Financial service providers need to prioritize hyper-personalization strategies in build-up to Consumer Duty updates

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 2023-- A new study commissioned by global analytics software platform provider FICO reveals work still needs to be done for advanced personalization in UK banks. The Forrester Consulting study “Unlocking Hyper-Personalization at Hyper-Scale” includes results of a survey among 52 financial services providers worldwide and points to gaps in banks’ ability to manage customer relationships in a consistent way.

Highlights

• 65 percent of respondents prioritize single view of customer through accurate, accessible data
• 81 percent are expanding automation of customer services
• 69 percent of UK respondents process KPIs with real-time, customizable data visualization across decision ecosystem, only 49 percent do so globally
• 83 percent are or are planning to enhance customer engagement through real-time decisioning
• Yet only 50 percent have governance capabilities for their change-management ecosystems

More information: https://www.fico.com/en/forrester-report-unlocking-hyper-personalization-hyper-scale

“Personalization is not new for banking, but what we call hyper-personalization is,” said Matt Cox, Managing Director, EMEA, FICO. “From behavior-triggered offers to real-time reminders and support, banking customers are increasingly expecting personalized interactions and information throughout their journey. With Consumer Duty requirements increasing in July, the demand from the regulators places even more onus on financial services providers to bring all their information on a customer to every decision.

“While 65 percent of respondents in our survey said their organization strives for a single view of its customer through accurate and accessible data, that leaves one third of banks unable to deal with their customers in a holistic, compliant manner. This not only stifles their reach and impact but puts them at risk of losing brand reputation or falling out of line with the new legislation.”

Personalization Strategies Lack Critical Data and Insights Capabilities

Organizations are currently focused on customer needs.

• 71 percent of leaders said their bank has expanded communication channel options for customers
• 81 percent have expanded customer-service automation.

The majority also report their organization has begun deploying foundational tools to support personalization strategies, including identity and access management (IAM), security tools, and lifecycle and deployment tools.

Personalization Practices Are Maturing

As banks advance their personalization practices, strategic shifts to implement essential data and insights capabilities are underway.

• 81 percent of respondents said that by 2024 their bank will incorporate more third-party data and services
• 83 percent are or are planning to enhance customer engagement through real-time decisioning
• 81 percent have or are planning simulation and testing of personalization strategies on real customer data.

To keep up with client expectations, banks are accelerating their deployment of personalization tools and services. Moving past the table stakes and foundational tool kits that guided their first implementation efforts, banks are intentionally addressing capability gaps to enable delivery of personalization at scale.

Turning Insight into Action

Once a bank successfully creates a singular view of customer data and gathers segmentation insights, it must take those insights from the realm of data scientists and translate them into actions.

• 71 percent of respondents said their bank leverages user interactions to build web and mobile experiences for customers with low-code employee tools
• 69 percent have a decision capability to make consistent and intelligent decisions across the enterprise with control over decision logic

After deployment of insights-based actions, banks must successfully respond to the outcomes of those actions based on their results in the market.

• Only 50 percent of respondents have governance capabilities in their organization to enable their change-management ecosystems to get a high degree of transparency and explainability
• Just 56 percent have the ability to test and validate various decision changes in development and production environments through testing and validation capabilities

“Many banks are taking a narrow approach to personalization,” concluded Cox. “Digitally empowered customers are now seeking and expecting better, more relevant experiences, but product-oriented strategies handicap most banks.

“As banks strategically advance towards hyper-personalization at hyper-scale, adopting a single platform that enables the expansion of data, insights, actions, and outcomes capabilities for personalization will help firms drive more profitable customer relationships, better manage risk and fraud, optimize operations, and drive differentiation. It will also improve performance across performance indicators and counteract top challenges by lowering costs, increasing customer satisfaction scores (CSATs), and strengthening customer retention.”

About FICO

FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 200 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in nearly 120 countries do everything from protecting 2.6 billion payment cards from fraud, to helping people get credit, to ensuring that millions of rental cars are in the right place at the right time.

Learn more at https://www.fico.com

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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230511005045/en/

FICO UK PR Team
Wendy Harrison/Parm Heer/Matthew Enderby
ficoteam@harrisonsadler.com
0208 977 9132

Source: FICO