Opinion: Taking customer experience to the next level

Banking and financial-services providers have more data than any other industry at their disposal – it's time to make the most of this, for the benefit of customers themselves. Digital transformation is changing the way banks talk to customers, but forward-looking financial institutions in the region are looking at how they can deploy artificial intelligence and automation to transform the customer experience, says Danny Drew, Avaya's Managing Director for South Africa. When was the last time you actually visited your bank branch? For most people, the answer is likely to be somewhere in between the last time you had to do a major financial transaction, such as applying for a loan or a mortgage, and… you just can't remember. The way consumers interact with banks has fundamentally changed over the past few years as trends like mobile and online banking have become increasingly important.