CRM Best Practices: A Case

Study of Bank of Baroda

Akshay Chhabra A-5
Ashwani Singh A-22

Jasleen Sandhu A-37

Shikha Upadhyay A-61

Bank Of Baroda

Founded by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III

Established in Vadodara in the year 1908 and is headquartered in

Mumbai

Nationalized in the year 1969

Network of 4902 branches all over the country (2,897 in 2008)

Spread across 25 countries

Objective
To study the deployment of CRM Best
Practices and how effectively they have
been deployed in the Bank of Baroda

Details of the study

Researchers developed 140 statements, each representing a CRM

practice

A panel of five experts classified these as relevant CRM practice

and CRM best practice

Practices with complete consensus amongst the judges was

selected

29 strategies were finalized as standard CRM practices

Committing its time and resources in managing customer relationships

Pilot project started in 2007 for HNI customers

Well trained advisors to be seated behind Gold Lounge cabins

Customers to be given special privileges

Shortfall-More time and resources required to build such relationships

Should aim at
developing a
high value
customer

Resorting to Customer Segmentation by using CLTV/related metrics

New directive issued to target savings account customers with Rs 0.1 million (AQB)
Shortfall-No CLTV concept or any CRM metrics is being used
CRM Metrics**Value,Retention ,Satisfaction ,Loyality ,Cost

Extend Umbrella to
all

to Serve

Increase of customer convenience by using a variety of distribution channels

Strong Branch Network in Gujrat with Internet and ATM banking

Bank is a part of National Financial Switch which has resulted in an expanded network of
customers

Setting up of retail loan factories (loan processing and customer service)

Shortfall-Yet to start phone banking and mobile banking services

Expand its
customer
reach

Using information from customers to improve its products and services

New products have been designed in line with data(e.g home loan,education loan)

Identified other needs like pensioners loan,loan for women,foreign tour loans,loans for CNG

Provides a 12 hrs banking across all CBS

Innovation in
Line with its
customer
aspirations

Akshay Chhabra A-05

Customer Feedback and its importance to the organization

15 days however internal TAT is 48 hrs

Closing of complaint only after confirmation from the customer

Customer cell in each city and at head office

Every single
customer has
to be treated
as a King

Shortfall-Further improvements are required for complaints given formally of even verbally

Use of Customer recovery strategies including guarantees for Service Failures

Bank is a member of banking codes and standards board of India

Various compensatory policies in line with code are followed at all branches

Shortfall-Absence of any additional initiatives of its own in this direction

Conflict
resolution

Obtain customer and employee feedback

Customer day is observed

Complaints are received througha)Through complaints box at each point of contact

b)Through mails ,letters ,website complaints

A best organization is
not that which has the
maximum number of
complaints but which
has the max defined
number of complaint
heads

Customer meeting are organized every month

Customers can directly write to the regional office or the CMD

Retail loan customers are given a letter to rate their overall satisfaction from the service

Every 6 months a ISO certified conducts a customer survey(indirect measure of feedback used is the
number of unique complaints)

Employee meetings to get employee suggestions /solve grievances at the branch level

HR initiative called Sampark ,employees in distress can speak to CMD for getting immediate relief

Shortfall:There is no indirect measure of employee and customer feedback

Possible CLTV For a Bank Customer

Live
Cash
Retirem
ent
Funds/P
ension

Student
Loan

House
Loan

Salary
Account

Insuranc
e

Akshay Chhabra A-05

Car Loan

Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

Aimed at transforming it into a sales-and- service organization and

automation of their services

CMD and top management communicates via letters, internal circulars,

in-house magazine and e-mails sends letters to all its employees

Apprise them of the financial performance of the bank, future outlook,

goals, expectations from employees regarding business generation and
high quality customer service

Zero customer complaints, fast and courteous service among other

related issues

Surprise & Delight Key Customers

Provides

a savings account called Super Savings Account

It

is linked to a fixed deposit and offers various exclusive benefits and privileges to its
customers

Assigning CRM Responsibilities

CRM responsibilities of employees are clearly defined and assigned

To

ensure they are understood by the employees, their performance appraisal is

directly linked to it
Clerical subordinate staff appraised based on approach, politeness, cordial relations,
effective communication with customers, awareness of customers needs, discipline,
attendance & punctuality

