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Ketharaman,

All that proves is that account opening online and through mobile sucks! Which supports my argument for better customer experience and thinking about journeys.

I actually don't have a problem with people going to a branch to open an account. But guess what? I bet they chose the bank they're opening that account at via research online....

BK

Ketharaman,

The fact that India, China and others didn't have legacy systems and data silos to deal with, is turning out to be an advantage in some respects. However, that's hardly an argument for not spending on development for other banks or regions is it?

There's one problem with the omni-channel assumption. Your assumption is that banking fits the retail model. What we've seen with Blockbuster, Borders and countless other businesses that have products that can be easily digitized is that the physical retail model comes under threat. It becomes redundant.

The fact is most of the products banks provide are not that complex and don't need a retail presence to support. It's only when you get into the high-net-worth space that there is a sustainable model in this respect. 

So the reality is that 80% of the business needs to shift day-to-day to non-branch channels, and branch networks will unavoidably shrink because their value in the value chain simply isn't strong enough. If I don't need an advisor to help me choose a product, then the physical branch is simply a hinderance to efficient customer engagement because we keep focused on drive-to-branch when it isn't sustainable as a competitive differentiator - if anything it is a negative.

We have to seriously rethink the total customer value chain. Trying to reinforce existing branch networks just because they are already invested in is tantamount to arguing we still need blockbuster stores to sell video. It's 1.0 thinking and it's going to bring banks down.

BK

Ketharaman,

The reason I didn't cite a banking example is there isn't one that end-to-end gets the job right. Metro is a great branch example, but their web and mobile are poor comparatively. The direct banks, namely First Direct, Rabo, ING and UBank are probably the best at multi-channel - but again they don't have branch presence. Itau is getting there, as is ANZ in Australia, but we don't have a stand-out example of multi-channel excellence. To proposition anything else is just being too kind to bankers.

The reason why you can't find an example of a bank that has a high level of consistent service across every channel is simple:

1. Metrics - current measures internally at banks focus on product revenue and not customer or channel performance

2. Silos - Apple doesn't silo performance around their stores versus their online and mobile stores, but banks do. When silos are around it will always psychologically be a case of branch versus alternative channels - that is wrong. We need a channels team that controls branch, web, mobile, ATM, etc under one bucket (that is not a head of retail BTW, it is a channels expert)

3. Imperative - While this is thankfully changing, there is still not enough of a push from the top-down to change the structure and motivation of the retail bank to be a total-channel bank. P&L structures don't adequately support mobile, social and web versus branch at the moment, and the org structures don't match the reality of customer behavior.

There's a lot more work to do.

BK

Card issuer propoganda! :)

Nicholas,

You're talking about a rapidly shrinking demographic. Meanwhile the 2nd and 3rd generation clients are looking at the banks of their father and saying "This bank doesn't understand how to work with me..."

BK

Dave B,

Absolutely. How much are we paying to support the cheques business today? I haven't written a cheque in years. I wonder how much of my monthly fees are attributed to supporting this archaic system?

BK

Matt,

You are absolutely correct. It is entirely within the power of banks to address this. I was simply responding to the title of the article where MPs had taken it upon themselves to undo the great injustice of abolishing cheques.

I don't know one bank in the UK that has appointed someone specifically to assist customers to transition from cheques to alternatives, so that says a great deal doesn't it?

BK

Matt,

I fully agree that it is the responsibility of the Politicians to look after their constituents as respects things like this. However, I still maintain that while your Grandmother is attached to cheques, the reason she probably doesn't use alternative payment methods is that she sees them as too complicated, and she's used to scribbling your name on a bit of paper and sending it in the mail.

If there was a really simple way she could do that electronically, say over the phone - with no charges, then she might not have a problem adapting to an alternative method. Or perhaps she could drop down the High Street branch, give the bank your phone number or address and they could simply process the payment automajically to your bank account with a nice note attached from Grandma. If she still wants to send you a card, then she could send cash, a money order, or even send you a pre-paid debit card! How cool would that be?

I can think of numerous alternatives here that all boil down to simplifying and improving the customer experience and reducing costs for all concerned, that just don't have to use a cheque.

Maybe that's what the politicians should be focusing on. Let's make banking work better - rather than be happy with the status quo - that includes cheques!

BK

I hear old people still like playing Vinyl records too Matt...

Seriously, it's not a problem in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Scandinavia, where cheques have almost completely vanished. I don't see old people, charities and small business hurting there.  

Cheques are simply a 350 year old, outmoded form of payment that are inefficient, costly and aren't the best solution for customers in any case. If cheques were the BEST solution for customers, I'd be all for keeping them, but that is far from the case. 

Just because you're used to something doesn't mean there isn't something far better and simpler around the corner. Cheques are dead, they are inefficient and there are much better forms or payment around. Most of the EU has already figured this out, so why are Britons slow to adapt?

Oh please, can we move on already...

Why don't we start a campaign to save the Telex machine while we're at it!