Transforming customer service

Research In Motion’s Rory O’Neill talks about how mobile solutions will change the way financial institutions work and the improved services that can be offered to customers.

Financial institutions of every flavour need to ensure they are operating efficiently in today’s current environment. With the pressure of intensified competition, as well as further focus on regulatory procedures, organisations need to ensure that they continue to adopt the compelling technologies that will help pioneer innovative services to their customers.

It is clear that customer expectations have jumped. Customers expect real-time information and real-time responses. Nothing less will do. Switching providers has never been easier. Institutions are expected to provide what the customer wants, when he wants it, in the manner in which he wants to receive it. So even at a time when it makes sense to aggressively cut costs, stem losses and consolidate, many institutions are actively looking at ways to improve their core customer experience as a way retain their most valuable and profitable customers.

One way to achieve this is to take front office services right up to the point of delivery. Enterprise mobility improves communications and data flow and automates key processes to such an extent that without them it is next-to-impossible to be competitive. Properly implemented mobility gives your firm a permanent connection to customers, and ensures you are ready to capitalise on opportunities, maximise service and revenue potential and maintain competitive advantage.

A different set of returns

Until recently the impetus behind the advance of enterprise mobility had been employee productivity, getting more value from the performance of busy people. Mobile solutions seem to be able to empower workers to cut loose from the office and work from wherever they want. But in today’s marketplace, mobility initiatives are delivering a different set of returns to forward-thinking institutions.

Mobile enterprise solutions that meet appropriate criteria for usability, functionality, security compliance, IT integration and scalability are today opening up new worlds of possibility in areas like Business Intelligence, Customer Relationship Management, real time Market Intelligence and Business Continuity planning.

This, in turn, is opening up exciting new channels to reach customers. The ability of mobile staff to connect to and interact with enterprise systems whilst sitting in a customer’s office, or walking through an airport, offers firms the chance to develop their own differentiated services. This obviously benefits customers by enabling them to make informed and immediate decisions, give better advice, and execute client instructions immediately. What’s not to like?

Nowadays institutions expect to get a significant return on investment within six months on any technology investment. Success is usually measured by how much value they create for the organisation. That is why firms seek solutions which can be implemented quickly, which integrate and mobilise their existing technology investments enabling more value to be derived from them, and which can demonstrate that they meet and exceed the stringent security needs and compliance requirements of the financial services industry of tomorrow. 

Secure data, compliant communications

Industry anxiety around the control of data has never been more apparent, especially considering regular news reports of government laptops and data cards being lost or stolen.

Of the mobile offerings that are available on the market, the BlackBerry solution stands out for its robust security features and encryption technology. Using industry leading AES-256 bit encryption, the BlackBerry solution ensures that information sent outside a company’s firewall cannot be read by anyone other than the intended recipient’s BlackBerry smartphone.

The BlackBerry Enterprise Solution is also renowned for giving customers the control they need to effectively manage employee’s BlackBerry smartphones over-the-air. The BlackBerry solution also facilitates IT decision-makers to wirelessly enforce more than 400 policies, which can be set to allow, stop or limit certain features, such as disabling the device’s camera function. In the circumstance when a BlackBerry smartphone is lost or stolen, IT administrators can lock or wipe the device of information to ensure that information stays confidential.

The BlackBerry Enterprise Solution is certified by the Common Criteria which is recognised by over 25 governments across the world. In November, leading technology testing body, Fraunhofer Institute SIT, also certified the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution. In the UK, the BlackBerry solution is approved by CESG, the government’s security authority, for use with restricted data and is also used by NATO.

Perhaps of even more relevance to financial services than the most robust security architecture available on the market is that the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution also offers a communications platform that is fully auditable, and therefore simplifies compliance with current and anticipated market regulation. All transactions, actions, data inputs and keystrokes can be automatically recorded and retrieved as required for compliance, significantly reducing the need to record events and communications manually.

Mobilised business processes

Today’s enterprise mobility solution means a whole lot more than mobile email.  There is no reason today why a financial services executive traveling between clients and trading floors, airports and conference rooms, office and lunch, cannot stay completely in touch and in control. Customer relationship tools (CRM) can be accessed and worked on through a mobile device, bringing a new level of real-time mobile information distribution to key mobile people like sales staff, client reps and account managers. Better data availability means better sales strategy means better data collected. The same people can easily access product catalogues and manage client or company portfolios using the latest smartphone.

Technically it is possible to keep key people almost permanently on the move without losing touch.  But to do this well, you also need a mobile strategy that will hold water. Organisations need to invest in a mobile platform that can cost-effectively support the launch of mobile initiatives while adhering to the growing regulatory environment that is surely ahead.

Taking institutional applications mobile

Financial services were one of the earliest adopters of mobile technology. Applications were quickly developed as it became apparent that mobile access to information like market data could be easily monetised. Mobile services in this area rapidly developed, from simply extending market data, to correlating that data with customer or institutional holdings to display portfolios and charts, and to displaying the status of orders and trades in real-time. 

The potential of mobile applications has also been realised in many other areas of business. Leading enterprise application vendors such as SAP have strengthened their mobile offering to differentiate themselves from the competition, and serve as a proof point that mobile applications are indeed in demand.  Applications are not just limited to internal use: mobile banking and brokerage, remittance and ultimately payments can serve as a new way to drive bottom-line growth and extend an institution’s reach and brand.

The future of mobility

In the current financial services environment, institutions are casting a critical eye over their technology investments, scouring them for evidence of returns and seeking optimum efficiency and value in every pound spent. This level of scrutiny is very likely to endure, whatever the outlook for financial markets and the industry as a whole.  As the speed of mobile networks continues to increase, and the mobile web begins to start fulfilling some of its enormous potential, the mass-market allure of the smartphone is set to continue growing.  Arguably there is no other device which packs so much functionality and potential into such a small and functional form factor. 

With omnipresent high speed connectivity, mass smartphone usage and a flourishing market for software and middleware developers and vendors, financial services firms are set to be in the forefront of a revolution of mobilised applications. The quality of service provided to the customer will remain the key battleground for the financial services market, the differentiator will be mobility. The immediate challenge for financial services firms today is to invest in a platform that will meet security, regulatory, infrastructure and, most importantly, their customers’ needs – today and in the future.

Rory O’Neill is the Director of Solutions and Alliances Marketing, EMEA at Research In Motion (RIM). He is responsible for building compelling propositions for the BlackBerry platform that meet the needs of key enterprise target segments. These include organisations that operate in the Professional Services, Financial Services, Manufacturing and Public sectors.