Financial Services

Financial Services

We help client contact centers in the financial services industry contribute to the bottom line.

For almost 20 years, we have focused on the financial services sector delivering contact center initiatives for organizations delivering retail and online banking, wealth management services, securities distribution, benefits administration, and insurance services. We understand the challenges associated with globalization, digital transformation, and increased regulatory oversight.

As competition intensifies and turbulence within the industry accelerates, McIntosh provides best practice insights capable of optimizing and stabilizing financial service contact center operations.

Our experience within this sector:

Retail Banking

Online Banking

Credit Card Marketing

Investment Services

Insurance

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Performance Management

Leveraging training, process, & tools to deliver service.

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Operational Delivery

Sourcing customer care operations.

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Speech Analytics

Today’s most compelling call center technology.

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Recent experience within this sector:

  • For the launch of a major retail bank’s online banking unit, McIntosh identified the operational and support processes required to transform an existing credit card processing center into an online banking support operation. Ten key initiatives were identified with McIntosh leading three of the initiatives and providing support for the remaining seven. The unit was successfully launched and was the dominant industry player for years post-launch.
  • Retail and contact center mystery shops/calls to gauge the success of retail site and contact center support for marketing objectives. These mystery shops/calls are conducted quarterly and are the basis for measuring retail and contact center compliance. Additionally, based on feedback from the shops and calls, the client has streamlined operations and enhanced their marketing promotions.
  • Contact center strategy development primarily focused on the five-year facility and resource plan. Staffing strategies addressed the use of brick and mortar, outsourced, temp to hire, and remote/home agents with facility options evaluating both internal and outsourced operations.
  • Consolidation analysis evaluating multiple options: physical consolidation, virtual operations, and the use facility independent remote/home agents as delivery options. Annual declines in workload driven by self-service migration required an evaluation of multiple delivery options and the development of a consolidation plan based on projected workload. The resulting five-year plan identified significant savings opportunities while preserving critical service capabilities.
  • RFP management for outsourced services including the development and documentation of business, technical, and customer experience requirements for handling US based customers. Domestic as well as near-shore and off-shore outsourcing candidates were included in the solicitation.
  • Scorecard design, application development project management, and UAT testing prior to release to operations. At the agent level, the scorecard generated prior day, month-to-date, and quarter-to-date performance data with projected compensation based on the agent’s performance level.
  • Call quality recording application development and implementation (“poor man’s version”) until the client could justify a more robust, plug and play application. Development of the quality monitoring process which was also used for the robust final application.
  • For a major medical insurer, re-engineered IVR functionality for dental, vision, and medical claims creating scripting and logic for both providers and patients.
  • Turnkey quality monitoring process design supported by an extensive discovery process consisting of over 2,000 calls observed with over 1,000 of the observed calls surveyed. Developed the operational quality monitoring process including a feedback loop of customer surveys to ensure alignment between customer experience objectives and call monitoring tactics. Multiple financial services clients have leveraged McIntosh for this workload, and we have successfully designed and deployed ongoing survey processes to support call monitoring. Media for surveys include email, chat, post-call IVR, and outbound voice. Projects have been completed for online banking firms, credit card processing entities, brokerage clients, and retail banking clients. For one client, post implementation, McIntosh conducted quarterly compliance and alignment audits to ensure process consistency.
  • Organizational design for streamlined operations supporting small to large dedicated client groups. Since smaller dedicated groups are not productive, McIntosh proposed a scheme for leveraging limited resources within dedicated groups to provide elasticity and staffing flexibility. Results were extremely positive with both service level and productivity improvements achieved.
  • Redesign of workforce management (WFM) operations including consolidation for a wealth advisory unit created following a merger of two separate financial services institutions. The project included the development of workload forecasts (annual, rolling twelve week, three week, and three days out), the design of centralized scheduling supporting two sites, and centralized intra-day management. Additionally, McIntosh provided support for the recruiting and training of staff resources for the consolidated function.
  • For a major mutual funds firm, developed and implemented an internal help desk to support and accelerate the new hire learning curve and serve as a support and escalation desk for all agent personnel.
  • For a major brokerage firm, McIntosh conducted a customer experience assessment leveraging Kano survey methodology and monitored calls to generate robust insights into the customer’s requirements, preferences, and aspirations for service. The assessment drove process and organizational changes aligning the organization with customer experience objectives.
  • For a major insurance broker, developed and delivered sales training for phone based agents positively impacting sales and revenues.

Industry Insight:

If you are disappointed with declining usage on a self-service platform, evaluate platform functionality for ease of use.

Customers will not return to self-service platforms that disappoint or frustrate them. When automation is time consuming to use, when it irritates with error messages or repetitive requests, customers may simply avoid the platform. Your channel objective should be for customers to leave the automated experience, thinking “That was easy.”

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