See how financial institutions can maximise video communications

With half of online Australians already engaged with video online and a third using video calling, how can financial services institutions use video to better engage customers and workers?

Our research demonstrates that video communications in both broadcast and interactive forms can enhance engagement levels by improving trust and symmetry in the relationship between financial institutions and customers and workers.

In particular, the engagement results in a much deeper and more loyal customer relationship while also improving productivity with such as financial planners and brokers who are increasingly mobile and reliant on the devices they own and prefer to use.

What did we find? When used or designed appropriately in the experience, video can significantly improve customer and worker engagement.

We need to consider that customers are increasingly seeking to control the time, place and form in which they receive information increasingly in video form.
The use of video is already widespread among many of the world’s leading and pioneering financial institutions, with results reported to include: increased staff engagement, reduced travel costs, increased market share, improved cross-sell, increased sales conversion rates and improved customer satisfaction and advocacy.
In the Asia Pacific region, video applications that enable real-time, video-facilitated, sales and service interactions between customers and ‘specialists’ based elsewhere within the organisation have emerged. Some are already using digital product, traning and educational video on the online and internet channels.
The five video-enabled concepts we researched with consumers were found to be appealing by 57% of the population and highly likely to be used by a quarter to a third of Australians.

What do we need to consider? There are four key strategic developments occuring with digital media and communications technologies that will define how digital media banks operate and compete.

Australian homes are filled with increasing numbers of connected devices – this may explain why 80% of consumers in our research preferred to use the five video-based financial services concepts we presented them from within the home.
Australia has become one of the most heavily penetrated smartphone and tablet markets in the world, and 32% of people now prefer to use their own devices in the workplace.
Optimising the performance of investments made in IP networks is an increasingly complex task and in a world of rich digital media those networks play a critical role in delivering a compelling customer experience.

What do we need to do? We need to include comprehensive strategies that integrate digital media management and distribution capabilities into enterprise communications systems.

Virtualise expertise throughout the enterprise by unifying communications – enable customers and workers to access expertise remotely, increasingly through their own choice of device.
Include Application Assured Networking to optimise the customer experience of real-time applications that are desktop/transaction based: video conferencing, IP telephony and mulitcast applications such as media streaming.
Incorporate intelligent, adaptive, skills-based routing, business intelligence and analytics within the contact centre operation to ensure that each interaction is informed and efficient for customers.
Create new experiences through advanced digital interactivity, thereby enabling customers to interact with their financial institution in highly creative and exciting ways.

The GFC’s impact on trust between financial institutions and their customers the world over remains a key topic of industry concern.

As the shift from relationships based on life stages to digital lifestyles occurs, the digital media financial institution will have the opportunity to utilise digital media and communication technologies to deliver trust and symmetry participating in the day to day lives of their customers in a value adding way.