Elly Yates-Roberts |
The banking industry is going digital. Retail banks started their journey towards more customer-centric digital services years ago. Now, corporate banking clients also expect the same frictionless, personalised experience they currently enjoy with retailers.
In an age of one-click ordering and instant approvals, corporate clients will not tolerate frustrating and lengthy banking processes. Many of these business owners are already rapidly digitising their own operations and they expect their bank to support them in the same dynamic and relevant way.
Corporate banks are now rethinking their processes from a client perspective to ensure they can deliver an outstanding digital experience. This usually starts with streamlining the onboarding process to set the right tone. If they want to differentiate themselves in today’s highly competitive market, however, banks need to go a step further by digitising and personalising their end-to-end processes across the entire corporate client journey.
Most banks are already delivering omnichannel self-service offerings like internet and mobile banking to their corporate clients. These will invariably include standard services such as transactions, international payments and payroll administration. To improve the digital journey, corporate banking channels should also give employees the tools to instantly react to ever-changing corporate needs.
For example, VeriPark’s VeriChannel internet banking solution includes a powerful Self-Service Admin Console. This functionality enables corporate clients to define the specific processes and approval flows that are most relevant and useful for their business. This means clients can create their own digital banking journeys to suit their personal needs. And, they can do it quickly and cost effectively at any time without any additional IT support.
To understand how clients can use the VeriChannel Admin Console to create their own personalised digital process flows, let’s take an example of a hospitality business that wants to automate its housekeeping department’s budget and expenses procedures. Admin Console allows the client to define its own approval rules based on the transaction amount, account and beneficiary. For instance, the client could set an approval process where named individuals – such as a housekeeping supervisor – can sign off invoices under US$1,000 and the director of housekeeping must approve anything over that limit.
The Admin Console functionality is highly flexible, providing up to 15 approval authorisation levels. This means clients can assign specific roles and permissions to each internet banking user, such as Entry, Approver, Reviewer and Supervisor. In addition, clients can set up group signings, where transactions are routed based on the defined limits and groups. The users could even approve transactions via their mobile or smart device if they’re out of the office. To ensure everyone is kept up to date, approvers receive an email or text when a transaction is pending for their approval. There’s also a user-friendly graphical display showing the current stage of the approval process for each transaction.
There’s no doubt the combined forces of technology and competitive pressures are bringing sweeping changes to corporate banking. Innovative digital solutions, such as the Admin Console within VeriChannel, go well beyond standard corporate internet banking services. The ability to offer corporate banking clients personalised and secure digital journeys with flexible approval authorisation levels is a powerful differentiator and competitive advantage.
Wim Geukens is managing director of VeriPark Europe
This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 issue of The Record. Subscribe for FREE here to get the next issues delivered directly to your inbox.