BAI Service to Allow Customer Polls Online
CHICAGO - The Bank Administration Institute announced last week that it would begin selling a Web-based service to let banks survey their customers online.The move adds a dimension to its traditional role as an educator and conference planner.
The institute's eCustomer Benchmarking Online service, which is scheduled to be available July 1, would let banks query customers about their Internet banking experiences, including their satisfaction with the bank's Web site, online banking services, and customer service. The customizable survey also lets banks ask about the factors that influence customers' buying decisions.
Survey results are to be available to banks in real time via a password-protected Web site. The BAI said it also plans to give banks quarterly benchmarks so they can compare their customers' responses with those industrywide.
The introduction of the eCustomer Benchmarking Online service initiates an electronic commerce strategy for the BAI, said Tom Johnson, its president and chief executive officer. "This is just one of a continued stream of e-types of products and services that we are planning," he said.
The institute is working with an undisclosed technology vendor to create the product. Its cost will depend on the needs of each bank.
Milking Relationships: $90B Software Market
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. - The market for products to help corporations understand and manage customer profitability will expand by 2003 to about $90 billion worldwide, more than 2.5 times its size in 1998, according to International Data Corp.The research company predicted that an increasing number of vendors from a variety of backgrounds would begin angling for pieces of the so-called customer relationship management market. It divided the competitive landscape into seven categories: business and information technology consultants, technology companies, telecommunications service providers and carriers, systems integrators, customer relationship management outsourcing providers, training vendors, and emerging companies.
"CRM service vendors will experience increasing competition from a variety of players that are moving away from their traditional business lines to capture new opportunities in the CRM space," said Katrina Menzigian, program manager for IDC's customer relationship services research.
Customer Service Firm Signs Financial Clients
NEW YORK - LivePerson Inc., a software company that provides online customer service, has signed agreements with five financial services companies.The online mortgage brokers ditech.com and LowCostLoan.com, the online car dealership mazdacredit.com, National Discount Brokers Group, and USABancShares.com are the latest online financial businesses to adopt LivePerson technology.
LivePerson is an outsourced application. Banks' customers can click on the LivePerson link to begin a one-on-one chat with customer service operators who are employed by the financial institution.
Jupiter Communications, a New York-based research firm, says online customer service is bad and getting worse. A major problem, analysts say, is that many businesses focus on attracting customers rather than on serving those they already have. LivePerson supplies online customer support to more than 450 companies.
