Banks are facing many hurdles in the new era of deregulation and ever increasing competition. To fight these problems efficiently, banks should focus on customer satisfaction. It can be achieved through providing customized products, innovative ways of delivery etc. Apart from this, banks should prepare customer relationship strategies that include bifurcation of business operations, effective management of complaints, service as a brand etc.
Banking being a service-oriented activity, customer satisfaction is something integral to the business. The Talwar Committee on customer service put it very aptly when it said that, "the main purpose of banking is to create and deliver customer needed services in a customer satisfying manner." Besides underlining the cardinal importance of customer service in the banking context, this statement also refers to the two main elements of the banking service, viz., creation and delivery. Elaborating this concept, we may note that while the creation of the banking product encompasses areas such as range of products and services, designing of products in terms of customer convenience, beneficial features built into the schemes and the like, the delivery of services covers features such as speed, accuracy, completeness, attitude and the like. While some of these elements of service can be built in at the product development stage itself, many others can only be effected at the actual time of delivery of service. Similarly, while some elements of the service are measurable, quantifiable, many others are qualitative in nature and are often a subject matter of impressions. These characteristics make the subject of customer service in banks not only a live issue but also a very complex one. |
