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News Briefs

July 2007

BANKS SHOULD SET SIGHTS ON RELATIONS

To entice customers to buy more financial products and services, financial services companies need to focus on improving their relationship strategies, according to Gartner Inc., a research firm headquartered in Stamford, Conn.

Gartner's consumer research finds that, while customers may express interest in a deeper relationship, the most desirable customers increasingly "cherry-pick" financial products and services from a global supplier community.

"Customers want to create their own personalized and holistic product set. They do not want to be forced to accept only those products that financial firms want to sell. They want useful products, good rates, easy access and quick answers to their questions and problems," says Stessa Cohen, research director for Gartner's Financial Services research team.

Gartner recommends that CIOs of financial services firms support customer desires for flexibility and a variety of delivery mechanism through rich, easy-to-use functions and interfaces.

Firms also need to improve their credibility by solving problems on time, every time and at every channel-and reward staff on that basis. Finally, says the report, financial services firms must deploy technology that delivers mass customization at the individual level.

JACKSON NATIONAL LIFE GETS HIGH MARKS FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

The Service Quality Measurement Group Inc. (SQM), Vernon, British Columbia, has recognized Jackson National Life Insurance Co., Lansing, Mich., as a world class service provider in its latest benchmarking study of North American contact centers. This is the third time in the last four years that Jackson has achieved world class status-the company earned its first service award from SQM in 2004. Historically, only 5% of contact centers receive the world class designation. SQM benchmarks more than 250 North American contact centers annually, resulting in one of the largest customer survey databases. To achieve a world class designation, at least 80% of customers surveyed must rate their experience with a company's contact center as "very satisfied"-the highest possible rating. Jackson received the "very satisfied" rating from 84% of the approximately 800 individuals who participated in this year's survey. SQM has evaluated customer satisfaction for the contact center industry since 1998. Customer satisfaction is evaluated by selecting a random sample of calls and surveying customers within 72 hours of their call to a company's contact center.

AGENTS GIVEN EASTERN REGIONAL TECHNOLOGY SITE

The Professional Insurance Agents of New York State, New Jersey, Connecticut and New Hampshire unveiled their updated PIA Technology Info Central, providing members with access to technology news, real-time initiatives, vendors and consumer information for their Web sites and more. The PIA Web site (www.pia.org) also has been updated to include more real-time vendors.

PIA members can access real-time implementation options; keep current with the latest technology news; obtain materials to assist in creating and updating their agency Web sites; learn about PIA's featured technology consultant of the month; view daily anti-virus alerts, user group information as well as overall industry technology efforts; and more.

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