Next time when you visit a public sector bank for a car loan or an education loan, don’t be surprised if you are directed to a video conferencing room. Instead of a person in the branch explaining about loans, an expert at a remote location will provide the required information through video conference.

Welcome to the concept of remote expert in banks, which is being piloted by a large public sector bank across 100 branches, according to Kiran Bhagwanani, CEO, Dimension Data Asia Pacific in charge of South Asia, Japan, New Zealand, an IT infrastructure service provider.

The $8-billion Dimension Data, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Japan’s NTT Group, is helping the bank in pilot project for the last three months in ‘digital branches’. Once this succeeds, ‘we could multiply to thousands of branches,’ he told Business Line without giving the bank’s name.

Through remote expert, banks can up-sell their offerings like mutual fund, home loan or car loan to a customer walking in for a basic saving bank transaction. It helps provide a uniform message to customers and banks can avoid miss-selling and increase the probability of selling the offering substantially, he said.

With around 2,000 employees, Dimension Data India has been annually growing at around 20 per cent since the past five years, he said without any number. Globally, Dimension Data employs around 28,000, he said.

In the past, the company helped banks create branch networks or ATM networks. But, banking is increasingly becoming omni-channel, and customers are saying, “I don’t have to go to a branch, I don’t have to go to an ATM to pick up money and can use mobile banking, Internet banking and even use wearables for transactions like finding balance,” said Bhagwanani who was in Chennai to inaugurate the company’s hub.

The new centre has a capacity to accommodate around 100 employees, he said.

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