The death of the bank branch is grossly over exaggerated. In fact it is still the bank’s storefront and will continue to be the bank’s first line of business for the foreseeable future. Here is the reality – 100% of businesses banking accounts are opened at the branch. 80% of consumer accounts other than checking are opened at the branch. And banks are leaving money on the table. Why? Because the tools are not in place to analyze, measure, and manage branch sales activity.
The branch needs to evolve and become more accountable which means evolving the work flows and putting tools in place. Existing banks are dealing with legacy systems that can’t be easily or quickly replaced and many suffer from the “not invented here” mentality.
In Michael Hickens recent article in the Wall Street Journal, he points out those existing banks have been “risk adverse” or “blind” when it comes to innovation and that leaves them vulnerable to disruption – start-ups such as mBank, Poland’s third largest retail bank, are leveraging innovation and capturing market share.
But if banks are going to compete in this disruptive environment, they will need to innovate.
Donna Arce said it best in her recent article Innovations that Improve Business Banking Workflow.”Everyone is waiting for that game-changing business banking solution that breaks the mold on the way customers manage their finances and interact with their bank. Yet, the very best of innovations could fail if they don’t meet compliance requirements or if the benefits of adoption do not outweigh the pain that comes with disruption of customers’ standard operating procedure. This leaves much to be said for innovations that work ‘within the box.’”
Last week at Finovate, we launched a new Branch Profitability Dashboard that gives bank executives unprecedented information to manage the sales process and determine which branches are profitable and which need more help. Segmented on multiple levels, even revealing potential fee-generating sales otherwise difficult to find, bank executives can quickly spot branch trends, gain actionable insights about their customers, and manage sales performance. It is cloud-based and you can be up and running in 90 days.
Check out this informative video to learn how you can measure your branch profitability in just 90 days!
