New report from Efma and Atos Origin highlights a strong potential for innovation for banks’ customer e-Communications

New report looks at potential customer relationship opportunities

London - Efma today launched the third study in a series jointly developed with Atos Worldline, which brings together Atos Origin’s core expertise in Hi-Tech transactional services looking at the development of electronic channels, and the impact this is having on the management of customer relationships.

The research was carried out with by 47 banks from 8 different European countries – Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Turkey, and the UK. An additional 17 face-to-face and telephone interviews were carried out with banks.

Some of the key findings include:

The availability of electronic channel services from banks varies quite considerably, and there are differing views on the role of SMS banking and video conferencing, but the trend is for a rapid increase in the provision of all services within the next 3 years. SMS alerts are the most common service offered by banks with 79% already providing the service, but SMS banking is much less common with just 32% of banks offering the service.
The development of new electronic channels has been haphazard for many banks and built on to inflexible legacy systems, which means that integration is often quite low, but investment in e-channels and integration of e-channels is likely to grow.
Decisions in relation to e-channel investments have been relatively defensive for many banks and measuring return on investment has been a major problem, but some banks have clearly taken a lead and new innovation priorities are emerging.

Patrick Desmarès, Secretary General of Efma commented: “This research shows there is a very significant difference between the leaders and the laggards in terms of developing use of e-channels to improve CRM capabilities. This can be due to lack of budget or lack of vision.”

Julie Noir de Chazournes, Head of Markets, Business Marketing & Strategy at Atos Worldline commented: “Banks in general are making good progress in terms of introducing new channels and services, and developing new ways of managing customer relationships. However, there is still much greater potential to use electronic channels for gathering and analyzing more information about customers and their behaviours. If this information is managed well, it should lead to a better understanding of customers, more sophisticated behavioural segmentation and targeting of relevant offers, and provision of an appropriate customer experience. However, to achieve this and to improve their sales and service performance, banks will need to ensure they are learning from the best-in-class e-commerce companies and not just other banks”.

The full report is available on request, please see the Atos Origin Press contact below.

About Efma
Efma is a not-for-profit association specialising in retail financial marketing formed in 1971 by bankers and insurers. Today, over 3,000 brands in 130 countries are Efma members and these include over 80% of Europe’s largest retail financial institutions. Efma provides a professional forum that enables members to share experiences; promote best practices; and collaborate through alliances and partnerships. This is complemented by regular events, councils, online communities, detailed studies, a journal and a website with extensive information and news.
For more information: www.efma.com

About Atos Origin
Atos Origin is a leading international information technology (IT) services company, providing hi-tech transactional services, consulting, systems integration and managed operations to deliver business outcomes globally. The company’s annual revenues are EUR 5 billion and it employs 48,000 people. Atos Origin is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic Games and has a client base of international companies across all sectors. Atos Origin is quoted on the Paris Eurolist Market and trades as Atos Origin, Atos Worldline and Atos Consulting.

About Atos Worldline
Atos Worldline brings together Atos Origin’s core expertise in Hi-Tech transactional services. A leader in end-to-end services for critical electronic transactions, Atos Worldline is specialised in electronic payment services (issuing, acquiring, terminals, card and non card payment solutions & processing), eCS (eServices for customers, citizens and communities) as well as services for financial markets. Atos Worldline on-going commitments to research and innovation enable its customers to benefit from award-winning solutions in areas such as mobile payments, secure IPTV, online CRM and paperless solutions. Atos Worldline generates annual revenues of € 867 million and employs over 5,400 people in the world. For more information, please visit: www.atosworldline.com

On August 27th 2010, Atos Origin announced the acquisition of Venture Infotek - leading independent player on the Indian payment market. Through this acquisition, Atos Worldline reinforces its core business and enters one of the world’s fastest growing payment markets.