The World Health Organisation had no choice but to raise an alarm given the rapid spread of the novel corona virus. The rate was so much that it migrated from China to Europe and Amercas like wild fire  heading towards Africa  before Mr  Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus DG of WHO branded the virus “COVID-19” and declared it a pandemic by March 11, 2020.  We all began to shut down air, land and sea borders to stop the spread and  also shut down the economies to slow down community spread.  This grounded not only the Economy but also our small businesses and our lives. Every where was so quiet wild animals, came out to check if all was well with their human co habitants.

According to PWc publication on COVID-19 and its impact on the Nigerian banking industry “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world into exceptionally difficult and largely uncharted waters. Banks are feeling the strains alongside their clients, their employees and the societies they serve. Even so, it is an important responsibility to sustain essential Banking services, while protecting the health and wellbeing of your staff. Digital capabilities and an effective allocation of resources will be key to meeting shifting demands.”

Now that our Economy is gradually picking up, our Commercial banks need to embrace technology to help their employees to collaborate effectively and also be available to their clients for quality services. They must be able to meet regularly with clients to understand and meet their needs as well as explore investment priorities. They also must be able to service the multitude of retail customers who need access to their deposits or just want to transact with the Banks.

Beyond our shores and in developed countries, Video banking is now being increasingly used by financial services organizations, such as banks, credit unions and building societies, to interact remotely with their customers or members over a video call in order to perform a transaction or offer consulting services.

With Video Banking which we also call Video Branch,  Banks can schedule video meetings to maintain a personal and meaningful relationship even during remote interactions, ultimately deepening relationships, building trust, and improving investment outcomes especially now that the world needs to maintain Social distancing as one of the ways to flatten the curve of the Covid_19 corona virus Pandemic.

The fundamental purpose of video banking is to create a seamless, high-quality, convenient and easy-to-use customer engagement experience without being present in the banking hall. This is why Scimitar Global Services and its technology partners is pushing for increase interest in this emerging channel from financial institutions that are looking to increase their overall customer satisfaction and retention as we adjust to the new normal.

Simon Separghan, Director of Global Contact Centres & Omni Channels of Barclays Retail Bank said that “Customers continue to demand human touch and empathy and there is significant benefit to provide not only a voice, but a face of Barclays. The majority of our customers who experienced video banking now demand that their future servicing activity takes place via a video interaction. And If I take a like-for-like servicing.  Requests via traditional telephony vs. video banking, the NPS is almost double. It has incredible value for us as an organization.”

So to create more awareness, we present to you this joint report that was co-authored by Efma, a global not-for-profit organization of retail financial services companies, CUNA Strategic Services, a US organization providing credit unions with access to high quality products, services and technologies and Vidyo, a leading video communications technology provider and OEM Partner .

Through this research, they made a distinction between two ways of delivering Video Banking services:

In branches: on Kiosks and ATMs or in office branch visits where remote subject matter experts can join any discussion with Bank customers.

Remotely, from wherever the customers need to join: on their mobile devices, or from their homes or offices or in transit or even in diaspora.

The report highlights recent key trends in Video Banking adoption, bankers’ evolving perception towards this channel and the results observed by those who have already deployed a video banking service.

The 2017 data was collected through an online survey of 282 bankers from 63 countries, which was conducted from December 2016 to January 2017. Read the 2017 report titled “Video Banking: Advancing on the road to maturity”

 Similarly, the 2016 data was collected from 136 bankers across 52 countries, from January through February 2016. More comprehensive results from the 2016 survey were released in another report issued in 2016, titled “Video Banking: The next chapter in a bank’s digital transformation”.

You can get a free copy of the Video Banking report by booking a demo here , so that we can show you in an online demonstration, how it works and the values it offers to your Bank or financial Institution.

In closing, i love what — ALAN MCINTYRE, Senior Managing Director – Banking  ( Accenture) said about what Banks can do to mitigate the impact of Covid_19 in Banking.. check this out :

Chinedum Amachi, is the MD/CEO of Scimitar Global Services Limited (SGSL). An ICT Solutions and Business Process Outsourcing Company in Lagos, Nigeria. We help Businesses improve their Customer Relationship Management processes through automation; leveraging #Technology #ModernBusinessSolutions for improved Customer Acquisition Strategies (Sales & Marketing) to increase revenue for their businesses as well as Customer Retention Processes (Complaints Management, Queue Management ) to ensure Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty.

#Convenientbanking #DiasporaBanking #RemoteBanking  #OnlineBanking #financialInclusion #Banking