Driving the customer service experience and decreasing the cost to serve are important objectives for all industries. In this context, a solid multi channel strategy adds significant value: The banking industry increasingly uses the popular and cost efficient Internet channel for information and transactions purposes. Free-give-away: this Dutch article about Accenture’s CRM engagement with ABN Amro Online Client Services.

Within the reffered ABN Amro case, the “Voice of the Customer” is measured by continiously aligning and improving internal processes using the Six-Sigma methodology. The results of these process improvements on customer satisfaction is also measured, enabeling a closed loop of measurements and improvements. Key performance indicators are the “Voice of the Customer” (external) and the “Voice of the Process” & the “Voice of the Business” (internal).

Given all the customer self service advantages of the Internet channel, recent Yankee Group studies show that a significant majority of consumers (72%) still prefer to have contact by phone with regards to customer services. This indicates that a solid multi channel strategy is an important requirement to increase customer experiences and decrease the total cost to serve customers.

To stimulate your imagination on this subject, the following video indicates the self service challenges for the banking industry in the coming future: