How does BNP Personal Finance successfully outsource its Bank Customer Relations?
Delphine Seguy, Head of Outsourced Customer Relations activities for BNPPF’s Private Client Business Management, shares her outsourcing experience, explaining her vision and best practices.
What are the specifics of Customer Relations in the banking sector?
Delphine Seguy : The banking sector is complex: sensitive, ultra regulated and highly competitive. It’s also undergoing many changes.
As with other markets, we’re witnessing a strong development of customer expectations in terms of autonomy and immediacy. Customers are mobile, connected and expect a hyper-personalized consulting relationship within a digital and human environment.
Our customers consider this a complex and sensitive sector, so advisers must always find the best approach to explain the way products work, securing, supporting and guaranteeing their understanding.
They also have a duty to advise, ensuring that customer interests are protected and playing a role in detecting and supporting customers in difficulty.
Customer Relations is thus constantly evolving within the banking sector. It must be omnichannel, personalized and straightforward, guaranteeing very high levels of ethics, security and confidentiality..
When did you decide to outsource your Customer Relations and why? What do you see as the benefits of outsourcing Customer Relations?
Delphine Seguy : At BNP PF, we chose to outsource our Customer Relations a long time ago.
I see this as advantageous in many respects.
Firstly, entrusting our activities to an expert offers greater flexibility when adapting to business peaks. Our challenges in terms of customer satisfaction, service quality and commercial results are thus taken care of, regardless of strategy changes.
Secondly, it allows us to focus our internal expertise on core business activities, including higher-stakes flows, such as supporting fragile stage 2 customers.
Finally, outsourcing makes a significant contribution to optimizing our Customer Relations costs.
If you outsource your Customer Relations, how do you maintain the link with your end customers?
Delphine Seguy : It’s important to keep in touch with our customers, listen to them, and take their expectations into account throughout their entire journey.
We have regular exchanges with our partners to this end, along with a governance system that facilitates ongoing escalation of customer recommendations.
We’ve also set up an on-the-spot measurement system to monitor overall levels of customer satisfaction and receive recommendations, with an ongoing survey deployed throughout the customer pathway.
Analyzing all these elements, from our surveys and advisers on the ground, helps us identify problems, annoyances and breaking points in our customers’ journeys.
Corrective actions are then undertaken as part of our drive to continually improve the customer experience: adapting our processes, coaching and supporting our partners’ production teams.
What do you see as the keys to successfully outsourcing Bank Customer Relations?
Delphine Seguy : I think it’s essential to perfectly master activities internally before outsourcing them. You need to have clear processes and mature operating modes before you can transfer these to your chosen provider within a controlled environment, clearly defining the roles and perimeters of everyone involved.
You must also be as demanding and attentive when it comes to integrating outsourced teams as you are internally, applying the same rules and not neglecting support needs. You have to allocate time for this and be there for them day-to-day. Proximity is essential.
It’s also necessary to measure the risk of outsourcing in terms of customer satisfaction and image and avoid any potential lags in customer perceptions of this approach.
How do you successfully choose a partner?
Delphine Seguy : In my opinion, there are two main questions to be asked.
The first is all about sectoral expertise and experience.
The chosen partner must meet strict safety, compliance and regulatory requirements.
They must also be registered with ORIAS, and their employees must be IAS certified for insurance and have IOBSP status for Banking, which represents a significant investment.
The second question revolves around value sharing. In my view, it’s important to agree on the nature of the relationship and share the same vision of Customer Relations and the same respect for security rules.
This should be a win-win situation for both parties, in a spirit of collaboration and trust.
How do you see the future of Customer Relations in the banking sector?
Delphine Seguy : This is a big subject!
For me, Customer Relations must constantly be evolving in line with customer expectations.
In our competitive and regulatory environment, we’ll need to ensure that we can deliver an optimized, seamless customer experience through omnichannel with flawless service quality.
We’ll need to keep getting to know our customers better to offer them the right channel at the right time, along with a personalized and unified journey.
This involves technology and powerful tools but especially human relations: a real conversation and exchange! Customer Relations in the banking sector will remain human above all.
Here, our advisers play a central role.
It’s up to us to facilitate their work, simplify processes, and give them a 360° view of each customer’s journey using powerful tools. This will ensure that there’s space for genuine relationships and discussions with customers.
In summary, increased adviser capacities for a better customer experience.
Why have you renewed your trust in Armatis over the last 17 years?
Delphine Seguy :
The longevity of our relationship reflects our overall satisfaction with Armatis, who we regularly put to the test!
Our sector is facing profound changes, as we’ve already discussed. We must therefore manage change and constantly adapt.
Armatis rises to this challenge by demonstrating great flexibility in managing new activities and major unforeseen peaks in volume.
I can genuinely call this a relationship of trust, in which transparency and communication remain the order of the day.
This trust is manifested in the development of our entrusted perimeters, whether in terms of Customer Relations or marketing campaigns.
We also have a shared Customer Relations vision: Armatis’s “Your Customer First” baseline perfectly meets our requirements in terms of relational excellence, along with our customers’ expectations.
To illustrate this search for the best possible service, we’ll be taking on new challenges this year with Armatis, but I’ll say no more at this stage…
We’re counting on you!