ABA Banking Journal - April 2008 - (Page 40)

COVER STORY TECHNOLOGY tomer-facing portals. “We’re judged, in part, on how our clients experience these web portals,” he says. “We are presently prototyping the use of RIApowered capabilities to improve customer service.” But the collaborative web is the bigger deal for Johnson. “I first began presenting about the subject about ten years ago,” he says, explaining how the $1.3 trillion assets global bank has benefited from early work in the Web 2.0 vein. Currently, he relates, BNYMellon’s extensive IT community, some 6,000 people, communicates about project details and technical know-how, in part, through Wikis and blogs. “These devices drive more productivity out of our work groups, regardless of geographic distribution,” says Johnson. “For instance, we use a Wiki to support our architectural governance body.” An internal FaceBook The technology is also filtering into the actual business user community because the “business folks are beating down the doors,” according to Johnson. “We have some pilots under way, including a project that will offer a blend of FaceBook-like personal profiling capabilities and a space to display subject matter expertise, using blogs, so that sales people and specialists can easily find each other and collaborate,” he says. “Asset managers that specialize in derivatives and asset servicing operations personnel—the latter function being outsourced—can share information about this constantly changing area,” says Johnson. But Johnson sees other uses. “We have employees in the capital market group that could tap into that knowledge base,” Johnson says, not specifying project rollout details but indicating that a “derivatives resource” would be under development. In general, he notes, bank staff— including the institutional sales force and Asset Managers International Group—can provide better customer service with collaboration. “Say, Retailer Anthropologie’s site shows off interesting RIA features, including movable graphics that let users put together outfits. Sure, banks don’t sell clothing, but a similar graphic treatment can help customers sort through checking choices. you’re a sales person in Germany, there’s a fund manager in San Francisco. Something happens, there’s rapid movement in the markets, and you get a frantic customer call at 3:00 a.m.,” Johnson poses. “A collaboration tool beyond e-mail can help that sales person handle the call to the customer.” UMB Bank is also going collaborative with business-user contributed “specialist” content, for the intranet, on subjects that range from HR to various financial products or services. The need for customer retention also drove the interest of another bank technologist. Walter Latinik, senior vicepresident of online financial services, First Horizon Corp., Memphis, says his organization is currently reviewing a series of Web 2.0 technologies to improve the sales appeal and usability of First Tennessee Bank. “Since retention is important to us, we’re interested in making the site easier work with,” says Latinik. “Over time, we intend to make any function that’s currently a manual, back-office process and replace it with an automated, website function. We’d also like to replicate all branch related functions at the website.” Currently, the bank has partnered with third party providers to support online account opening and account-to-account transfers as well as online password resets without support from call center personnel. All of these improvements have whetted the bank’s appetite for collaboration, and possibly the use of some sort of customer-facing blog to present financial advice, although no specific project is in the docket at this time. Still, a cross-functional, cross-departmental management group has been meeting weekly to discuss internet strategy and what approaches would yield superior customer experiences. And yet, there are challenges. Ron Rogowski, a Forrester analyst specializing in application development, architecture, and Web 2.0, has written a research note indicating that some organizations fear added complexity. He advises organizations to engage in active planning with business users and specialty lines of business to make deployments successful. “These issues shouldn’t be longterm barriers to adoption,” he says, “but they do need to be addressed.” BJ 40 APRIL 2008/ABA BANKING JOURNAL Subscribe at www.ababj.com http://www.forrester.com http://www.fhnc.com http://www.ababj.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ABA Banking Journal - April 2008

ABA Banking Journal - April 2008 Contents Editor's Column You Can't Beat Wal-Mart: Or Can You? Snapshot: Non-Interest Income Shoulders More Weight ABA National Conference for Community Bankers Report 100th Anniversary: Then & Now ABA Resources ABA Chairman's Position Banks Plus Insurance: How to Make It Work Pass the Aspirin 2008: Year of Rich Internet Apps? Tough Time For That IPO Your Audience Needs to Know Who You Are Telepresence: Costly But Very Cool Webnotes Better Websites Mean Tougher Compliance Mailbox Banker's Mart To Advertise/Index of Advertisers The Economy

ABA Banking Journal - April 2008

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