Mumbai:
The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to emulate two completely disparate organizations – Apple and Narayana Hrudayalaya – to increase their relevance to consumers.
While Apple is considered to be the ultimate aspirational brand, Narayana Hrudayalaya is a specialty hospital – a brainchild of cardiologist Dr Devi Shetty – with the altruistic motive of making complicated surgeries affordable.
Delivering the keynote address at the 6th Economic Times Banking Technology Conclave, RBI executive director G Padmanabhan said that Indian banks have grown their business 10-fold and their net profit and business per employee several-fold without hiring additional staff thanks to technology.
Urging the banks to improve customer experience in electronic transactions, Padmanabhan said they should think about difficulties customers face in navigating the maze of security protocols and ensure that these do not discourage adoption of ebanking. “Banks need to examine how they can make electronic transactions safe and secure while providing customers equal or more ease, comfort and convenience compared to branch banking.”
Padmanabhan cited the example of Apple and Steve Jobs. “Let us not get into his (Jobs’s) style of functioning; (but) the gadgets that he has given to us are world class. Their user-friendly nature makes them the most preferred in their class. Be it the iPod, iPhone or the iPad, they continue to dominate the sales in their respective markets. Can banking in India become the ultimate customer experience?”
He said banks should also crunch costs by emulating Narayana Hrudayalaya, which he described as “Walmart personifying the service spirit of Mother Teresa”. “By thinking differently about everything from the unusually high number of patients it treats to the millions it provides insurance, and by thinking a lot like the world’s largest retailer, the hospital group is able to continually wring out costs,” he said.
Drawing similarities between the two organizations, he said the hospital negotiates for better prices and buys directly from manufacturers, cutting out distributors. Cardiac care, an equipment-intensive specialty, made it easier for the hospital group to expand into other areas that require the same infrastructure. “Can banks look to reduce costs the way Narayana Hrudayalaya has done?” he asked.
source: http://www.m.timesofindia.com / Home / October 10th, 2012