Dematerialisation: delivering benefits for new technologies
Finaref is committed to promoting dematerialisation in the finance sector.
Dematerialisation plays a useful role by facilitating non face-to-face customer relationships. The approach’s growing importance among distance-sellers has created a need for new customer relationship management tools. Finaref is focusing its main web-related initiatives on upgrading the performance of the systems that manage incoming email, on giving more accurate answers to customers running online financing simulations, and on providing electronic signature solutions. The company is also working on phone-based projects aimed at dematerialising the contracting process. All these initiatives are ultimately designed to encourage customers to use the same distribution channel from start to finish of the marketing process. Says Franck Ginko: "We are hammering out the final technical and legal details. We are getting encouragement from our clients, who are keen on this kind of solution".Finaref a groundbreaker in e-management for sales and marketing
The internet channel receives over 1,000 customer emails a day. Some of these messages need answers on issues concerning customer files. A special software package automatically directs these emails to the right departments and also monitors request processing through a workflow system. The software measures the quality of follow-up work and swiftly dispatches standard replies to the most frequently asked questions. Finaref is taking automated handling of incoming email a step further by running semantic analyses on message content to identify customer needs and provide tailor-made sales and marketing offers - something that sales advisors currently do over the telephone. This is a major innovation that will encourage customers to continue doing their dealings over the internet. Online pre-approval is another key component of the dematerialisation drive. Unlike most of its competitors, Finaref has opted for the principle of complete pre-approval. To achieve this, the company’s website is connected to the decision-support tool used by the other sales channels, so that each customer’s situation can be analysed in detail and exactly the same response provided whether loan applications are made online or over the phone. Customers show their support for online signatures
Last June, Finaref became the first French institution to offer its customers an electronic signature system. Under the pilot scheme, loan customers who want to add a Visa card or payment protection insurance to their accounts can now sign their applications online. The option has obvious support because the Finaref website has already recorded 1,600 electronically signed contracts - better than forecast. Customers really like the idea of electronic signatures. A full 83 per cent of them say the system is “very easy” to use, and 12 per cent find it “fairly easy" to use. A further 90 per cent say that being able to carry out these tasks online makes the subscription process easier, and 83 per cent feel that the function gives the company an innovative image. Facilitating the contracting process
Finaref continues to work to make life easier for its customers by offering over-the-phone policy subscriptions. In the past, customers who called Finaref to take out payment protection insurance had to complete the final formalities on paper. Now, they have a choice. They can also sign up by recording a voice message. The advisor authenticates the customer and uses a detailed questionnaire to green-light the subscription. Finaref has been using this system for the past five years in accident insurance. In recent months, though, it has once again led from the front by extending the service to include payment protection insurance and the Visa universal payment function, which customers have the option of adding to their Mistral and Challenger card services. Finaref has also recruited mobility experts to build up SMS-based communications and mobile phone-supported payment systems, which are already popular in Japan. Tests are scheduled for the coming months.
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