It’s hard to imagine an institution as sophisticated as a bank not having e-mail. But that’s the case at many Laurentian Bank of Canada and National Bank of Canada branches. It’s this kind of finding, bankers reported in this year’s Bankers’ Report Card, that reinforces the stereotype of banks as providers of monochrome technology.
But this year’s Report Card also shows some banks have progressed to such a degree that bankers are now dishing out high praise for technology at their institution.
TD Canada Trust, despite the massive task of merging the systems of the bank and trust company, managed to hold its spot at the top of the technology chart this year. Its bankers are cautiously optimistic about the direction the new company is taking, although many are taking a wait-and-see attitude. One Ontario banker summed up the mood when asked to rank the company’s technology: “It’s a difficult time to ask.”
Jeff Keay, TD Canada Trust’s manager of media relations in Toronto, says the company has been busy migrating Canada Trust customers to the new technological platform. “From a tech point of view, it’s a massive [task],” he says. “It’s huge. It’s like all hands to the pumps.”
Royal Bank of Canada, meanwhile, slid into the top spot for client management software. Almost all of the Royal bankers interviewed had positive things to say about the software. “They stay current,” says one southern Ontario banker. “They give you the tools to do your job.”
Al Tinney, Royal Bank’s Toronto-based senior vice president of systems and technology for personal and commercial banking, says customer-relationship management software and e-business are primary focuses for the company. “At the branch level we are rolling out new sales force technology to help with selling to the clients,” says Tinney. “It has been part of the shift of CRM and sales force effectiveness.”
Tinney says the new technology attempts to simplify bankers’ jobs, by helping them know and understand the customer.
“If the customer called us in the call centre and then walks into the branch, we can share that information with both the rep in the call centre and with the rep in the branch,” says Tinney. “Hopefully, it’s all there to simplify and improve the process.”
In fact, the only discontent in a category that almost always draws negative comments stems from a feeling that one Royal banker in Ontario describes as “being behind the eightball” in terms of staying on top of all the changes.
Despite having the lowest ranking for technology on this year’s report card, CIBC bankers were a relatively quiet group. Most said they generally weren’t impressed with their bank’s technology, but the only specific criticism was that there was no focus on it.
“I think historically that’s been true,” says Linda Dentay, CIBC’s vice president and CIO of retail and small-business technology. She says she encountered considerable skepticism when the bank first talked about upgrading the technology in the branches.
Dentay says the company had not made any serious investment in the branch network until last year, when the board of directors approved funding for an upgrade, which she expects to be completed in early 2002.
Dentay also says the company is planning an initial release of a banking application aimed at the staff in the branches. She says negotiations regarding the application will be completed this month, around the same time the company installs Windows 2000 in all its branches.
“I think the front lines are finally recognizing that the commitment to upgrade the branches is real,” she says. “There’s much more confidence that the bank is serious about the technology in the field.”
At Laurentian Bank, where e-mail is non-existent at the branch level, bankers probably don’t feel that way. They were the most vocal about their dissatisfaction regarding technology.
“Technology at branch level is archaic and not user-friendly,” says one Laurentian banker in Ontario. Another Ontario banker and several bankers from Victoria agree that back-office support leaves something to be desired.
In Laurentian’s favour, the bank is doing something about the problems. Jacques Baoust, Laurentian executive vice president of retail and financial services in Montreal, says part of the reason its bankers don’t have e-mail access is the broadband requirement. “When you’re connecting all your network to the Internet you need a wide band,” he says. “We are not on a wide band, so we use our Internet connection very carefully.”
Baoust says staff will see the results of several years’ technology investment in November. IE