Production Management

Long waiting lines in banks equate to poor customer satisfaction, and as it is widely known, customer satisfaction has a direct impact on revenues and repeat business. Thus a bank should be strongly focused on its customer service philosophy and execution. The waiting lines pinpoint the need of staff, the need to segregate the lines according to speed and the type of service, and banking bureaucracy. And so, more and more banks have now resorted to innovative customer service as a solution to such problems. Today, customers enjoy online banking. With a host of Internet support channels available, banks provide additional Web-based support alternatives, including e-mail support, chat solutions via the Web, search utilities, FAQ tools, and automated agents. Also, the establishment of a 24-hour customer service center not only responds to queries and complaints but also promotes and sells the bank's products and services. As in BayBanks of Massachusetts, their center allows customers to open a checking account anytime or negotiate an overdraft at 2 am. The ATM was also reconfigured to buy and sell mutual funds. Another solution is to reengineer back-room operations that consist of many repetitive operations and hamper front line operations, as Citicorp has done, by applying the concept of "mass production," streamlining, and standardization of tasks. Banks can also provide important service information like the busiest days in the branch so that customers may want to avoid these periods. With the segregation of lines, ASB Bank Limited has created two customer flows or lines to deliver services more effectively. One was for loans and similar products that require customized and personalized services. The other line was for the standard and repetitive services like deposits and withdrawals. By creating two service environments that cater to two different types of needs, service is enhanced and speeded up. These solutions that have been discussed may allow banks to deliver quality customer service, thus providing them with solutions to sustain profitability.

Reference

Banking Markets: Productivity, Risk, and Customer Satisfaction

Web site: http://rider.wharton.upenn.edu/~faulhabe/BankPaper.pdf

Kline, K. Hedging the Bet.

Web site: http://www.bai.org/bankingstrategies/1998-mar-apr/hedging