This is a customer-centric digital economy world. Today’s customers perceive services in terms of quality and experiences. The era of economic liberalization has ushered in rapid change in the services industry of India. Services hold immense potential to accelerate the growth of an economy and promote the general wellbeing of the people. The new generation buyers are more aware, educated, informed and self-motivated. Among the service organizations, the banking sector primarily caters to the needs of all classes of society and is large enough to capture and represent almost all the facets of service quality assessment. The first paper, “Service Quality Management in Retail Banking with Reference to Satisfaction and Switching Intentions of the Customers”, by Rashi Goplani, adopts an interdisciplinary and comprehensive approach to investigate the management of service quality by the banks of Ahmedabad. In this study, 650 customers from both the public and private sector banks were surveyed. The exercise resulted in the conclusion that employee empowerment would improve responsiveness and in turn customer satisfaction. The banks have to constantly strive to meet customer expectations to reduce customer switching.
The second paper, “Effect of Demographic Variables on Customer Satisfaction of Health Insurance Policyholders: A Study of General Insurance Companies in India”, by Nair Sheeba Shanti Narayanan, is a comprehensive analysis of the effect of demographic variables on the customer satisfaction of the health industry policyholders of public and private sector general insurance companies. The study revealed that in the case of public sector general insurance companies, there is a significant association between all demographic variables of the respondent and overall level of customer satisfaction with the service quality. The author suggests that the general insurance companies should consider these demographic variables to increase the overall level of customer satisfaction of health insurance policyholders with the service quality as every customer is distinct with respect to their needs and wants.
The third paper of this issue is “Impact of Service Parameters and Customers’ Demographic Characteristics on Satisfaction with e-Tailers with Special Reference to Bareilly City” by Naveen Kumar and Upasana Kanchan. This paper identifies various forms of services provided by the e-tailers to check if there is any relationship between customer characteristics and their satisfaction with these services. The framework of the study enhances the understanding of the factors affecting the customers' online shopping behavior, helps profiling typical Indian online shoppers and may help e-marketers develop more specific marketing strategies to increase e-commerce sales.
The purpose of the fourth paper of this issue “Scrutinizing the Factors Influencing Customer Adoption of App-Based Cab Services: An Application of the Technology Acceptance Model” by Shaunak Roy, is to unfurl the underlying motivations, perceptions, attitudes and behavioral intentions of respondents towards the call-taxi apps in the metropolitan setting of Kolkata. The findings indicate that ride sourcing enriches mobility options, especially for city-dwellers, particularly in large and dense cities like Kolkata where parking is constrained and public transit is rather amorphous. The study says Ola and Uber are competing neck-to-neck by adopting strategies like coupon codes, promotional codes, cashbacks, referral discounts or outright discounts, which are the guiding force behind their sustenance and indirect competition against the yellow-cabs of the city.
Automated Teller Machines (ATMs): The Changing Face of Banking in India
Bank Management
Information and communication technology has changed the way in which banks provide services to its customers. These days the customers are able to perform their routine banking transactions without even entering the bank premises. ATM is one such development in recent years, which provides remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the development of this self-service banking in India based on the secondary data.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a very important role in the progress and advancement in almost all walks of life. The deregulated environment has provided an opportunity to restructure the means and methods of delivery of services in many areas, including the banking sector. The ICT has been a focused issue in the past two decades in Indian banking. In fact, ICTs are enabling the banks to change the way in which they are functioning. Improved customer service has become very important for the very survival and growth of banking sector in the reforms era. The technological advancements, deregulations, and intense competition due to the entry of private sector and foreign banks have altered the face of banking from one of mere intermediation to one of provider of quick, efficient and customer-friendly services. With the introduction and adoption of ICT in the banking sector, the customers are fast moving away from the traditional branch banking system to the convenient and comfort of virtual banking. The most important virtual banking services are phone banking, mobile banking, Internet banking and ATM banking. These electronic channels have enhanced the delivery of banking services accurately and efficiently to the customers. The ATMs are an important part of a bank’s alternative channel to reach the customers, to showcase products and services and to create brand awareness. This is reflected in the increase in the number of ATMs all over the world. ATM is one of the most widely used remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the growth of ATMs of different bank groups in India.
International Scenario
If ATMs are largely available over geographically dispersed areas, the benefit from using an ATM will increase as customers will be able to access their bank accounts from any geographic location. This would imply that the value of an ATM network increases with the number of available ATM locations, and the value of a bank network to a customer will be determined in part by the final network size of the banking system. The statistical information on the growth of branches and ATM network in select countries.
Indian Scenario
The financial services industry in India has witnessed a phenomenal growth, diversification and specialization since the initiation of financial sector reforms in 1991. Greater customer orientation is the only way to retain customer loyalty and withstand competition in the liberalized world. In a market-driven strategy of development, customer preference is of paramount importance in any economy. Gone are the days when customers used to come to the doorsteps of banks. Now the banks are required to chase the customers; only those banks which are customercentric and extremely focused on the needs of their clients can succeed in their business today.
