CRM spending within the European retail banking sector is set to increase from $2.4 billion in 2001 to $3 billion in 2004, according to a new report from Datamonitor.
The report, "CRM technology in retail banking", suggests banks are shifting their CRM focus to concentrate on making the customer pay and achieving return on investment.
Too many customer relationships only breakeven, or are loss-making, reveals the report. Banks need to develop their analytical CRM technology so as to provide value added services for profitable customers and more basic products and services for customers the banks believe are lifetime loss-makers, says Datamonitor. Personalisation strategies can entail rate variations, channel availability and surcharges.
The research suggests this adoption of analytical CRM will in turn bring a fundamental change in the banking industry from customer volume focus to a customer value focus. This will involve cutting structural costs through channel integration and establishing a single operational customer database and delivery application platform.
Anders Maehre, financial services technology analyst at Datamonitor comments: "It is pivotal to create a crystal clear ROI case and to appreciate that technology is only one part of the enterprise wide strategy that is CRM. The human element and the culture of an organisation cannot be changed overnight. It will require a concerted effort across all functions of a bank to truly become customer centric."