Re: [uk-netmarketing] Re: UKNM: Online banks

[Ray Taylor]

Tony Bowden <

tonyblackstar [dot] co [dot] uk

> said:


> Egg are one of the most incompetent companies I have *EVER* had to

> deal with.


The problem with "online" banks is precisely the same as the problem with

"telephone" banks.


Banking is a service. Service, being the key, not the technology. Most banks

provide poor service but get away from it, because everyone expects no

better. Put it online and you multiply the problem because (1) expectations

are high and (2) moving the delivery to a new mechanism is done at the

expense of service.


A bank may buy a telephone, but this does not make it a telephone bank. A

bank may buy a web site, but this does not make it an "online" bank.


First direct is a direct banking operation, set up for telephone customers,

at huge expense. It works because of the emphasis on customer service. The

technology is used to achieve that aim and it works. The level of service is

high because the operators are trained, motivated, and supervised to provide

it, with the aid of a stable technology (telephone network).


I will use FD's online banking when they get their online act together. I

have tried various online banks and they are all pants. But whatever bank I

end up with, I will still reserve the right, as a customer, to choose the

method by which I contact them. If I want to pay a bill when I am away from

my desk then I would not expect FD or any other bank to tell me (as Smile

have done) that I must use the web site (even if it don't work).


The point is, these days, forcing your customers to use an irrelevant

technology or channel to buy your product when there is a perfectly good

alternative, is rather silly.


All good banks of the future will be accessible via holes in the wall,

retail outlets, web, phone, TV, other domestic appliances, and of course the

few remaining bank branches. Having a "web" bank is a bit like having a

"fridge" bank. If you could only access your bank via your IP-enabled

fridge, then it would limit the customer base to (1) those people with

IP-enabled fridges and (2) those people actually in the kitchen when they

want to enter a transaction or check their balances.


RT