Bank of Valletta held its first-ever Customer Experience Week between October 3 and 7 at its customer-facing touchpoints. Theodoros Papadopoulos, chief digital, strategy and transformation officer at BOV, explains the effort of transforming the bank into a customer-centric organisation.

The term ‘customer experience’ is often associated with the level of customer service a company offers. What does it mean for a company to embrace customer experience?

TP: Customer service is just one functional component, albeit a very important one, of customer experience.  Customer experience, on the other hand, is emotional, it is how customers feel after they engage with a company through any of its touchpoints, be they people, products, services or channels.

At Bank of Valletta we evaluate customer experience in terms of the human experience, thus elevating the experience on both physical and digital touchpoints.

What led the bank to participate in Customer Experience Day and what were the challenges faced in organising a full-week of bank-wide activities?

TP: A customer-centric culture is the very foundation of an excellent customer experience. At Bank of Valletta, customers are valued as the sole purpose of why we exist. We felt it was important to introduce customer-centric initiatives to reinforce culture focused on customers and their needs. We believe that through such initiatives we keep reminding ourselves of the importance of keeping the customer at the centre of every decision we take, every process, service and product we design.

Regarding challenges, I must say that the biggest challenge was on how to rein in all the ideas we wanted to implement. Being the first time that we organised CX Week, we wanted to start small. However, our staff’s enthusiasm, participation and collaboration made CX Week bigger than what we had originally planned.  The benefits we achieved as a bank were numerous – customers appreciated our effort and could see that we are striving hard to improve their experience. Our support staff experienced first-hand the frontline environment and could appreciate how their job impacted customers, while senior management interacted directly with customers and listened to their feedback. 

Theodoros Papadopoulos.

It’s not an everyday sight to go to a bank’s branch and meet up directly with the bank’s chairman or someone from top management. How did customers react to this initiative?

TP: It was evident that customers felt important, listened to, and cared for. The fact that the bank’s senior management was there observing customer interactions and discussing challenges and opportunities left a positive impact on our customers and our staff.  As for myself and my colleagues, I must say that walking the floor provided us with valuable insights that we will carry with us and keep top of mind when taking decisions that impact customers.

Some of the bank’s staff members who are not used to facing customers on the front line got the opportunity to see the daily operations of a customer-facing unit. What was the scope of such an initiative and how was it received?

TP. We wanted our people within support and control functions to meet with customers, feel their pulse and understand their diverse needs and behaviours. We also wanted frontline and support staff to better understand the challenges and share knowledge and expertise. We were delighted with the response received ‒ over 85 support employees participated and the feedback we received was very positive. 

Apart from extended hours at branches, the bank tested new initiatives with customers prior to launching them on the market. What were these initiatives?

TP: BOV gives a great deal of importance to the ‘Voice of the Customer’ programme. This is basically regular research to understand needs and perceptions towards the bank.  Through this programme, we heard how a high percentage of customers wanted us to reintroduce extended hours, so during CX Week we took the opportunity to pilot longer hours at selected branches. We combined this initiative with a pilot of flexi-hours for branch staff. 

Preliminary feedback is very encouraging and we will continue testing to better understand challenges and opportunities.  During the week we also tested new digital solutions to complement the BOV Home Loan portal launched earlier this year.

Change is inevitable, both in the way the banking sector is evolving, as well as with customer demands. One thing that doesn’t change is the fact that a company can ensure its existence as long as the customer remains at the centre of its operations. What are the main challenges the bank faces in this respect?

TP: I must say effort. We’re set to try and make banking with us simpler, requiring less effort from our customers. We are working very hard on simplifying our processes, products and services and we have some pretty exciting projects coming up.

This year, for example, we’ve launched the home loan online tool that empowers customers to apply for a home loan without setting foot in a branch; we’ve simplified the way we send encrypted e-mail while ensuring our customers’ security; we’ve enhanced the way we communicate and alert customers; and have improved our call back processes, resulting in 95 per cent of customer call back requests being delivered within our customer promise. In our customer research, we’ve already seen a drastic improvement and are committed to improve this even further.

Customer experience is a key driver for the bank. It is an ongoing journey that unfolds and evolves day-by-day. The bank promises to keep its ears to the ground, listening to the customer needs while, at the same time, driving and instilling the culture of change, pushing towards digital solutions to ensure accessibility. This is a journey that has just started, clearly ambitious but definitely rewarding, for both the bank and its customers.

This article was issued by Bank of Valletta plc, 58, Zachary Street, Valletta, VLT 1130.  Bank of Valletta plc is a public limited company regulated by the MFSA and is licensed to carry out the business of banking in terms of the Banking Act (Cap. 371 of the Laws of Malta).