S1 Apps Help Bank Improve Customer Service

Adrian Danescu, CIO at Manufacturers Bank of California, has a long CRM wish list. First and foremost, he wants to be able to integrate all financial data for all customers and make it available in real time to customer-service agents. He then wants to change how customers think of themselves. To do this, Danescu knows his biggest task will be to change his company's culture.

The best way for Manufacturers, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. with $1.1 billion in assets, to do this is through a short-term integration plan that maps to a long-term CRM strategy. The majority of Manufacturers' customers are businesses, but the bank does offer consumer banking for business owners and their employees. Danescu wants to build on that relationship. "We look to be a full-service provider of financial services to our customers and their employees," he says.

Manufacturers partnered with S1 Corp. and this week is launching two applications that will complement an existing Web cash-management system that lacked transactional capabilities. S1 Personal Banking provides customers with a consolidated view of deposits, credit, and loan accounts and lets them conduct the usual online banking transactions such as paying bills, transferring funds, and viewing pending activity. Similarly, S1 Business Banking offers business-process and financial-management capabilities for small businesses via the Internet.

Based on a Java 2 Enterprise Edition open architecture that will ease integration with third-party apps and legacy systems, the S1 approach involves moving data into a common data model so Danescu can consolidate information without having to create linkages that can add to infrastructure and maintenance costs.

The two S1 apps will bring new services to customers via the Internet, but they are also integrated, which will help Manufacturers better serve customers in an area where clients' business and personal lives are beginning to collide. There are a growing number of entrepreneurs and small-business owners in the California market, Danescu says, and he wants Manufacturers to be able to treat each customer as the same person, whether banking for home or business. The hope is that these integrated offerings will attract new customers to Manufacturers. "To me, customer service is a product," Danescu says, "It tells my customers how well we can perform" as their partner.

Yet the move to the new apps and their potential to bring in business also means changing how customer-service organizations works. The applications will let agents see all customer interactions in real time and view the customer from both a consumer and a corporate banking angle. Agents have already embarked on in-depth training of the business lines, and by the third quarter they'll be able to cross-sell and up-sell to clients based on a broader array of products and services that will help generate new revenue while making customers happy.

Because of the open architecture and integration efforts, Manufacturers will be able to continue adding services that will pool and use all data in the bank's store. Looking forward, Danescu wants to integrate instant-messaging services into the S1 applications, as well as secured messaging systems to further enhance customer service.