'Take into Account Customer Interaction' While Many Banks May Favour Using the Telephone and Internet as a Means of Doing Business with Customers, Financial Institutions May Run the Risk of Losing the Personal Touch When It Comes to Dealing with People. the University of Ulster's MARK DURKIN Analyses the Implications

AS many banks seek out the cost advantages on offer through remote delivery platforms such as the internet, they should be very cautious.

Short-term cost advantages are unlikely to overcome the potential long- term damage to personal customer relationships.

By considering the active migration of customers online, banks run the risk of transferring bargaining power to the customer as never before. By proposing to reduce the degree of personal interaction enjoyed by the customer through branch platforms, for example, banks will run the risk of making price and not service the criterion for differentiation in the market place.

As an industry, do banks really …

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Publication information: Article title: 'Take into Account Customer Interaction' While Many Banks May Favour Using the Telephone and Internet as a Means of Doing Business with Customers, Financial Institutions May Run the Risk of Losing the Personal Touch When It Comes to Dealing with People. the University of Ulster's MARK DURKIN Analyses the Implications. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The News Letter (Belfast, Northern Ireland). Publication date: June 10, 2003. Page number: 14. © 2006 Johnston Publishing Ltd. COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group.

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