I’m satisfied of letting you know the last results of our survey.
Here’s the third and last part; the first and second installments are available.

The study results

Customer experience is becoming the key element of the corporate identity of the future. As everyone pays attention to how branches are organised and how to approach clients in the physical branch most effectively, the same level of attention should be given to how clients are approached in the digital branch.
Despite its claimed importance, only 31,4% (fig. 1) of respondents affirms to have a real-time and consistent experience across all channels.

Fig.1

This discrepancy between the asserted prominence and the real implementation of a consistent customer experience needs to be solved in short terms, also considering that for more than half of respondents, digital relationship is an issue when it comes to customer loyalty.

Similarly, respondents understand the need to integrate online investment services into their traditional offering: 31,4% of them thinks about online investment as complementary to the traditional service, while for a quarter of them it represents an offensive strategic offering to enter new customer segments.
An interesting finding emerged regarding the market segments to which financial institutions are thinking to address their online investment offering: while today it is seen by most respondents as not specific for a certain segment of customers, it will potentially appeal the whole spectrum of clients in two years. This demonstrates that traditional boundaries in terms of services dedicated to a certain type of clients are quickly collapsing.
Firms are actually thinking about how positioning themselves in online investment management, but only few are already providing tools and services for this purpose. In the next two years, an evolution from investment tools to investment servicing will take place, with a strong interest in robo and hybrid advisory solutions. The hybrid approach complements human interaction with digital capabilities, enabling investors to access their advisor in the digital manner they prefer, asynchronously or in real time via safe chat, video, co-browsing tools and so. According to 71% (fig. 2) of the respondents, the hybrid advisory model will represent the winning approach to investment servicing.

Fig. 2

Conclusions

According to these study findings, digital engagement and collaboration enable financial institutions to combine a tailored service based on the firm’s specific business with an operationally efficient processing and operation management. All the aspects described above are ingredients to gradually establish a mass-customised business model over the coming years.