Financial Services

The Impact of e-banking on customer satisfaction

E-banking is the automated delivery of new and existing products to customers. Through e-banking, both individual and corporate customers can perform a host of operations such as accessing accounts, transacting business, transferring funds, obtaining information, having funds debited and credited and others. Gone are the days of customers planning their days around limited bank timings and long queues. Banking now happens with a few clicks and is always available on devices such as phones and computers.

Within the period of one and a half decades, traditional banking has undergone a massive change, with the advent of technology and e-banking and the resultant customer satisfaction taking over the banking sector, the world over. Banking customers are transitioning from apathy to satisfaction and enjoying multiple benefits as banks embrace technology on an ongoing basis. 

This growth in the banking industry got an impetus because of the COVID pandemic. With people meeting or communicating very rarely, there was very little scope for them to interact with each other, or to exchange cash physically, in a transaction, at these times. This increased the use of e-banking because of the growth in digitised transactions and a cashless society. 

Progress in the banking sector was not easy. Many countries, India included, saw a lot of resistance in the early stages of technological upgradation. Trade union leaders led employees in this resistance fearing loss of jobs. However, with time the resistance wore down.

Banking services, the world over, with the influx of technology went on to be transformed into being supply-driven demand driven, as it was traditionally. Now, a lot of customer-focused research goes into the products and services that banks bring out.

Globally, lifestyles have been changing enormously and with that the banking needs of consumers are also evolving. For banks to meet their goals of customer acquisition and retention, gauging customers’ needs and launching products and services accordingly is the need of the hour. 

Within a decade we have experienced the entire spectrum, from strong resistance to computerisation by employees, to intensive and focused investments in technology that laid the foundations of e-banking and made it very popular in many countries. Technology has proved to be a strategic tool that has brought about phenomenal growth and hyper-productivity* in terms of number of customers, and a superior level of operational control. 

There are several channels in the e-banking universe that are making this transformation possible.  The ones which are most often used are online, phone and SMS banking, ATMs, debit and credit cards, electronic funds transfer and clearing, e-payments, digital wallets, trading accounts and other e-commerce solutions.

The financial services industry now comprises commercial and retail banking as well as wealth management services. There has been a massive transformation in customer experience (CX) in the sector.

It is very important to remember that customer satisfaction is an indication that the existing customer base of a bank approves of and is satisfied with the banks’ offerings and operations. That helps the transition from customer satisfaction to customer loyalty and helps brand building enormously. Research shows that the higher the number of such approving customers, the greater the brand reputation of the bank.

Some easily discernible results leading to customer satisfaction in an e-banking set up are increased productivity, reduction in cost of banking operations, fast settlement, and high volumes of banking transactions.

Some factors that could influence customer service were identified by the sector to be service quality, Conversational banking, web design and content security, privacy, convenience, and speed. The digital transformation of banks has been complemented by the increase in the number of Internet users. The number of internet users in India is steadily increasing and is part of the story of why and how e-banking is flourishing.  It is the same the world over.

A recent Harvard Business Review Analytic Services survey reported that improving CX ranks among the five top priorities in the financial services sector in the coming year. Heavy investments are going in for digital transformations that will enable the delivery of memorable customer experiences while complying with government regulations that are getting increasingly complex.

E-banking services have multiple digital touchpoints. Connecting these will link customers’ financial activities and give the e-banking company a 360-view of the customer. An overall view will also enable e-banking companies to mine data for customised reports that enable customers to make data-backed financial decisions. Automation has enabled bankers to focus on customer relationships which is of utmost importance. 

*For organizations 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 on organizational expectations with a robust digital mindset backed by innovation. Enabling businesses to sense, learn, respond, and evolve like a living organism, will be imperative for business excellence going forward. A comprehensive, yet modular suite of services is doing exactly that. Equipping organizations 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 organizations that are innovating collaboratively for the future.


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