Preemptive Customer Service: Learning from Customer Data Silos

Preemptive Customer Servive

Preemptive Customer Service

Learning from customer data silosHenry SampsonLead, Engineering and ResearchDreamOval Limited@henrysampson

Short IntroductionDreamOval Limited was started in 2007The average age of the team is 25yearsDeveloped the first online payment gateway in Ghana (iWallet)Developing Enterprise software (Enterprise Nurse) for the past 5 yearsEnterprise software currently affects about 80% of bank accounts in GhanaWe continue to innovate daily

preempt /prempt/

Take action in order to prevent (an event) from happening; forestall.Google Search Customer Service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation

Turban et al. (2002)

Stages of Customer Service

What is Preemptive Customer Service?Preemptive Customer service is then any action taken in anticipation of customer need which prevents escalation, reduces or avoids customer service delivery costs and leaves the customer truly amazed and satisfied

Why Bother?

An example of a company that saved costs. Human beings are primarily social, Facebook definitely believes that. At least many ladies like the uuuhhh6

How to do this?Stages of Customer Service Preemption

One-Way Notify customer of account activitiesChanges in account balanceChanges in customer dataHelp customer be in right standing through remindersKYC data expiryLoan repayment duePossible lack of funds for upcoming standing instructionShow some care and emotionSend wishes on special occasions likeBirthdayAccount Open AnniversaryGraduationWedding anniversaryJob Promotion

Customer trusts you

Two-WayNotify customer of possible account activity and act on responseAuthorization of transactionsAuthorization of sensitive customer dataHelp customerChoose the right financial package Wizard interactions for promotionsOpt-in or out of promotionShow some care and emotionsSend wishes and ask for wishes on special occasions likeBirthdayAccount Open AnniversaryWedding anniversaryAsk customer opinion on company changes or roadmapCustomer feels a part of you

Show Some IntelligenceNarrow promotions target and plan based on similar past promotionsAdjust customer promotion preferences based on responsesPreferred mediumPreferred timePreferred typeUpcoming events: wedding anniversary, birthday, etcAdvice on financial lifestyleWays of saving money to meet aspirationsAsk for authorization due to abnormal spendingIdentify abnormal trends in account activity and request authorizationSuggest appropriate new services to customer based onPrevious enrollmentsUpcoming eventsKnown Preferences

Customer loves and respects you

Too Futuristic?MAYbe not

A Case for Open Source

Open source Big Data Stack

Hadoop

MongoDB

MahoutApplication LayerApache Pig

Open SourceNo one needs to start from ground ZEROBetter control over priceRemoves vendor lock-inReduces barrier to entryReputation of creatorsWider community of users (Best alternative in the absence of standardization)Apache Licenses are Enterprise Friendly

But is your Data Enough?

Collecting Customer LIFE STORIESSocial Media Networks Relationships, interests, events, check-ins, etceCommerce websites Shopping history and whislistsTelcos Mobile money and location dataDevice Manufacturers All mobile dataAny electronic interaction of the customer is a potential

BEST Strategic Partnership Device Manufacturers

Why is storage an issueThe data being stored has three distinct attributesVolumeVelocityVarietyTraditional Relational Databases reach their breaking point on commodity servers very fastBuying specialized hardware is not feasible for most businessesA solution that is widely accessible must use commodity servers to do what is reserved for mainframes and supercomputersFor Africa, an extra requirement is that the software must be reasonably priced

}BIG DATA

Whos Common?

Whats Common?

Timely Information via Triggers


Cant just send raw data. Youll need to make some sense out of it so the customer finds it useful


Just as news the information to send is mostly time bound


Different events in data can trigger information to be sent to user

Obviously GreatSo Whats stopping us?

Customer Data Silos

Card ManagementCore Banking

Loans SystemCustomer visits Bank To do the following:Pick Up ATM CardCheck Status Of LoanCheck Account BalanceBank CustomerLook up ATM card statusCheck Loan StatusCheck Account Balance

Visit Bank

Customer Service Officer

Customer Data Silos EA25

Evolution of Technology Stack for Banking

Whats Wrong with this Picture?

Whats Wrong with this Picture?Apart from the cats being too cool

Each technology will needs toConnect to all customer communication channelsImplement a rules engine for preemptive customer servicecan only send notification about its activity (localized knowledge or intelligence)

How do you Escape?

29

One RouteE.S.B.

Enterprise Service BusE.S.B.

One ProblemCost+Timeline


Many large enterprises weve worked with shy away from the large license costs of ESBs. Cost also includes paying other vendors to integrate


Many times the ESB vendors are not at fault here. Coordinating integration of all systems can get a bit messy even without wishing

Do you Really have to Use an ESB?

Non-Intrusive MonitoringNo need to come to me; I will come to you

Card ManagementLoans SystemCore Banking

LNS Live Monitoring

NotificationsBank Customer

Why some are Using this ModelCheaper than buying an ESBCan monitor any Data Source just like an ESB by using connectorsSpecialized for customer serviceESB ready with extensive APIs

Conclusion

We are headed toward an era where preemptive customer service is not the exception but the norm for customers. Your excuse cannot be that you could not afford an ESB.