The Hindu Business Line : ICICI Bank initiative for better service at branches

AFTER investing a fortune in getting the customers move to the self-service mode, new generation banks are tracking a shift in banking habits that is predicated on the `bank is where the branch is' dictum.

The late 1990s saw banks invest in Internet banking, call centres, ATMs and other channels to facilitate anytime, anywhere access. The expectation was that these channels would replace branch as customer's main point of contact.

But analysts now say banking public in the US and Europe is showing a definite preference for conducting branch-based services. Closer home, ICICI Bank is one that has come out with new initiatives to service customers visiting the branch. According to Ms Madhabi Puri Buch, Senior General Manager, this is despite, and not because of, the need to serve an ever-increasing number of customers migrating to the self-service mode.

Speaking to Business Line, she said that in the Indian context, there was nothing that suggested a pronounced shift to either way at the total expense of the other. The branch is as much a service vehicle as it is an effective sales vehicle, she added, while holding forth on the introduction of Dynamic Queue Management (DQM) system for customers at ICICI Bank branches.

Data from DQM will now form input for many of bank's initiatives such as productivity and Six Sigma.

The data of the number of transactions at each desk and by each employee will calculate employee productivity and determine manpower requirement. `Customer wait time' and `customer transaction time' form valuable Process Quality Information System input for Six Sigma.

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ICICI Bank initiative for better service at branches