3 Tips to Execute Seamless Payments Harmonization

Even with so many technological advances in the modern age, there are unfortunately still many banks that require their clients to go through several hoops for what should be relatively simple tasks. For instance, some companies still require people to line up for hours at physical branches to transfer money to another bank or across borders. Others still insist on using outdated billing and payments systems, resulting in inaccurate figures or, worse, inconsistent data between a bank’s various departments. Tired of experiencing all of these issues, customers have become much more exacting when choosing a corporate bank for all of their financial needs.

Given that customers can choose to switch banks at the drop of a hat, your bank should put in every effort to attract and retain more customers. While it may seem difficult, it certainly isn’t impossible to meet or even exceed their expectations, especially with the right payment modernization system in place. If your financial institution has fallen behind on the times, though, where should you even begin? Read on for some tips that may just help in the implementation of seamless payments harmonization across your entire organization:

Identify Pain Points in Your Existing Workflow

Before you can begin to implement any sort of solution, you should determine the pain points that need to be addressed. To do so, your bank’s leadership must take a step back and examine the existing system with a critical and objective lens. They must also be willing to listen to the employees who use the said system daily, as their hands-on experience will provide crucial insight into why the existing software is lacking.

For instance, has your staff come up with manual workarounds because the system was simply too inflexible to accommodate any changes in the payments process? Does the system allow for such changes, only for them to not stick, requiring employees to rebuild them manually, repeatedly? Are the wrong details constantly being sent out to customers, or are clients receiving too many false alarms regarding chargebacks or suspicious account activity? Does the system often crash and require hours or days of downtime just to resolve the issue? All of these concerns must be addressed to eliminate red tape in your internal processes.

 

Ask Your Existing Customers What They Want

Now that you’ve identified the pain points within your current workflow, the next step is to find out what other features your customers want to see in your new system. You can do this by sending out surveys via e-mail, or calling up customers and asking them a set series of questions. It’s a good idea to provide some sort of incentive in return for their feedback. Not only will that make it more likely that they answer your survey; it also shows that you value their time and effort.

Once you’ve gathered and analyzed this information, you’ll have a much clearer picture of how to go about implementing a new system that will satisfy your customers’ demands. Generally speaking, though, many customers now expect all transactions to be frictionless, and that they should be able to access their accounts via digital means anytime, anywhere. They have little patience for any errors in their billing and want quick responses to any issues they may have with the bank’s customer-facing system.

Conducting this survey only once is not enough, though. After updating your bank’s software, it’s important to get continuous feedback from your customers every so often. This is the best way to know whether you’re on the right track or not in regard to improvements to your system.

 

Look for Out-of-the-Box Software Solutions

The importance of bringing your financial institution’s systems up to modern standards cannot be emphasized enough. That being said, digitalization efforts especially across an entire organization do require a significant upfront investment in terms of time, money, and labor. This is especially true if you’re planning to have such a system developed entirely from scratch to perfectly suit your bank’s specific workflows.

Fortunately, these financial institutions won’t have to tackle such a huge undertaking alone. Now, many companies offer out-of-the-box solutions that are relatively easy to implement, all with minimal downtime. There are even modular software solutions that can be customized according to your preferences and requirements, and these can be adjusted should your bank find itself in need of additional functionalities. Additionally, these systems can be scaled up or down as necessary. The best part is that a pre-built customizable system is more practical and cost-efficient than coding entirely new software from the ground up.

 

Indeed, traditional corporate banks have much work to do to keep up with modern customer demands. To survive in the ever-changing landscape of the finance industry, financial institutions must be willing to let go of what no longer serves their needs, much less those of their customers. And with people becoming more accustomed to the conveniences provided by everyday technology, the digitalization of your organization’s systems and processes is no longer optional. Rather, it is an absolute must.