YES Bank’s CRM Platform Improves Customer Service by 60 percent

YES Bank was no exception. It managed customer relations via Excel sheets, something that the bank was beginning to regret. The problem was that it was a one-way information sharing system that restricted data flow from the customer to the company. "We had instances when we lost sales leads, or multi-interfaces to the same lead and re-assignment of leads. We just couldn't track older leads because there were multiple registrations and entry for tracking them," says a branch manager of YES Bank who prefers not to be named. Having a customer relationship management (CRM) solution was the need of the hour.

"While conceptualizing the CRM, I was not looking at a mature and stable CRM package because our retail business model itself was demand-based and hence very fluid. We wanted to start with a small framework-based model which changes with our business needs," says Suvanjay Kumar Sharma, VP (corporate strategy) & chief enterprise architect, YES Bank. "We wanted a flexible solution that would change in accordance to the dynamics of our business. What we wanted was a scalable CRM that could grow as we grew and not just any CRM solution," says Sharma. And from those priorities was born the concept of the Yes Bank Collaborative CRM (YCCRM). The system has two logical separation models: a pre-acquisition and a post-acquisition service cycle for customers," explains Sharma. It took six to eight months to develop and implement the solution in the first branch.

The customer information captured in the YCCRM is mapped to blog-like entries made by employees. These entries include ideas, suggestions, and perceptions of the sales representatives. The sales and product teams can then analyze this information and figure out related business opportunities. Such information can also be leveraged to customize existing products or conceive new products altogether.

Earlier, with Excel sheets, sales staff culled out details of customers by tabs in the form (name, company, account number, etcetera). But with YCCRM, they were provided with a template where they can fill details (other than the standard keywords) noted during their interaction with the customers. This meant they could personalize their dashboards. With the new CRM, sales reps can now upload or download scribbled information from their phones to the main CRM system.

The implementation of a key tool like CRM has already started reflecting positively. There has been a drastic improvement in customer acquisition after sales leads were passed on via discussion boards. "There is servicing of 10 lakh leads and around 5 lakh service requests per year. Customer service has improved by 60 percent and turnaround time for its processes by almost 70 percent," says Sharma. It has helped us understand our customers better and analyze the resolution time for each query or complain and then improve internal process accordingly. It also added lots of intangible business benefits and helped retain customers better," says Sharma. The cross-selling of products has substantially surged after the implementation. The collaborative CRM has given a new window of social valuebased relationship which is key for future cross-selling.

The Person Behind It

Suvanjay Kumar Sharma

VP (corporate strategy) & chief enterprise architect, YES Bank

Information lying in islands, without being shared, is of no use at all. Internal collaboration adds a productive edge to the data we capture.