From transaction portals to financial solution innovations
SBI Mutual Fund aims to harness technology to create wholesome financial solutions that aid the customer in choosing the right product and asset mix:
Mutual fund industry has been adopting digital technology in a big way to bring in efficiencies of time and costs in transaction processing and customer servicing. The covid pandemic has only enhanced this process as people are forced to stay inside and digital is the only way to conduct business using online platforms.
SBI Mutual Fund is one institution that realized the importance of digitization quite early to be relevant in the customers’ minds and to gain their confidence. “The adoption of technology and digitization over the past decade has helped us provide a secure and seamless experience to our investors,” says R. S. Srinivas Jain, ED and chief marketing officer (Strategy and International Business), in the organization. “We understand that technology plays a pivotal role in managing the interaction and user experience across the marketing funnel from Awareness to Transaction to Retention,” he adds.
He strongly believes that for the mutual fund industry, the digital revolution of the past decade has ensured that even while investors stay safe at home, their investment journey can continue in these challenging times of covid.
At SBI Mutual Fund, every customer journey, even the one that happens off-line, has been touched and influenced by a digital channel at some point along the way. At their end, customers have their own unique perspective on their experience and Jain says technology is helping the company to meet those expectations without physical interaction. “We have been pioneers in the use of the digital platforms to enhance customer engagement and are always working towards improving the customer experience”, he says.
INVESTAP USAGE UP
The company has been using technology to ensure that it retains the same quality of customer experience that existed prior to the lockdown. Increasingly, its aim is to create a single gateway for all its customers’ investment needs and activities. For any brand, the first online touchpoint for the customers is mostly the website and in more recent times, an app. Jain says in order to make the customer experience richer, the company constantly revisits existing content and improves features or add new ones based on customer needs. Over the past few years, the company’s social media presence has also strengthened and has made it a reliable platform for customer engagement.
The company’s website receives the highest traffic in the industry while its app has the largest number of downloads. The app, Investap, has seen increasing number of downloads in the last one year and it had already peaked in March 2020 when lockdown 1.0 was announced. It managed to maintain the same level of usage in April as well. Sales through the company’s website started to see a rise and saw a 50% jump in April. “Overall, the contribution of digital assets to the total business has increased by 66% in the period between February and April 2020,” reveals Jain.
DISTRIBUTORS, PARTNERS
Jain explains that the focus has been to drive higher technology adoption among the many distributors and sales personnel which also has worked very well for the company during the current times. “Over the last 2-3 years, we have developed a suite of digital assets for our partners as well as improved our digital infrastructure for our internal sales team. Providing a digital platform for partners to aid investor interactions, onboarding and transactions is pivotal to our digital strategy. In fact, solving our distributors’ and partners’ business problems was one of the first things we did,” he elaborates.
The company has introduced a digital helpline number for distributors relying on physical transactions during the nationwide lockdown. They can call the company and share the details of clients and transactions. The company will share payment links with distributors through email, WhatsApp or SMS which they can forward to their clients to execute the transactions.
TECH PARTNERS
The key technology partners of SBI Mutual Fund are Allincall, Billdesk and Humanx. Allincall is invovled in managing the chatbots of the company, and according to Srinivas Jain, the company has deployed chatbots across its digital platforms such
as Whatsapp, Facebook, Google Assistant and Alexa. These bots are designed to manage all investment queries for both customers and distributors. The services include initiating a transactions, generating statements and portfolio valuations and calculating SIP returns among others.
The company also has a long-standing partnership with Billdesk for its online transactions. The partenership, says Srinivas Jain, has enabled the company to provide different payment modes such as internet banking, UPI and e-NACH to the investors.
The partnership with Humanx is in areas of strategic design consultancy. “We are working with Humanx on the overall design strategy and new design innovations to improve customers’ experience and enhance their overall digital journey,” says Srinivas Jain.
WHATSAPP FACILITY
Investors, who would have normally chosen an offline mode, are forced to go online during the pandemic. For such investors, SBI Mutual Fund has introduced a WhatsApp facility where investments are simply a text message away. Says Jain: “While the facility was already being tested in the pre-covid period, post the pandemic we have seen enthusiastic participation from investors through this facility. Investors can initiate SIP transactions, account statements and portfolio value requests, among others by simply sending a ‘Hi’ to our registered WhatsApp number.”
The company has also introduced a ‘SIP Pause’facility for those investors who are worried about market volatility and/ or are unable to meet their investment payments. They do not have to stop their investments altogether but can simply take
a break from it for a period of 3 months.
WAY FORWARD
Jain is of the firm view that time has now come to differentiate the products of the company from the competition by focussing on financial solution einnovations using technology. “We are in the process of enhancing the design for our website, app and other digital assets to make way for higher customer engagement. Using digital platforms to stay with the customer in every step of the way in this financial journey will go a long way in establishing a loyal customer base for us, and the industry at large,” says he.