FINANCIAL FIRMS SLOW TO FOCUS ON CUSTOMERS
By Adnews Staff
Retail financial services companies around the world know that they have to put more focus on their customers, but few are doing anything about it, according to a study done by Deloitte Consulting of Toronto. Seventy-five per cent of executives feel they need to be more knowledgeable about their customers in order to strengthen their customer relationships, but their customer databases are aligned on a product and transaction basis. There are tools to assist in this development, such as data mining, but only 19% of respondents are using these tools. Fifty-five per cent expect to use it in the future. While 76% of executives feel the integration of delivery channels is important for strengthening customer relationships, only 31% are confident their current distribution mix anticipates customer needs. In addition, 74% of executives said they do not offer incentives for customers to use less expensive delivery channels. Although only 19% of respondents currently rate the use of electronic delivery as an important customer channel, 63% believe it will be very important in five years, but the majority of firms have no plans to introduce the service. Thirty-eight per cent of executives say that building a customer-focused business is an important management challenge and would provide services quickly, but 52% of retail financial services executives believe their organizations are slow to adapt to new delivery channels and 43% are slow to introduce new products.