Infobip, one of the leading global cloud communications platforms, has admitted that there are challenges around adopting omnichannel strategies, especially in the case of traditional banking institutions that are still heavily reliant on legacy technologies and processes.
In an opinion article written by Dean Baker, Industry Team Lead: BFSI Southern & East Africa at Infobip titled ‘South African financial institutions adopt omnichannel strategies to retain customers and redefine CX’, the company that claims expertise in omnichannel engagement, noted that these challenges are inhibiting these financial institution’s response to fast-changing customer expectations.
“There are challenges around adopting omnichannel strategies, especially in the case of traditional banking institutions that are still heavily reliant on legacy technologies and processes that are inhibiting their response to fast-changing customer expectations,” the article stated.
The article recommends that to overcome these challenges, financial institutions must start viewing technology as more of an enabler rather than a disrupter.
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This means that banks need to position their technology to support the evolution of their customer’s expectations, which will in some cases require the reinvention of the entire customer engagement process, shifting from the traditional model of physical branches to a contemporary approach centered on seamless omnichannel communication.
This is coming as digital banking continues to gain widespread popularity in many African countries due to its convenience with several companies such Clickatell, Twilio, CleverTap, MessageBird, Plivo and others offering one-on-one personalised services to cater to the digital-first customer while also providing seamless connection.
What does Infobip advise?
The article has posited that for an omnichannel strategy to enable personalisation over different channels, it must leverage customer data to create a 360-degree view of the customer and utilise these insights to become proactive.
It believes that, unlike a multichannel engagement, an omnichannel communication approach uses the customer datasets and intelligence built into the platform to enable switching between the channels without changing the context of the engagement.