The banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector is rapidly transforming on a global level, with new and innovative technology as the primary driver.
To thrive in the world of digitalization and now firmly established hybrid working cultures, the financial sector is having to redefine customer service assurance and customer experience (CX).
This has brought about a heavy reliance on unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) systems and services.
In this article, we’ll discuss the ways in which UC&C is changing the BFSI sector in the APAC region and India in particular, and the direct correlation between UC monitoring tools and better customer service.
Digital transformation initiatives in the APAC region
Many APAC countries are increasingly embracing digital transformation, and in the banking and financial services sector this is having a significant impact.
Driven by government initiatives and a competitive worldwide landscape, markets like Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, India, and Japan have implemented policies encouraging digital banking and innovation in financial services.
UC&C solutions enable banks to modernize their communication infrastructure and satisfy the relentless push to enhance customer experience.
Hybrid Adoption
Banks and financial institutions in the APAC region are keeping step with the rest of the world, in migrating at least part of their systems to the cloud to reduce operational costs and improve flexibility.
UCaaS offers cloud-native communication solutions that integrate voice, video, messaging, and collaboration tools into a unified platform.
However, with privacy a key concern for financial institutions, adoption is slower than other sectors and there is still a need for on-premise systems.
As a result, managing these systems becomes more complex due to the need to balance both cloud-based and on-premise infrastructures. Financial institutions must ensure seamless integration between the two while maintaining strict security and compliance standards.
Customer experience transformation
The financial services industry had realized the importance of integrating business applications such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) with video collaboration – via APIs, or communications platform as a service (CPaaS).
This trend will continue to grow as organizations are viewing these integrations as a core requirement for many businesses today.
Customer experience transformation has become a critical focus in the banking and financial services sector across the APAC region due to changing customer expectations, digital disruption, and competitive pressures.
In fact, 62% of financial institutions say customer experience transformation is a top priority.
Omnichannel banking for improved customer experience
Omnichannel banking and communication allows seamless customer interactions across multiple channels, including mobile apps, social media, phone, and email.
UC&C enables banks to provide an omnichannel communication experience, integrating all these channels into a single platform, leading to quicker response times, more personalized service, and enhanced customer satisfaction.
UC platforms ensure that customers can engage with their bank across these channels with a consistent experience. For example, a customer might begin a service request via chatbot, continue it through a phone call, and complete it via email, all while maintaining a coherent interaction history.
Video and voice banking for remote customers
In markets like India and Southeast Asia, where physical access to bank branches can often be limited, video and voice banking through UC&C platforms is emerging as an essential tool for serving customers remotely.
Video calls for customer support, onboarding, and financial advisory services are becoming a lifeline for many customers in these regions, providing personalized interactions without the need for in-person visits.
How UC&C tools enhance customer interactions
Enhancing customer experience is a priority for banks and financial institutions worldwide, and now, Indian customers also expect seamless interactions across multiple channels.
Supporting remote working and collaboration
The global pandemic accelerated the adoption of remote and hybrid work models in India, even in sectors like banking that were traditionally reliant on physical offices.
UC platforms allow bank employees to collaborate seamlessly, whether working from home or in the office.
Video conferencing, instant messaging, and document sharing tools enable real-time collaboration between teams, which is essential for business continuity in a hybrid work environment.
Cross-departmental collaboration
Large banks typically have teams dispersed across different regions of India. UC platforms allow employees to collaborate effectively across departments and geographic locations, streamlining internal communication and reducing the dependency on emails and physical meetings.
Enhancing security and compliance
The BFS sector in India is highly regulated, with strict requirements around data protection and security, for example the Reserve Bank of India's cybersecurity guidelines.
UC platforms enable secure communication through encryption, ensuring that sensitive data shared during customer interactions is protected.
UC solutions also comply with India-specific regulations such as data localization requirements, ensuring that customer data remains within the country.
Audit trails and compliance monitoring
Unified communication platforms maintain detailed logs of all customer interactions, including voice, video, and messaging communications.
These logs can be used to track compliance with regulatory requirements and provide audit tracking for legal or internal investigations, demonstrating compliance with the RBI’s directives on data privacy and security
Improving Customer Support
Real-time collaboration is critical for customer Issues. With UC solutions, bank employees can collaborate in real time to resolve customer issues. For example, when a complex issue arises, employees from multiple departments such as fraud detection, credit, or customer support can instantly join a call or chat, working to resolve issues.
24/7 customer support with AI integration
Many Indian banks are integrating AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants with UC platforms to provide round-the-clock customer support and handle routine queries. If a query escalates beyond the bot's capabilities, it can be seamlessly transferred to a human agent without losing the interaction history.
AI is also being integrated into UC platforms to provide banks with actionable insights to predict customer behavior, optimize call center operations, and automate routine tasks.
Another area where AI is being used is handling routine communications, such as appointment reminders, loan status updates, and payment notifications.
Why monitoring solutions are mission-critical in UC
Given the reliance on real-time communication and collaboration tools, UC&C platforms are required to meet high standards of reliability, quality, and security to support the banking sector's operational needs across India and the APAC region.
Monitoring solutions help financial institutions achieve these standards by providing real-time insights, proactive problem resolution, and enhanced control over their UC&C environments.
Ensuring reliability and uptime
Real-time monitoring for service availability and uninterrupted communications is critical.
UC&C monitoring tools like IR Collaborate continuously track the availability of communication services (voice, video, messaging) and provide real-time alerts if a service goes down or experiences performance issues.
In high-stakes environments like banking, where downtime can lead to loss of business, monitoring tools help ensure that communication platforms remain operational.
Proactive Problem Detection
A robust, world-class monitoring tool like IR Collaborate can identify issues and create alerts before they become service disruptions.
By continuously analyzing key performance indicators (KPIs) such as network latency, jitter, packet loss, and bandwidth usage, monitoring solutions help banks maintain smooth operations and address potential problems before they escalate.
The role of monitoring solutions in UC&C goes hand-in-hand with the banking and financial industry’s initiative to embrace digital transformation, ensuring that communication platforms remain reliable, secure, and scalable.
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