Abstract
Once exclusively the domain of the branch channel, institutions are hurrying to provide a compelling digital onboarding experience. This report looks at the state of omnichannel customer acquisition, opportunities for improvement, and the vendor landscape for solutions designed to address them.
Celent finds that omnichannel customer acquisition remains largely aspirational for most North American financial institutions.
“Most institutions remain over-reliant on the branch channel for selling. Inadequate channel systems are partly to blame,” says Bob Meara, Senior Analyst with Celent’s Banking Group and author of the report. “But, a rip and replace of these systems isn’t a viable short-term solution for most institutions.”
The good news is that a legitimately omnichannel customer acquisition solution need not be far off, even for institutions with no mobile account origination capability and aging legacy branch platform sales systems. A variety of vendor solutions stand ready to help financial institutions create what their customers increasingly expect.
The report begins with defining “omnichannel customer acquisition” and makes a case for why it matters, and will matter all the more going forward. It then details the fledgling state of omnichannel customer acquisition as measured by a March-April 2016 survey of North American financial institutions. The report then offers an analysis of common areas for improvement in banks’ customer acquisition mechanisms, along with how a variety of vendor solutions are helping institutions close their improvement gaps.
Next, a trio of case studies illustrates the significant benefits banks are realizing for their investment in technology and business process change aimed at improving customer acquisition capability. The report concludes with a discussion of available vendor solutions and recommendations for institutions considering an investment in omnichannel customer acquisition capability.