Getting branch personnel tech tools and training. (Cover Story).

Renewed interest in the branch also involves changes that go deeper than the surface. Significant investments are being made-or will be-in the branch automation as part of the current budgetary attention on the branch channel," says Mark Greene, general manager, global banking unit for IBM,

What's different these days is that the technology is finally affordable and powerful enough to let decently trained front line personnel can see and act on opportunity. Greene predicts that the industry will see a rapid growth in the popularity of the Linux operating system (see p.51) to lower software costs as part of the effort to upgrade DOS and replace outdated OS/2 systems.

To get on track, too, with segment and lifecycle selling, institutions will invest in technology that includes customer relationship management systems that help platform and teller staff identify and act on opportunity during routine transactions as well as automation that streamlines everything from account opening to check handling. (See ABABJ, April 2003, p.57).

Celent predicts that IT spending on branch automation will grow to $4.4 billion by 2006. IBM's Greene thinks that as part of the move to create a consultative atmosphere, bankers will also adopt better integration methods so that legacy equipment can be tamed and a single view of the customer can finally emerge.

"Web services and new generation messaging technology that supports straight through processing will also support faster, easier interactions with the customer," Greene explains.

Making people effective

Sophisticated problems will be provoking many of the technology upgrades at branches--among them risk management requirements, truncation upgrades, and new reporting requirements. Still, the biggest driver far and away will be the mandate to grow more revenue at a channel that clearly offers the most opportunity for sales.

CRM systems will play a role in this move to be more customer focused, as will lead management systems, ongoing training, and the use of incentive programs that motivate average performers to shine, explains Mike Kozub, vice-president and chief marketing officer of MarketSoft Corp., a lead management solutions provider in Lexington, Mass.

Demos Consulting, a capacity and performance software vendor based in Norwell, Mass., helps banks find the right balance between tools and training.

"The industry sets very high standards of branch platform staffers, and the most successful banks have clear incentives and clearly prioritize what types of behaviors are truly valued: the messages aren't mixed. Successful institutions also create an infrastructure of support," says CEO Darryl Demos.

He's not sure that it always makes sense to load front-line personnel with too much data--unless the "visual noise" has been filtered out and the staff is savvy enough to know if a recommendation makes sense, whatever the system is telling them. Besides, he says, staffers need training to cope with objections raised by customers.

Teaching staffers to think off script is the key reason for a technology training balance, says Margie Kensil, senior vice president and director of consulting services for Omega Performance, Charlotte, N.C. "Universal agents are also good idea. Training people to know a wide variety of products vs. relying too much on a series of specialists helps to inspire confidence and helps you capture the customer's attention and, over time, loyality." It's inefficient and disenchanting, she says, to hand off a customer several times in search of expertise.

U.S. Bancorp, Minneapolis, has already made significant technology and training investments to render the branch more efficient. The bank uses a concierge service to help direct a customer with issues, concerns, or specific product-related questions to the best personnel.

"What do branches do best? Deposit gathering, relationship building, and providing a sense of security and assurance," says Richard K. Davis, vice chairman, consumer banking and payment services, U.S. Bancorp.

In a presentation he gave at a recent conference, Davis noted that selling is service and service is--or ought to be--what banks sell. But sales won't be made if the right people aren't put in place, which is why the bank takes time screening candidates and puts them through a fairly rigorous training program so they can improve cross-sell ratios and reduce wait times. And yet, said Davis, the basics of eye contact, friendly greeting, courtesy, and accuracy remain as important today, in this new era of the branch, as they were years ago-when the branch was the only show in town.