As physical presence is no longer deemed mandatory, retaining customer loyalty and offering an attractive customer experience from a distance is the new challenge. In these uncertain times it is vital to function proactively and explore new ways to drive multichannel engagement, while at the same time offer personalised and reliable communication. It is essential to ensure accessibility to your customers while staying relevant and committed to your organisation.

In this context all businesses have clearly placed omnichannel transformation on the top of their agendas. How could financial institutions better prepare for an omnichannel delivery? Where should they start?

Let’s have a closer look at what the wealth management industry is experiencing. Clients are stressed and feel insecure. Remote customer support alone is not helping much to that direction. How can one achieve customer reassurance and trust with the new digital client engagement models? Adopting trusted front-to-back technology tools is now more than ever an urgency that will determine business continuity after the storm. According to Aite’s report COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities in Financial Services the current crisis will expose areas in key processes, such as client onboarding or client servicing, that are not fully system-based. Businesses who have embraced digital engagement tools, enabling access to everything you need from anywhere, at any time are better positioned.

What key features should your digital engagement tools have to ensure that goals are met despite the volatile market conditions to provide clients with peace of mind? Some key characteristics your platform should have, include:

• Cloud-based platform to ensure 24/7 access from any place, guaranteeing security and business continuity
• Client management (CRM, document management, profiling) through automated workflows, to onboard prospects faster.
• Client self-registration & self-Onboarding
• Common user experience across all channels with personalisation options
• In-built Client access & communication tools
• Streamlined advisory processes
• Asset allocation, profitability & performance analysis in multiple dimensions
• Consolidated client and management reporting
• Ready integration with custodian banks and market data feeds
• Compliance with international and local regulatory requirements
• Multi-tenant deployment capabilities

With these in mind, just consider how prepared your firm is, dealing with this situation.

Can you transform your customer experience to a complete omnichannel experience? A crisis like the current one, demands bold and prompt actions because as Warren Buffet notes “Only when the tide goes out you discover who's been swimming naked”.

Author: Kyriakos Orfanidis, Senior Consultant at Profile Software