Page 253 - DMGT522_SERVICES MANAGEMENT

Services Management

Notes

Case Study Case: ICICI Bank

anking differs from other industries by degree, scale and scope of relationship between
Ba customer and his bank – on an average, it lasts much longer. For example, in the auto
industry, the relationship between the customer and the company is becoming weaker
over time – with no need felt by the customer to contact the car dealer or manufacturer
frequently. It is possible to change the car’s oil or get its maintenance done from different
service stations. However, once an account is in a specific bank, the relationship or
dependence on the bank increases and endures.
A certain research done in England found that the resistance to changing of banks in spite
of bad service encounters was high. You may write cheques more frequently, have direct
deposit, transfer money, pay bills and withdraw money. The bank contacts you regularly
by sending you your monthly statement. You can obtain a credit card or investment
advice from the bank.
ICICI Bank is one of the leading Indian banks that transformed these relationships into
opportunities. It was one of the first banks to start a 24-hour phone banking service and
opened branches in many new areas and set up ATMs at strategic locations. ICICI Bank
always tried to provide more touch points to its customers and a one-stop banking
environment.
Since 1998, ICICI Bank tried to integrate all of its back-end customer information into its
Customer Relationship System. Previously, customer information was managed by several
different back-end systems. Software enabled the account numbers to be organized, with
each back-end system using its own numbering system. Customer service agents found it
difficult to integrate customer information when they received a request to transfer from
one account to another. They had to log on to several different systems to obtain the
information and do the transactions requested. In the new system, the service agent could
access all required information by using the customer’s central account number instead of
individual account numbers. These changes increased convenience for both customers
and service agents.
ICICI Bank also provides Internet banking. It built a website as a new contact point and
provided advanced technologies to its customer. By using online banking, customers
could manage their account anytime and anywhere. Online banking also saves the
operating cost of bank branches.
ICICI Bank recently launched Corporate Care – a complaint-and-query resolution system
for ICICI Bank’s corporate clients. This was a system to ensure resolution of all queries
online so that no queries are left unresolved. This also enabled maintenance of online
records for the same. The system reduced turnaround time for resolution and also reduced
the number of calls directed at the branches for queries.
The Project was Rolled out in Two Phases

Phase I involved select clients to be a part of the pilot program to provide feedback on the
effectiveness of the system as well as effectiveness of the users, i.e. the employees of ICICI
Bank who were either directly or indirectly handling the system. The objective was to
collect data regarding effectiveness of the system in order to get an idea of improvements
that could be made to increase efficiency.
Contd...

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