By Sameer Jaini, CTO, DCB Bank
Our most unique offering is the Aadhar-based ATM. It is a simple concept. We have linked Aadhaar to the account number of the customer. The customer can just put their thumb print and take the cash out. Nandan Nilakeni inaugurated our ATM in Bangalore during which he mentioned that Aadhaar-based ATMs was one of the use cases they had planned while doing Aadhaar. Over a period of time, more and more Aaadhar based ATMs will be coming across the country. One does not need a card or PIN. It is encrypted end-to-end. It gives permanency. The bank does not have to dispatch another PIN. The second option is card and biometrics. One might have forgotten the PIN, in which case the customer can use biometrics. And lastly, the card-based PIN model is always available. Thus, there are varied options for customers to choose from.
Another digital initiative is around fixed deposits. If a customer wants to open an FD, he does not need to come to a branch. Customers initially may only want to set-up a term deposit or fixed deposit account with us. Without doing much campaigns, we have been able to get customers not only from metro areas, but from really far-flung areas which we were not anticipating. We are making exit also easy. Normally, banks make exit difficult. But we have a process wherein customers can onboard, process and offboard themselves.
Omni-channel play
Another initiative we are working is around a real omni channel platform which can handle multiple services of customers in the same structured way. If the customer accesses the account or a transaction through PC or mobile, he can see the same transaction. It is to make it the channel agnostic. We will also collaborate heavily with the Fintech community on our digital initiatives. What they bring is innovation and speed, and we bring distribution and capital. There are lot of innovations in the queue. Over a period of time, you should see us associating with multiple Fintech partners.
We are also looking at multiple scenarios of IoT where it can be leveraged. For example, when we disburse a loan on a tractor, can we track usage of the tractor? We are looking at Chat as a platform. Chat as a platform ought to have AI behind it or else the customer is typing in his details and writing natural English, and if AI is not behind the scene, then one cannot figure what he said during his previous interaction. For our website, we made a very simple look where it is not cluttered and does not confuse the customer.
Even our lending side is digitized. A customer can know about his account details on the app. There is an app for missed call. With a missed call, the balance will come up automatically. It is not innovation, but simplicity out there. For example, when a customer comes to a branch, he may not have the required documentation with him. So we have rolled out eKYC. Thus, he can do his KYC or KYC refresh there.
Making it efficient for employees
Another internal innovation is DCB Delight, wherein we give a customer kit, and the servicing is done in just half an hour reducing the overall turn-around time of a transaction. We are more into frugal engineering, and do lot of development in-house. We have rolled-out a mobile based collection platform. It is a platform to digitize a customer touch-point.
Even from an employee perspective, digital initiatives have to be about how to make their work simple and efficient. For example, employees had to look into multiple systems to get customer details. However, it leads to increased turn-around time. We built a system through which the front-line staff has the information available immediately. No training was required for this.
Sales staff used to keep excel sheets to track their meetings. We have a tool now, which they use for all their meetings. They know who to meet, who they have already met and the entire meeting cycle can be tracked. Also, to enable instantaneous decision when a sales staff is meeting a customer, there is a tab kind of platform where basics like KYC is done immediately. They can process the transaction during the meeting itself.
– As told to Jasmine Desai
