Here’s why Intranet Software is a Must for BFSI Sector

Replication of products and services in an age of highly mature technological advancement is very simple. When it comes to the banking and financial sector, the market is highly cramped and competitive. While the sector itself constitutes of different units, be it banking, insurance, finance, mutual funds, etc., each of these units further consist of at least 6-7 players. In this chaotic market structure, some factors which can differentiate banking and financial institution and ensure success are:

• Alignment of service/product features with customer requirements: The product development team needs to ensure that the developed product is simplistic in terms of usage. Further, it also has to cater to as many requirements of customers as possible. To ensure alignment of the product with customer requirements, BFSI institutions need to implement a mechanism that churns out feedback for its products. If this process is strategically streamlined, the customer-facing associates of the company can carry back complaints/feedbacks and expectations of customers to the product/service development team.
• Communication and product execution: Execution of products/services in the market calls for the customer-facing associate to eloquently communicate features of the product/service by connecting customer needs to the products.

For both these processes to be successfully established, employees need to be constantly informed on frequent upgradation made to the services and products. However, the dispersed branch offices of banking and financial institutions located in different regions make it highly difficult for employees to connect and interact. Communication with the customer-facing associates especially is a must as these employees communicate the features of products and services to the customers.

In such a circumstance communication has become a differentiator in the BFSI sector today. Agility therefore is a crucial driver for success in the BFSI sector.  In this context, adoption of a user-friendly intranet can emerge as a game changer for BFSI institutions.

 

INTRANET SOFTWARE ALLOWS FOR SEAMLESS COLLABORATION

Teams within companies, not just in the BFSI sector but in all industries, are fragmented. There exists very little point of interaction between the different teams. However, when it comes to sectors like banking, finance, telecommunication, hospitality, etc. the customer-facing associates play a significant role in not just service, but also in product/service development, sales and marketing. So, it is imperative that there exists a seamless and effortless collaboration between all teams. An intranet portal that is mobile-friendly and digitally enabled can help employees stay connected at all times for real time update and interaction.

On one hand, the customer-facing associates can communicate complaints and feedback through the intranet portal. Through intranet portals, associates can communicate with other employees in the corporate office and get real time response to the enquiries raised by customers. On the other hand, the product development, sales and marketing teams can leverage this information for improvement of their respective strategies.

 

INTRANET SOFTWARE STRENGTHENS CAPABILITY BUILDING THROUGH DIGITAL TRAINING

Employees in the BFSI sector need to be thoroughly trained on the functions and features of products/service. The employees need to be supplied with complete information on the service so that all doubts raised by customers can be answered. Further, they also need to keep track of all the modifications and constantly keep learning about the newly embedded changes in products.

Apart from the ease of learning internal content, intranet can also be great source for developing soft skills. Articles and training videos on development of soft skills that get posted on such portals can be accessed anytime, anywhere. Today, there has been an explosive growth web-based learning and development; especially with the boom in Massive Open Online Course (MOOCS).  Now with mobile-enabled intranet portals coming in, the scope for digital learning has only increased.  With short video bites becoming increasingly popular for learning, executives and other employees in corporate offices of banks can leverage them during short breaks. Especially, customer-facing associates that work from branch offices have both long and short time to spare between working hours. During such intervals when there are relatively less customers walking in, associates can leverage the intranet for learning.

 

INTRANET SOFTWARE ESTABLISHES CONNECTION BETWEEN DISPERSED EMPLOYEES

With branch offices of banks and other financial institutions being spread across different locations, it becomes almost impossible for employees to stay connected at all times. Real-time notifications, updates, strategies can go unnoticed without an active, user-friendly and digitally enabled platform for communication. Adoption of Intranet makes access, transparency, communication and collaboration of employees, both at work and outside, possible. Such a system helps employees from dispersed locations connect on a one-to-one basis. These portals further also makes it possible for junior level employees and customer-facing associates to chat with the leadership team on a real-time basis, which earlier was not feasible.

A SIMPLE INTRANET SOFTWARE AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Social networking in the current day and age resembles an epitome of employee engagement. Social network today have become a part of every individual’s lifecycle. Therefore, engraving communication, collaboration and interaction through social intranet portals within organizations makes adoption fairly easy. Being virtually, yet socially connected gives employees a sense of belonging to a group or an organization. Intranet portals today act not just as platforms to keep track of notifications, feedbacks, approvals, but have emerged as a platform that enables employees to socially engage and collaborate with the other employees. For instance, through these platforms, employees can wish colleagues on birthday and anniversaries; they can share photos from office parties, off-sites and other functions, etc.

In addition to real-time collaboration, intranet portals also facilitate gamification. Gamification is highly effective when it comes to employee engagement. Not only do they make room for healthy and playful, yet competitive behavior, but also enable employee alignment with organizational goals, values and purpose.

Today real time communication and Collaboration has become imperative in streamlining business process and overall management. Thus, the use of Intranet for collaboration and communication is a must, especially in a fragmented and chaotic market like that of the BSFI’s. This will ensure agility and seamless alliance in the organization.

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