Branching Out to New Bank Accounts Online

Indonesia consists of thousands of islands often making many of their rural areas difficult to access. Which creates an obstacle for citizens when it comes to banking, as it may take hours to get to your nearest branch. Based on world bank’s report, only half of Indonesia’s population actually have bank accounts and with 180 million people, that leaves 90 million branch-less.

But there is something that Indonesia does have. And a lot of it. Today, roughly 171 million people are accessing internet from a mobile device.

Bank Central Asia saw this as the perfect opportunity to transform banking and access to banking for Indonesia. Given the smart phone penetration is high in the area, the bank jumped at the chance to make it easier than ever for people to create an account—right from their phones.

And remember the last time you opened a bank account in person? It’s often not an experience people remember fondly. Generally it means going to the bank and twiddling your thumbs while someone checked your ID and filled out the paperwork. And oh yes, it could easily take up your whole lunch break.

To get to this new vision of banking, Bank Central Asia needed to first expand their existing mobile app. And they needed to follow banking regulations—without disrupting the flow in their call center. That’s when they turned to Mastersystem Infotama, a Cisco Gold Partner who helps with IT solutions across Indonesia.

Together, they built their new call center with several Cisco solutions. First, they rolled out Cisco Contact Center Enterprise, which simplified how they manage their call center. Then they added in Unified Communications Manager to let customers video conference in with phone agents. All of which runs on their new Cisco UCS Server, keeping calls clear and secure. Moreover, Mastersystem provided MSIAgent tracker application to help agents keep track of customer acquisition journey data. Thus, agents now maximize their performance and productivity.

“Increasing data processing capability provides opportunities to generate a selection of banking solutions across BCA customer segments. Investment in information technology, networks and human resources will support the Bank’s business continuity. We need a reliable system, and Cisco Remote Expert has delivered a good service” – Lily Wongso (Senior VP IT Network Infrastructure – Bank Central Asia)

Now, customers can open a bank account from wherever they are, in just a few minutes. It just takes a quick video call with an agent to verify their ID. And a record number of people have chosen to do just that. In the first six months after the new app rolled out, 20% more customers have used it to open a new account, versus in person at a branch.

“Digital technology has an important role in the economic growth of a country, including Indonesia. Therefore, we must be able to adapt to digital transformation to achieve human resource efficiency and improve the innovative potential in order to fulfill the increasing needs of the consumers, and supporting the Small and medium enterprises to grow”- Ina Suwandi (Executive VP – Transaction Banking Product Development Bank Central Asia)

This has helped the bank cut the cost of on-boarding new customers. And the agents in their call center have been able to take on a bigger role in helping the bank make money. An excellent example of how digital solutions can be great for the bottom line—and the experience of customers and employees alike.

Between waiting in line and signing up online, there’s a bridge