprehensive yet modular suite of services is doing precisely that. Equipping organisations with intuitive decision-making automatically at scale, actionable insights based on real-time solutions, anytime/anywhere experience, and in-depth data visibility across functions leading to hyper-productivity, Live Enterprise is building connected organisations that are innovating collaboratively for the future.
How can Infosys BPM help?
With extensive experience working with global banks, Infosys BPM is well-versed with industry best practices and compliance policies. Reach out to know more about how Banks and financial institutions can take advantage of the KYC services provided by Infosys BPM to streamline and modernise their customer onboarding processes.
