This study is only available in German. 

In this age of digitalization and omnichannels, the call center – now long since cast aside by many banks – is once more gaining new strategic significance. Rebranded as “contact centers”, they will form a key component of the business model of the retail banks of the future, alongside online communication and mobile internet banking. They will play a crucial role in the networking and orchestration of the customer experience. Ongoing cost pressures will lead to a significant reduction in branch density so that, as a consequence, customer support and services will need to be rethought and customers at the same time shown meaningful alternatives. Contact centers can in fact handle sections of branch operations in a more efficient way than at present, as well as supporting distribution.

The revitalized contact centers will be of great strategic and economic relevance for two other reasons. First, earnings potentials can be leveraged by incorporating contact centers into distribution and using new technologies that create “virtual proximity”, as well as ensuring high-quality customer advice and support. Second, as a result of continuous optimization and efficiency upgrades, considerable cost potentials can be derived without detracting from the customer experience.

Need for a radical transformation process

Banks need to radically rethink if they are to exploit these potentials. That's because developing call center operations generally means creating more value. Besides offering information or handling simple transactions, the new contact centers can also fulfill advisory and sales functions and thereby evolve into a multi-purpose distribution channel. Most banks, however, have a long way to go before bridging the gulf between this objective and the current situation. In its global benchmark survey of some 115,000 banking customers, Bain revealed that no channel performed as badly as the call center.

A radical transformation process is therefore needed that would encompass both a strategic realignment as well as operational optimization. The complexity of this can be mastered if banks focus on eight clearly-defined and practice-proven components. These include selecting the optimum sourcing model and the right range of products and services, as well as increasing active call and volume management. But before anything else, banks need to address the issue of precisely which role contact centers are to play in the future in order to strategically leverage the market. Regardless of which solution they choose, another key issue is to mobilize employees through cutting-edge change management.

Empirical experience highlights the opportunities that can be created from this transformation. A number of banks have succeeded in raising the number of secured transactions by 10 to 15 percent while at the same time slashing costs by 30 percent and upgrading their service level. Even more important has been the customers' acknowledgement of the banks’ efforts, with the contact centers being more positively assessed following customer interactions than before. The transformation of call centers will therefore prove crucial for the success of the retail banks of the future.