VIDEO: go customer centric or go home

That’s the opinion of IBM global director, front office transformation Kwafo Ofori-Boateng, who says companies that don’t take a customer-centric mindset will simply shed customers.

"Companies doing this well are the ones saying… ‘I am nothing without my customer’."
Kwafo Ofori-Boateng, Global director, front office transformation, IBM

“Traditionally banks have [focussed on] reducing costs and becoming more efficient internally,” he told BlueNotes on video. “But if you look at the competition now, the lack of customer focus means customers find alternatives.”

“So really starting to say as a bank, my primary focus is to own my customer… [is a] key shift, because that’s what the challenger banks are doing.”

Ofori-Boateng said companies doing this well are the ones saying “I am a customer-focussed enterprise” and “my customer is number one and I am nothing without my customer”.

“I’ve seen retailers who are now saying, ‘I am only employing salespeople who are also customers, so I can retain the same level of customer experience’”.

He also touched on the difference between interacting and transacting with customers, as well as  innovation occurring at the digital subsidiaries of traditional banks. Watch the video above to find out more.

Francesca Rizzo is a contributing editor at BlueNotes