Telstra research reveals video drives the bank of the future

The bank of the future will be driven by video interaction including local branch video calling, accessing experts on demand online and interactive videos on financial topics. This will deliver improved customer experiences – blending both online and offline engagement - according to new research from Telstra Enterprise & Government.

Telstra’s report, ‘The Digital Media Bank – how video better engages your customers and workers’, shows a majority of banking customers want to connect with their bank via video, with 57 per cent of consumers stating an appeal for their banks to offer a suite of video solutions.

The report’s author, Group General Manager, Industry Development at Telstra, Rocky Scopelliti, said that the report illustrates an overwhelming demand for video in the financial sector, presenting the opportunity for banks to deliver growth through improved customer satisfaction as well as differentiating themselves in the highly competitive, local marketplace.

“With six in ten Australians using multiple banks and one in three white collar high income earners using three to four banks, the battle for share of wallet is intensifying. Financial institutions are under increasing pressure to improve customer advocacy,” Mr Scopelliti said. “Half of online Australians are already engaged with video online and a third are using video calling, so it’s clear that video technology is already deeply embedded within customer lifestyles as a way to collaborate,which is both effective and convenient.”

The video concepts include videos on financial topics, interactive videos, local branch video calling and accessing experts on demand. The research demonstrates a very high level of appeal for this ‘digital media bank’, including:

• The proportion of the general population that found at least one concept appealing increases from 40  per cent to 57 per cent if presented with three concepts in combination;
• Thirty per cent found each of the concepts appealing separately and over a quarter indicate a propensity to use each concept – a significant number in the financial sector;
• Demographically, more than half of those who found these concepts appealing were employed white collar workers and a third were high net worth affluent consumers.

Mr Scopelliti continued: “We presented 1,000 Australian consumers with five video-based financial interaction concepts and the findings suggest that video-based financial services have the potential to deliver greater customer satisfaction and loyalty. This can improve productivity through availability of specialist expertise and new customer experiences through advanced digital interactivity.”

The report has also identified three customer experience solutions to demonstrate how digital video media can be incorporated to create new, highly engaging customer engagements:

• My Expert Anywhere – provides customers in a branch, at home, or on the road, access to experts, advisers or specialists located at other branches or contact centres;
• My Banker On Demand – enables the customer to contact staff using the device of their choice, in the environment of their choice and at the moment of their choice;
• My Trusted Advisor – creates new, value added, and augmented experiences via advanced digital interactivity that enables customers to interact in highly creative ways.

“The findings show that video can enhance engagement levels by improving trust and symmetry in the relationship between financial institutions and customers and workers. In particular, the digital media bank will result in much deeper and more loyal customer relationships while also improving productivity with workers who are increasingly mobile and reliant on the devices they own and prefer to use,” Mr Scopelliti said.

Telstra’s core IP networks and Enterprise Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) platforms provide Australia’s leading network coverage and performance, meaning it’s the only service provider able to offer a seamless digital media bank experience to Australian financial institutions. 

A full copy of the report can be found online at http://www.telstra.com.au/business-enterprise/download/document/business-the-digital-media-bank-whitepaper.pdf