Published May 2020
Last summer while visiting my parents, they suggested that I accompany them to their financial institution so that I could be approved to access their safety deposit box. Not exactly how I was hoping to spend valuable time with my folks. “Can’t we just do this over the computer,” I wondered, but since they felt more comfortable conducting business in person, I quietly agreed.
At the bank, we sat for 15-20 minutes while two employees (obviously undertrained), struggled with “the new computer program.” During that time there was no recognition of our presence. There may have been a meager “sorry,” but I honestly can’t recall it. Keep in mind, we weren’t asking for a million- dollar loan; simply a couple of signatures to allow access to a safety deposit box that still requires a physical key to open.
A few weeks later Janet and I purchased a certificate of deposit at a local bank. Once again, we were forced to physically visit the facility, were interviewed while the specialist filled out paper work. She then asked us to “make ourselves at home” while she proceeded to transfer the information she had just written onto the paper into the computer.
Now a financial institution isn’t exactly my idea of home and my waste sensors were going crazy. After 10 minutes of waiting, we were called back to review the new papers (printed from the data just entered into the computer taken from the handwritten papers). We found three errors (including an incorrect social security number) which required another round before the transaction was finalized.
The pandemic is accelerating the rate of change in multiple areas of our lives. I suspect more on-line grocery shopping occurred within the past six weeks than in the prior history of the world. Organizations are figuring out how to accomplish things with a distributed workforce that they wouldn’t have dreamed of, even as recently as February. Those same workers are expecting that the organizations that they use – such as their financial institutions – figure it out as well.
Obviously, we’re not about to start delivering haircuts or plumbing services via Zoom (even with the paid subscription), but those even providers who allow customers to schedule appointments and pay bills electronically will win. For other organizations, serious thought better be going into how to deliver services virtually with minimal waste. Post pandemic loyalties will certainly be different than those entering it.
Stay safe!
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