Mercator Advisory Group's New Report: Retail Banking Contact Centers: Strategic Considerations

PRLog (Press Release) - Jul. 17, 2012 - Boston, MA -- Anemic macroeconomic conditions and tight credit standards have stunted growth opportunities for banks and other financial institutions. Executives therefore are exploring new means of generating revenue and including the contact center in these efforts. Many FIs are finding that the process of redeploying the contact center as a strategic asset, rather than a cost center, unlocks revenue opportunities and also enables representatives to deliver higher quality customer service.

Mercator Advisory Group's latest report, Retail Banking Contact Centers: Strategic Considerations, examines how a contact center that is aligned with the financial institution's objectives and integrated with other banking channels can support organic growth. The report describes best practices at retail banking contact centers regarding performance measurement and communication channel strategies, highlighting recent customer satisfaction studies of several retail banking segments and contact center communication channels.

Highlights of the report include:

A comparison of customer satisfaction at credit unions, small banks, and large banks

A discussion of the most relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) for contact center managers, financial services industry averages, and the applicability/limitations of each metric

An analysis of how inbound customer communications are spreading across automated phone systems, email, online chat, social media, and video conferencing, and indicators of customer satisfaction with each channel

An explanation of how cross-channel banking solutions can help contact centers meet revenue objectives

Michael Misasi, research analyst at Mercator Advisory Group and author of the report, comments, "Retail banks and credit unions are now embracing the notion that operating a successful contact center may require expanding its function beyond basic, low-cost customer service. Financial institutions are returning contact centers to the U.S. and managing them like other banking channels. This means integrating the contact center with branch and Web-based customer management applications and relying on the center to generate enough revenue for internal profitability."

The report is 24 pages long and contains 12 exhibits.

Companies mentioned in this report include: PSCU, CFCU, Fiserv, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan Chase.

Members of Mercator Advisory Group's Banking Channels Advisory Service have access to this report as well as the upcoming research for the year ahead, presentations, analyst access and other membership benefits.
 
Please visit us online at www.mercatoradvisorygroup.com.

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About Mercator Advisory Group
Mercator Advisory Group is the leading, independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments and banking industries. We deliver pragmatic and timely research and advice designed to help our clients uncover the most lucrative opportunities to maximize revenue growth and contain costs. Our clients range from the world's largest payment issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants and associations to leading technology providers and investors. Mercator Advisory Group is also the publisher of the online payments and banking news and information portal PaymentsJournal.com.

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