Market intelligence agency IDC reports online financial firms are leading the general online business population in terms of providing interactive customer support and personalising content, and are more willing than other types of firms to offer competitors' products on their Web sites.
Ian Rubin, director of IDC's online financial services advisory programs, says: "Financial institutions are very innovative as they integrate customer service and CRM technologies into their Web sites. The degree to which they are using nonconventional selling processes, such as dynamic pricing, is much higher than expected."
According to IDC's latest survey of more than 600 U.S. Internet executives, the financial industry has been more aggressive with investments supporting non-PC access like wireless phones and personal digital assistants. Rubin comments: "The financial services industry has long been tagged as being less than-innovative with technology investments and business practices, but our ePanel results contradict this idea."