How COVID-19 has turned millions of bank branch employees into remote workers
Your industry has already proved capable of meeting these huge challenges. In just a short time you have radically transformed how – and where – your employees work. In the process, you have demonstrated that their health and wellbeing, and that of their families and your customers, comes first.
You've ensured branches are fully stocked with face masks, gloves and sanitizers. You've re-scheduled business hours and restricted customer numbers to allow for safe social distancing. Most importantly, you've supported your customers and employees through a rapid pivot to more online, mobile and call center banking.
The road ahead feels uncertain but one thing is clear; banks will need to continue to adapt as the situation progresses. During these difficult times, you still have to meet your customers' need for uninterrupted banking services. You will also need to support your corporate and SME clients to ensure business continuity and help keep the world economy going.
Keep calm and work from home
To achieve these aims, banks are reimagining their operational business models. Millions of your branch and contact center employees are already providing customer services from their homes. This has been a massive achievement in such a short time.
It's likely you will need to continue to develop these remote-working capabilities. A Harvard professor has warned that many physical distancing measures may need to be in place intermittently until 2022. Under these circumstances, banks will need to scale up their remote access technology and become adept at managing remote teams.
Safeguarding customer data will require up-to-date security patches and information security protocols that are just as effective as your branch systems. But, home working has positives as well as challenges. Research from Stanford Business School suggests home working boosts productivity and job satisfaction, as employees are more engaged and less distracted.
If this crisis results in sustained improvements in work-life balance, it could also be good for banks' business models. It might reduce dependence on high-cost office space and make it easier to attract and retain talented people. But, the crisis also highlights the importance of fast and seamless digital capabilities.
Re-creating the bank branch at home
Increasingly, bank employees are expected to provide all the services available in a branch – while working from home with just a laptop or tablet. They will need support and a range of technology solutions to do this securely. That's where VeriPark's integrated branch automation solution, VeriBranch excels. By using VeriBranch to directly connect to back-office systems, employees can quickly and easily look up customer account information. This empowers bank tellers to execute efficient transactions, such as loan origination, account origination and transfers, even remotely. Relationship managers and advisors can also provide friendly and personalized financial planning services, all while working from home.
A CRM solution like VeriTouch adds even more convenience for your employees. Its Unified Front End (UFE) consolidates the user interface of all banking functionalities into one application - with one login and one navigation menu. With standardized processes and guided selling tools, your employees can continue serving their customers efficiently, make personalized recommendations and deliver relevant and differentiated offers wherever they are.
Digital banking used to be a matter of personal convenience; now it's also a part of employee safety. By implementing VeriChannel, an omni-channel delivery solution, banks can offer their customers the convenience of banking without physical interaction. They can engage with them through their preferred channels whether it's online, mobile, via a video call or a contact center without losing the human touch. This way, they can skip a trip to the branch and your employees can continue working from home.
Will we ever return to banking as normal?
The coronavirus crisis has forced many banks to shift to home working. Some customers and employees may be longing for things to 'return to normal' but others are finding it difficult to imagine going back to how things were. It's likely that some traditional ways of banking will (and probably should) change for the better.
Many banking leaders are realizing that their teams can do much of their work productively at home. For the foreseeable future, we are all going to have to live and work with some form of physical distancing. VeriPark has the digital banking solutions to ensure your employees can work from home, stay safe and be available to meet the needs of your retail and business customers.
