Reimagining the financial services omnichannel customer experience

Increase competitiveness and deliver a seamless customer experience through data, context, and intelligence across platforms

Why the Omnichannel Experience Matters More Than Ever

Today’s financial services customers expect fluid, personalized interactions across every channel they use — whether mobile apps, ATMs, websites, or call centers. Yet, many banks and insurers struggle to deliver on this expectation. 

• 73% of customers believe companies should understand their needs automatically 
• 88% consider experience as important as the product itself 
• Only 9% of financial institutions say they provide an “excellent” digital experience

Disparate systems and disconnected service layers often result in repetitive experiences, increased frustration, and missed opportunities to retain or grow customer relationships. 

Common Omnichannel Breakdowns

When a customer moves from an IVR to a chatbot to a live agent, they’re often forced to repeat their issue, re-authenticate, and restart the conversation. Behind the scenes, this friction is driven by: 

• Standalone digital systems with isolated data silos 
• Fragmented AI/ML applications by department or channel 
• Lack of orchestration across customer touchpoints

In insurance, for instance, over 80% of interactions are digital, yet only 32% of insurers feel they effectively close sales online — highlighting a gap in true cross-channel coordination. 

The Solution: A Customer Experience Data Hub

Capgemini recommends building a customer experience data hub – a centralized back-end platform that unifies customer data, context, and intelligence. This enables institutions to: 

• Predict customer needs before they’re expressed 
• Automate resolutions or hand off seamlessly between agents and channels 
• Create consistent, personalized journeys across channels

Banks that excel in customer experience see: 

• 1.9x higher customer recommendation rates 
• 2.1x higher likelihood of cross-selling 
• Up to 16.5% growth in deposit share 
• (Kantar, Capgemini reports)

Core Capabilities of a Data Hub

To unlock a seamless omnichannel experience, institutions must centralize three foundational elements: 

1. Centralized Data 

Unifies real-time and batch data from billing systems, payment platforms, CRM, mobile apps, IVRs, and more. 

2. Centralized Context 

Recognizes a customer across channels using identifiers (e.g., phone, chatbot, session), and maps all recent interactions to build continuity. 

3. Centralized Intelligence 

AI/ML models assess interaction urgency and intent, generate resolution options, and surface them across all digital and human-assisted channels. 

Business Impact: Benefits for Financial Institutions  

A centralized experience architecture empowers institutions to: 

• Reduce average call handling time by 2–3 minutes
• Lower agent workload through automation and prioritization 
• Scale to peak interaction volumes without additional cost 
• Enhance customer satisfaction, cross-sell effectiveness, and retention 
• Increase operational agility and regulatory auditability

This approach improves both the front-end experience and the back-end efficiency that supports it. 

Best Practices to Implement a Customer Experience Data Hub

While the concept of a data hub is powerful, executing it requires disciplined planning: 

• Use near real-time data pipelines (e.g., asynchronous messaging) to keep interactions fresh 
• Design a flexible data model to onboard new interaction types or systems quickly 
• Empower business teams to define and adjust event severity rules and workflows 
• Implement incrementally, starting with one touchpoint (e.g., IVR) and expanding iteratively 
• Integrate with existing front-ends to minimize disruption while upgrading intelligence

This modular approach allows for scalability across contact centers, digital apps, and service desks — without re-architecting the entire system. 

Transforming the Customer Experience at Scale

With a centralized approach: 

• Customers no longer need to re-explain issues across channels 
• AI surfaces next-best actions and resolution paths immediately 
• Escalations are handled via warm transfers, with full context passed across agents or bots 
• Financial institutions reduce cost-to-serve while improving loyalty and upsell potential

Ultimately, delivering a truly omnichannel experience becomes a competitive advantage — driving revenue growth and long-term customer trust. 

Summary: Why Now Is the Time to Centralize CX Intelligence

Delivering seamless, intelligent, and consistent experiences is no longer a differentiator — it’s a customer expectation. With a customer experience data hub unifying data, context, and intelligence, financial services firms can transform fragmented channels into cohesive journeys that benefit both customer and institution alike. 

Want to explore the full strategy, stats, and implementation framework? 

Read our latest point of view on reimagining the financial services omnichannel customer experience to see how organizations can: 

• Increase customer recommendations, boost cross-sell rates, and grow share of deposits 
• Reduce call handling times by up to 50% 
• Offer a warm hand-off to other channels or customer service representatives
• Establish a powerful customer experience data hub that centralizes customer data, context, and intelligence across all channels

 ¹ State of the Connected Customer, 5th Edition, 2022. Salesforce.