“Increasing reliance on digital have enhanced the role for human connect”

Shrugging off the disruptions of last year, businesses and agencies are looking for a strong revival in 2021. Adgully – as part of our annual TRENDING NOW endeavour – has been presenting the strategies and views of a cross-section of industry leaders as they go about reclaiming lost time and market opportunities and build for a stronger future, armed with the lessons of 2020.

In this interaction with Adgully, Pankaj Gulati, Head - CEO Office & Chief Marketing Officer at Fincare Small Finance Bank, speaks about going completely virtual and executing a relatively untested work-model up and running in a matter of few weeks during the pandemic times. He also talks about the enormous opportunities for the right players to adopt a pandemic playbook in order to gain confidence of all their stakeholders.

Outlook for 2021

Redefining the normal

The banking industry’s response to the pandemic so far has been noteworthy. The Government declared banking as ‘essential service’, which helped remove several administrative logistical hurdles for the sector. However, it is by no means a simple accomplishment to be able to go completely virtual and execute a relatively untested work-model up and running in a matter of few weeks. Regardless of the hiccups, banking operations around the country have been functioning smoothly, thanks to a robust regulatory and technology banking framework. Customers got serviced and employees remained productive. It is fairly evident that COVID-19 has acted as a catalyst for digitisation. In addition to accelerating digital adoption, the crisis has also served as a litmus test for banks’ digital infrastructure. At Fincare, we successfully deployed technology and our teams demonstrated remarkable agility and resilience.

The constant technological changes and increasing reliance on digital have enhanced the role for human connect. The bank is exploring technology tools and partnerships to help strengthen the last mile connect with customers and making banking services even more accessible and seamless.

The Bank has made strategic investments in technology and taken swift action to accelerate tech modernisation. The digitalisation of customer relationship is becoming a prerequisite!

Social media payoff

The bank aspires to build a best-in-class digital bank with simple products, seamless processes and smart people practices. Building a positive brand recall and relationship with the target customers shall be a key focus area as well.

Social media has been an important tool for us to stay engaged with our stakeholders. At Fincare, social media is a great tool for building brand connect with multiple customers, current and potential employees, professional community as well as society at large.

Today, the Bank has built a reputation as customer-centric, employee-friendly organization and has set high benchmarks on performance and governance.

Great Expectations

Banking is changing and so does the purpose. The primary objective is to focus on acquiring and retaining customers and value adding their banking and financial journey.

As economies go into lockdown, it’s only natural that a higher % of financial transactions move to online. We are in a position to leverage our digital capabilities, distribution reach and strong relationships in order to navigate the disruptions with minimal impact.

Key learnings from the pandemic

While it is less certain when things may settle down, however, there are enormous opportunities for the right players to adopt a pandemic playbook in order to gain confidence of all their stakeholders. This includes moving to digital acquisition and servicing of customers, work-from-remote for staff, observing the key pandemic protocols and most importantly, calming the nerves of everyone around – when it comes to adaptability, nimble organisations manage to keep a balance between protecting both, life and livelihood.

Focus on digital marketing and re-evaluate traditional marketing channels – switch gears and transform the loss into a potential gain through updating the company website, bots, upgrading content marketing and search engine optimisation, and improving social media engagement.

Take advantage of growth opportunities – One of the best reasons to keep digital marketing efforts alive throughout the crisis is to spot the opportunities to take over where other less resilient players have given up.

Maintain a Healthy Online Presence – Despite the drastic changes on ground, a healthy online presence is a hygiene requirement today.

At Fincare, we are focused on ensuring minimal disruption to normal business activity while maintaining the highest emphasis on health and safety of all our people.