With “Light” Transformation Accelerated, Industrial Bank Outlet Upgrade Goes in Full Swing

90% OTC operations replaced by automatic machines; 2.8 tellers reduced per outlet in average; teller workload reduced by 25%; the number of sales persons in the lobby increased by 1.6; customer satisfaction reaches 99.83%. Recently, Industrial Bank (IB) released the annual report of 2016, in which a range of numbers reflects the transformation progress of IB. The service quality and efficiency enhancement in all outlets have made progress and achieved great result.

According to introduction, in 2015, IB followed the development trend of being smart, small and community-based, and officially launched outlet transformation. The purpose is to increase the efficiency of “operation, service and marketing” and reduce operation cost. By surrounding the three main lines of “reducing burden, deleting cash counter and adding non-cash counter”, IB made outlets smart, integrated all functions in the lobby and standardized personnel, so as to further optimize human resource structure and enhance labor efficiency in all operations, and accelerating the transformation of outlets from “transaction and handling type” outlets into “service and marketing type” outlets that are driven by efficiency.

“This is another important measure of promoting the development and increasing the quality and efficiency of retail finance after implementing the community banking strategy.” Wang Yu, GM of Bank Card and Channel Department of IB, said. The data shows that the income-cost ratio of IB in 2016 was 23.39%, remaining excellent in the industry.

Intellectualization helps reduce burden and increase efficiency for outlets

The construction of intellectualization is an important direction for IB outlet transformation. By combining bank services with technical innovation, IB expands online channels and new-type smart machines, and applies digital media and human-machine interaction technology to offer customers intelligent and convenient experience.

“We just introduced a new super teller with super efficiency and quality. It can replace ten human tellers!” introduced by an employee of an IB outlet when pointing the “Smart Counter” standing next to him. According to information, the “Smart Counter” is a new intelligent ATM machine promoted in all operation outlets since 2014. Being convenient and user friendly, it has more than 80 functions and can help customers handle most non-cash business including card activation, transfer, remittance, e-banking signing, purchase of wealth management products and etc. Right now, the workload completed by all Smart Counters in all outlets is equal to the workload of more than 1200 human tellers with full load. The service efficiency has been significantly enhanced.

To test the difference between “Smart Counter” and human teller, the reporter experienced the debit card activation business. When handling through the counter, the reporter went through form filling, review, identity card copying, online verification, system input and other processes, all costing at least 10 minutes. When handling through the “Smart Counter”, after clicking the “Card Activation” button, the reporter only had to verify the identity card, take a picture, go through some simple processes and finally let a field employee review the operation, all costing less than 1.5 minutes. It is very simple and efficient.

Guided by financial technologies, IB is the first to develop a special ATM machine for the blind, allowing for full-process voice navigation and touchable braille alphabet support. Nearly a hundred sets have been applied in the outlets in all capital cities across the nation. The first-of-the-kind large amount high speed cash deposit and withdrawal machine supports high speed self-help processing of large amount of cash. The coin exchange machines in outlets allow customers to exchange coins more conveniently and rapidly. The Virtual Teller Machine (VTM) provides customers with remote “face-to-face” video communication with customer service personnel to receive online services.

“Now over 90% OTC operations have been replaced by smart machines, and it’s almost 100% in some areas. By facilitating traditional OTC business to move online, the business pressure faced by human tellers is greatly relieved.” said by Wang Yu.

While replacing human work with smart machines, IB also promotes concentrated operation, remote authorization, OTC paperless operation, counter window display and the optimization of OTC business process, so as to further relieve the workload of tellers and enhance the OTC operation efficiency.

According to statistic data, in the past two years, the workload of tellers in each counter of IB is reduced by 25%, the average waiting time of customers is no more than 8 minutes, the average time of operation does not exceed 7 minutes.

Compound talents become mainstream providers of lobby services

With the progressing of intellectualization construction and workload relief for tellers, counters are no longer the only window between tellers and customers. Reducing cash counters, adding non-cash counters and adding “comprehensive wealth management counters” are now the focus of IB in outlet transformation.

The “comprehensive wealth management counter” is a new form of customer service that gives away cold and thick glass counters but provides one-stop services of consultation, trading and sales in a one-on-one and semi-private space. Tellers have more opportunities to get closer to customers.

The comprehensive wealth management counter requires all-rounded and compound talents. The “teller workload relief” of IB naturally unlocks the potential of operating personnel. Relying on the “multiple skills in one position” skill training program, IB propels operating tellers to change into marketing and managerial personnel, so as to optimize the human resource structure of the lobby and increase labor efficiency.

By the end of 2016, the proportion of operating personnel in operation outlets has been reduced by 15% with 2.8 operating tellers reduced in each outlet in average. The proportion of compound talents featuring “multiple skills in one position” is up to 90%. The “smart machines + comprehensive service providers” will become the mainstream service mode in outlets in the future.

“Service marketing” outlets increase their productivity greatly

Sticking to the goal of enhancing outlet services and marketing efficiency, IB actively promotes customer motion line management, lobby integration management, service and marketing process standardization and other consecutive measures, so as to facilitate the transformation from traditional “transaction and handling type” outlets into “service and marketing type” outlets that are driven by efficiency.

The reporter visited many IB outlets and found out that all outlets were planned in an organized way based on the flow path and business requests of customers. The sequence is “self-help zone - non-cash counter - cash counter - VIP zone”. The self-help zone is generally on the left side and the comprehensive weal management (non-cash) zone is generally on the right side. The corporate service (non-cash) zone, cash counters and VIP zone are deeper inside. The self-help zone and non-cash zone are connected as frequently visited zones while other zones are further arranged in different levels, thus making business handling smoother.

In order to intensify the construction of “service and marketing type” outlets, IB has strengthened the integrated management of lobbies, aggressively promoted the three-in-one marketing mode of “teller referral + lobby referral + non-cash counter sales”. The duty fences existing in all positions inside counters are broken so as to provide joint and interlaced marketing services by tellers, lobby managers, wealth managers and account managers, and greatly enhance the marketing capability in the lobby.

Supported by the “Three-in-One” service and marketing mode, IB also released the “Intelligent Lobby Service and Marketing Integrated System” as the “relay” of lobby information management. Connected with all channels, all systems and all positions in the lobby, this system allows for queuing, calling, customer identification, business opportunity discovery, referral marketing, lobby management, reservation, service monitoring and etc.

“From the moment a customer goes into the lobby, this system starts to analyze, classify and identify the customer's service demand by relying on backstage data analysis, while cooperates with sales persons to manage the customer flow. It can also raise suggestions on service according to customers’ feedback, which helps the marketing team increase efficiency and promote their marketing capability.” Wang Yu told the reporter.

Taking wealth management product as an example, the balance of weal management products in local or foreign currencies totals about RMB 700 billion; the sales volume per outlet is 6.2 times of that before transformation; the customer satisfaction is increased up to 99.83%; the customer service experience and outlet productivity are both on an uprising track.