National Westminster Bank Essay

Q1. Analyse the customer contact process during the account opening procedure. What aspects of the branch’s operation impact on each stage? From analysing the branch’s operation it is clear to see which parts of the banks operation impacts each stage of the account opening procedure. Firstly the customer arrives into the bank, usually customers go to the cashiers section, they are then referred over to the enquiries counter, where they are greeted by enquiry personnel who find out which of the banks service the customer requires. If the customer wishes to open a new account, a member of the records staff comes to administer the account opening procedure. It is the records staff who deals mostly with new customers. The records staff must to have a good basic knowledge of all the banks operations to be able to advise the new customer which account is best suited for them. They must find out if the customer wishes to invest money or if they wish to avail of the banks credit facilities. The records staff would not have an in depth knowledge of the investments available to new customers so more often than not a member of the investment section is called over to advise the new customer. Read more:  Banker’s Draft Natwest For credit facilities, the new customer is referred to the lending section for processing, as this operation is outside the record section staff jurisdiction. Once they account type has been established, the â€Å"formalities† begin (processing of customer details). Records staff go through forms to ensure that all key information has been gathered. This is probably the longest part of the account opening procedure with the customer as a lot of details need to be processed. Once all the details have been gathered by the records staff, the direct customer contact finishes. Customer details are then passed onto the administrative section and the machine room to finalise the opening of a new account and the paper printing (cheque books, log books, ATM cards etc.) How the different operations interact upon the Records section: Q2. How would you improve the process? Once the bank identified their problems the set out an improvement plan. They key areas identified for improvement were identified: > Signage > Inexperienced Staff > Limited staff for rush hours > Uneven flow of walk-in customers at peak times From a recent survey customers identified the following problems: > Account opening forms were not properly explained > Bank’s standard account pack was not sent out to customers > Some customers waited more than the standard 9 days to receive cheque book and bank card > Customer personal details were recorded incorrectly > Staff seemed uninterested in the customers needs > Customers wouldn’t recommend the bank to others All of the above points were taken into account in the banks improvement plan. Firstly the signage issue was tackled. This issue was clearly a problem when we visited the bank, see fig.1 It was evident from this, that the enquiries desk wasn’t clearly noticeable or signposted. To eliminate the problem of new customers queuing at the cashier’s desk (adding to queue delays in the bank) new signage was positioned around the bank clearly highlighting where the new customers were to go. While it was unfeasible to move staff permanently from section to section, records staff who are generally young and junior members of staff could be temporarily move around each of the banks operations. This would add to their training knowledge and enable them to give more specialised advice to customers. By doing this staff will get to know each others jobs, they will become more confident in their work, giving the sense of importance to the banks operation. This increases staff motivation which reduces boredom as boredom leads to mistakes. To assess the overall performance of staff’s training and progress, the bank could introduce ‘mystery shoppers’, a member of staff from another of the banks branches comes to open an account, goes through the whole procedure and at the end evaluates the staffs performance, identifies areas for improvement etc. As it was, the cashiers would go for their lunch, and it was the job of the records section to cover the cashier positions during lunch. This however was the busiest period for new customers wishing to open accounts. During the lunchtime rush customers could feel they were been rushed, inevitably resulting in mistakes occurring. To deal with this issue, lunch time for the bank staff could be divided up more evenly. Only a set amount of cashiers go for lunch at any one time, these cashiers do not take their lunch until the first group comes back, this way there is always somebody covering the records section to deal with new potential customers if they arrive during the lunch time period. To ensure the records section were not over burdened by new customers during the lunch time period, a system of ‘appointment only’ during the lunch time rush was set up. This way the records section could easily deal with walk-in customers in the mornings and afternoons, and during lunch time they knew how many customers to expect and spend the required time needed with each customer opening an account. This way the customer feels more at ease and the records section staff do not feel under pressure and rushed, reducing the amount of mistakes made. Customers felt that the account opening forms were not properly explained to them. This issue was tackled by more staff training and the ‘mystery shopper’ also helped by giving feedback. This helps the junior staff in training to interpret the forms better and be much more capable of explaining the forms to customers. In terms of the bank’s standard account pack not been sent out to customers, the bank set up a system of having all the leaflets on hand so the member of staff dealing with the new customer could make up a package there and then to suit the customers needs. It was identified that some customers waited more than the standard 9 days to receive their cheque books or ATM cards. This waiting period was improved by a more clear line of communication set up between the records staff, administration staff and the machine room. This was also helped as now there were fewer mistakes and the records staff had more time to process the forms during the day as the ‘by appointment only’ and not having to cover the cashier positions fully during lunch had clearly freed up some extra time for them. To deal with the problem of customers personal details not been recorded properly, the customer was asked to fill in a form which clearly legible showing how to spell their name address etc. Once all the forms had been filled out, it was advised that the supervisor provided an extra check on the forms before they were sent for processing. To assist with the implementation of this system a sort of a Kanban system could be set up, â€Å"In-Kanban†, â€Å"Out-Kanban† this way everything was fully completed before it was sent for processing, and there would be no mix ups, on what was processed and what has to be processed. Also as part of this kanban system to finalise the last step, approval by the manager must be signed on the form. The problem of the customers feeling rushed was solved when the records section were released from other duties such as fully covering the cashiers during lunch. If all of the above points are implemented successfully, the bank will be back on track to a successful and complimentary word of mouth.