The financial services industry is currently facing an unprecedented array of challenges, including economic uncertainty, megamergers, decreasing margins, global competition, and increasing regulation. History suggests, however, that times of economic uncertainty also offer exceptional opportunities for those who look past near-term difficulties and plan strategically for the future.
Microsoft's cost-effective solutions can help by equipping your people with easy-to-use tools that help them work smarter and improve operational efficiencies.
In today's environment, it's more important than ever for financial services companies to maintain a path toward long-term profitability by cutting costs, understanding and deepening customer relationships, and ensuring regulatory compliance and streamlined governance processes. With low-cost, high-value technology solutions from Microsoft and its partners, financial services companies can meet these imperatives and achieve a competitive edge.
Reducing Costs and Doing More with Less
Now more than ever, financial services companies have to do more with less and cut costs wherever they can. Microsoft's cost-effective solutions can help by equipping your people with easy-to-use tools that help them work smarter and improve operational efficiencies.
For example, Lloyds TSB Group, one of the United Kingdom's largest financial institutions, has made it quicker and easier for business decision makers to gain customer insight from data using a solution based on Microsoft business intelligence (BI) tools-at a cost approximately 80 percent less than the cost of competitive solutions. In the past, those without training in Structured Query Language (SQL) and specialized database knowledge had to request reports from their customer value management (CVM) group. With Microsoft solutions, the Lloyds TSB Group put in-depth analysis capabilities and consistent, accurate data in the hands of business users while automating 70 percent of its BI requests and providing only minimal training. Initial tests showed that business users are able to gain insight into customer behaviors several days sooner than they could using the previous manual process, and CVM insight analysts are now free to spend more time on detailed analytics.
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Attracting and Retaining Customers
Today, financial services companies need to get close to their customers and stay close. Microsoft solutions drive this capability in a number of ways: Our platform and solutions for digital marketing, Concierge Service online, social networking, and blogging help organizations make deeper connections with customers and create the customer experiences of the future. These interactions are what Gen X, Gen Y, and the Millennials use at home and expect to find at work and in their leisure pursuits, too.
Microsoft solutions also help financial services companies address customer expectations for more options in how, when, and where they access services and information. For example, Bank of America is expanding and improving its range of customer service offerings using Microsoft Windows Mobile for its Mobile Banking service, which enables more than 20 million customers to bank directly from their cell phones or smartphones with built-in security features. In addition, Bank of America built Microsoft MapPoint technology into the solution to help its customers quickly locate the nearest branch or ATM. Mobile Banking provides Bank of America customers with the convenience, security, and control of banking anywhere, anytime. The solution enables consumers to check their balances while shopping, pay bills during their commute, and find the nearest ATM for cash-even when they are on the go.
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Enabling Governance and Compliance
Financial services companies are facing new and stronger regulation and increasing government intervention. To manage risk and control costs associated with responding to the multiple regulations that affect various aspects of their business, financial services companies are using Microsoft solutions to develop a holistic approach to compliance and streamlined governance processes.
For example, National Australia Bank (NAB) is using Windows Server 2008 to simplify its IT environment, improve efficiency, and implement compliance requirements. NAB is using the Read-Only Domain Controller feature in Windows Server 2008 to ease management and mitigate security risks. "NAB can use Windows Server 2008 Read-Only Domain Controllers to provide authentication services to secured areas of the bank without compromising on security, and thereby meet some of its stringent security and compliance requirements," says Mac Ghani, architect lead at Avanade Australia.
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