Human-Centered Digital Banking: Wealth One Bank of Canada

What is your top customer challenge right now?

As a relatively young bank in only our seventh year of operation, we remain laser-focused on brand building and new client acquisition to grow the bank. The financial services sector in Canada is a very crowded space dominated by large national banks with over 150 years of existence serving Canadians. Gaining visibility and building trust is a daunting challenge for ‘challenger banks’ and newer entrants.

How do you decide the balance between human contact and digital interaction for your retail banking customer segments? Can you give an example of where your approach has created a distinctive service? Do customers ever get lost in the process or experience lower levels of service?

We operate entirely on a digital platform; we have no branches or physical retail locations, which is not entirely unique in today’s environment. We are using better technology to bridge the ‘human contact void’ such as video calls (Zoom, Teams) to enhance the customer and employee experience.  The recent adoption of an online appointment booking capability has put the emphasis back on the client. For example, the client does not have to reach out to us during ‘business hours’, in fact, they can initiate a new product purchase or application 24/7 and any one of our customer service professionals will be able to act on their wishes as soon as possible.  

Do you think there are limits to what banks can do by focusing on digital only, or are the benefits much greater than the disadvantages? 

As people, having choices makes us feel powerful, and in control. So when a bank, for example, limits or removes your choices – such as your interaction preference – they risk disenfranchising a certain segment of the population. There are obvious arguments to support cost savings, reduction in human error, and so on by ‘digitizing everything’, but no one ever factors in the opportunity cost of not reaching customers because of their limitations in terms of interaction choices.

In the future, how will banks make the most of human engagement? Will such engagement come at an additional cost for the customer or even a premium price?

At the core, banks need to make it easier to do business with them. I don’t buy the argument that new technology delivers on that. Too often, it’s quite the contrary – for example, wait times on phone calls often exceed expected wait times, thereby creating further customer frustration and abandonment of calls. Centralization of services can create internal expertise within a bank, but the flip side is the perpetual ‘handoff’ of customers from one department to another, resulting in a customer having to ‘start over’ with new reps every time they engage with the bank. 

As we enter a recessionary period, banks will be keen to demonstrate a greater understanding of and support for their customers. What initiatives are you taking to appear more human and empathetic? Or are you relying on more automated, contextual responses, based on algorithms and avatars?

We are strong advocates for conversation. Even though we use digital applications and have online tools to initiate a product application, for example, we capture customers' details and interaction preferences in order to reach out with a call by an appropriate product specialist to get to know the customer and facilitate their onboarding.  During the recent rising interest rate environment, we called every mortgage customer whose payments may be impacted to talk with them about their options and to let them know we are here to assist. 

Are you developing any partner ecosystems and how are they integrated into the end-to-end customer process? What issues do you typically face? Can you demonstrate the benefits of adopting this approach?

A substantial element of our business development strategy is a partner ecosystem model.  We have established relationships with many of the country’s leading product origination and brokerage businesses (i.e. mortgages, deposits) who place their customers’ business with us. So in effect, we have two customers – the B2B customer and their customer (B2C) – which requires us to manage both relationships uniquely and tied together. The major benefit in our view is twofold. Firstly, tapping into the vast proven network of a product originator gives us tremendous access to their pool of customers and prospective customers. And secondly, further to my earlier point addressing ‘customer challenges’, being recommended by an established firm helps customers make informed decisions about where to place their trust and business ultimately.

How do you collect and use customer data to improve the customer experience? Can you give an example?

Product/account applications are a rich source of data. Respecting and adhering to privacy laws in Canada, we can make product and service recommendations based on having a better knowledge of the customer. Further, we then tailor future communications based on their expressed interests.

What collaboration tools do you provide for your employees so they can work more effectively on improving customer service?

As previously mentioned, we adopted an online appointment booking tool that puts customers at the helm of their experience.  A better customer experience correlates to a better employee experience (and vice versa). This tool provides reporting and insights, giving us a better view of traffic trends, staff productivity, and the customer and journey.

What issues do you face in adopting technology to manage customer interaction? How have you managed the need for legacy modernization, for example? How are you applying AI and analytics to generate better customer engagement?

Cost is always a major determinant for a smaller and newer bank like ours. It is very easy to get excited by new technology or existing technology that we don’t have, but we must balance that enthusiasm with the cost/benefit of acquiring new technology or shifting from legacy platforms.  Vendors are also key in our partner ecosystem operating model. We outsource a lot of our technology, so we put a lot of expectations on our vendors to ensure that they are modernizing and using best-in-class solutions to support our business.

"I don’t buy the argument that new technology delivers on [making it easier to do business with banks]. Too often, it’s quite the contrary – for example, wait times on phone calls often exceed expected wait times, thereby creating further customer frustration and abandonment of calls."