Siebel, IBM Partner for Retail Bank Solution

The product, which uses IBM middleware specifically designed for the retail banking vertical, ensures the consistency of customer interactions across branches. It empowers branch employees with information on who a customer is and what transactions shes made during her relationship with the bank. This long-missing piece to the CRM game integrates financial transactions with operational CRM -- typically the first part of CRM adopted by organizations -- and business intelligence or analytics. The enhanced solution helps tellers cross-sell the most appropriate products for bank customers. In general, the analytics -- an addition of four or five years ago to Siebels decade-strong operational CRM solution used by more than 350 banks -- draws more value from operational CRM. With the acquisition of Dublin, Ireland-based Eontec this year, Siebel gained the ability to unite wire transfers, check cashing and check deposits at branch tellers with customer records and learned consumer patterns (BI) in a way that the Internet, call centers and ATMs have already begun to do. In the past 15 years of retail banking, channels like ATMs and the Internet have reduced average transaction costs by nearly 15 percent, according to McKinsey researchers. But transaction volumes have more than doubled as people used these self-service Latest News about self-service channels more frequently than they used to visit their local branches. The result has been an increase in the overall cost of serving individual customers. Rather than cut customers off from favored channels, banks need to sell deeper through branch representatives, then guide consumers to more cost-effective channels during the product adoption and use process. McKinsey principals Joseph Myers, Andrew Pickersgill and Evan Van Metre have found that this approach can reduce the cost-to-serve by 10 percent to 15 percent while increasing revenue from existing customers by 15 percent to 20 percent. IBM, which has implemented similar solutions in Europe and has three generations of retail banking experience under its belt, is helping Siebel define its CRM offering in verticals such as retail banking.