| Focus on
the Front Line
By Pat Allen
First, let's pause to consider the enormity
of the task. How many banks are there? How many branches?
How many front-line employees at various levels of engagement
— whether they're career-minded, moonlighting or
earning money for college?
There are plenty of days when the front
lines of banks execute on plan. But every bank on every
day, day after day, with every customer? It's impossible.
It's unrealistic to think it could happen. And yet banks
must necessarily focus on what is possible, the steps
that can be taken to meaningfully enhance customer service
and establish solid relationships that will last and grow
in profitability to the bank.
Part 1 of Banking
Strategies' special report on retail banking (see
"Voices of Retail Banking," September/October 2004) highlighted
the inspiration and aspirations of the leaders —
those who, for all the power of their position, are sorely
reliant upon the courtesy, competence and overall alertness
of the shirt-sleeved 20-year-old working the drive-up.
In fact, as is reported on in the following pages of our
Part 2 report, there is a disconnect between strategy
and execution, expectation and experience.
Confident they knew what to do to encourage
relationship-building and support customer service quality,
bankers have invested time and resources accordingly.
Yet, "The
Front-Line Performance Gap," based on BAI Research
conducted in partnership with Oracle Corp. and De La Rue
Cash Systems Inc., describes a growing divide between
the sophistication of customer relationship strategies
and the ability of front-line employees to implement them.
Such findings can't be a surprise,
given the state of attention given by banks to the development
of human capital. That's the position of expert Jeffrey
A. Schmidt, whose interview with senior editor Kenneth
Cline ("Leveraging
Human Capital") points to a lack of rigor driving
the allocation of bank human resources.
| Retail
Banking Special Report: Part 2 |
| |
But there was too much positive going
on in retail banking in 2004 to hang crepe, and our report
concludes with a look at an emerging tool that banks have
been using with some success. "Booking the Business" profiles
the book-of-business approach to dealing with some of
the issues raised by The
Front-Line Factor research.
Hundreds of bank executives, including
those who responded to the The
Front-Line Factor survey or were interviewed either
for the research or for articles, contributed to this
special report and issue. The time and attention they
gave to our questions are what provides the value to you,
the reader, and we thank all involved for their generosity
as the industry continues its pursuit of what is possible
on the front lines.
Ms.
Allen is managing editor of Banking
Strategies.
Copyright © 2004 by Banking
Strategies, published by BAI.
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