Executives appraised in terms of achieving business targets, through cross selling

Employee Training Programmes

Launched various training programmes including Induction-cumGrooming programme for young executives

Customer service training programme mandatory for frontline

employees (focus on soft skills)

Training modules on different products like mutual funds, insurance

BUT no established practice aimed at encouraging employees at all
levels to satisfy customers to the fullest

Developed Privacy Policy

Uses verification procedures to adequately safeguard customer

interests
BUT bank does not have any detailed privacy policy document
regarding confidentiality of customer data

Deliver Consistent Customer Experience

Initiated massive rebranding and positioning exercise

Promoted its major strengths viz. large international presence,

technological advancement and superior customer service

Launched uniform color code and new logo called the Baroda Sun
in the year 2005

New urban branches redesigned to look like glitzy stores focusing

on selling and serving customers

Well-designed website for a better experience

FEEDBACK CHANNELISATION TO EMPLOYEES

Branch Manager makes the customer feedback flow down the vertical
via various unsystematic modes (mails, verbal etc.)

IMPROVED SYSTEM FOR BETTER BUSINESS

Single system window at each branch

Single account opening form (SA/CA)

Account opening on same day

Passbook and Check book released on same day

Doorstep visit for document completion

Retail loan factories

CUSTOMER DEFECTION

Customer is interviewed (reason for closure of acc)

All the efforts are made to retain the customer

No lost customer surveys conducted by the bank

No report stating cause of defection in a particular

period

Anniversary
offers, Keep
customers
updated,
Personal Banker,
Relationship
region
or
managers

REWARD SYSTEM FOR CUSTOMERS (based on banks performance)

Credit card reward system

No debit card reward system or on any other product

RELATIONSHIP BASED PRICING (RBP) (Premium

saving account, Super saving account holders)

RBP is a pricing and billing framework where

pricing is determined based on a customer's
overall purchases

No charges for issuance of DD

Complementary credit card with no issuance

charge for first year

Co-Branding/Partnership Programmes

Health insurance product called Baroda Health developed in association with

Mediclaim Insurance Policy for its account holders

(P) Bobcards, for the issue of credit cards

(P) Visa for debit cards

(P) Bill Desk for online utility bill payment facility

(P) HDFC Standard Life Insurance; UTI Mutual Fund and Birla Mutual Fund

(P) Western Union for money transfer

Use of technology
A software which provides balance status of its products tagged to a
single customer identity
The bank is in the process of implementing Financial CBS (of Infosys
Technologies) across the organization
This software system allows a single view of the customer covering all
deposit and loan products across all CBS branches

no lead tracking softwares

no softwares to track customer complaints and turn around time
no data mining softwares

Emotional bonding

Greeting cards to customers on Diwali

No system for tracking birthdays

No Attractive gifts like diaries, calenders etc

Cross selling

For retail loans and wealth management

Target customers : AQB of Rs. 0.1 million or more in their savings account

Customer centric performance standards and

monitoring

Service quality
Retail loans

ATM
Auditing

number of complaints received by the branch

The time required for resolution
timely opening of the branch

the relevant measure is a turnaround time of

six days which is monitored on a monthly basis
Cleanliness of the machine
proper maintenance of the machine

branch audit for small braches is once a year

and for big branches is an ongoing process

No well defined measuring standards for mobile and internet banking

Customized services and products for

key customers

Wealth management services

They were started on a pilot basis in 2008 in 5 branches in Surat

Financial Advisors were posted to assist the HNI customers

The availability of such service is limited

Conclusion

Top Management is fully committed and BPR is being taken seriously yet the
implementation glitch at lower levels
Must focus on cross selling since many products are un noticed
Be technologically more able online CRM Forum (official website)

Results

Over 4920 branches with over 2.5 crore customers

Bank has added 3 million customers in 2005 and 2006 alone
Bank of Baroda has moved from 5th to 2nd Position
After all Banks just
It has now positioned itself as Indias International Bank
cannot afford to be high
It has gone global Uganda,Abu Dhabhi and Dubai
tech but high touch!!
Increased portfolio of products

THANK YOU