Cases in Digital Innovation and Transformation

This paper focuses on the research on the impact that perception has on customer satisfaction when it comes to consumption of goods and services. Research on the impact that perception has on customer satisfaction is identified and customer personas are made from the data collected. Customer journey maps are also generated using the data on customer research on the subject. The paper contains a research on Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. General market research is carried out the banks operations to help understand the operations of the company and the financial services industry in China (Oswald& Kleinemeier, 2017). The information on customer behavior and the impact that perception has on customer satisfaction levels in this industry is determined and explained. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is a Chinese Multinational banking company and it is the largest bank in world by Total assets. ICBC is also the most valuable bank in the world by market capitalization since February 2017. The company was formed in the year 1984 by the year 2015,it had assets worth US$3.616trilion (Solis, 2015). ICBC opened its first branch outside China in the year 1999 in Luxembourg. It later became the European headquarters of the bank in the year 2011. The company was made public in the year 2006 and it became the largest IPO at the time valued at US$21.9 billion. As at the year 2015,ICBC had approximately 3.5 million corporate customers and more than 170 million individual customers. The company serves corporate clients from across all sectors and industry including manufacturing, transportation, power, gas and water as well as construction industry. The biggest customer is the manufacturing industry followed by transportation, storage, and teleco mmunications industry. China`s banking system underwent significant changes between 1990s and 2000s. The banking system of China has become more like the banking system in the West. Before the 1990s banking in China was run exclusively by the state (Pijl, Lokitz& Solomon, 2016). Over the previous two decades, the narrative has significantly changed since more private banks are emerging and more of the public owned banks have become autonomous. Financial and banking services in China are regulated by the People’s Bank of China. The four biggest banks in China commonly referred to as the â€Å"Big four† are state owned and this shows that the banking industry in China is still largely controlled by the state. The four biggest state owned commercial banks include the China Construction Bank (CCB), Bank of China (BOC),The Agricultural Bank of China(ABC) and the ICBC (Kalbach,2016). The banks were formed through the introduction of commercial Bank Law in 1995 which helped in commercializing operat ions of state owned bank. BOC specializes in foreign exchange transactions and trade finance. The CCB specializes in medium and long term specialized projects such as infrastructure an housing projects. ABC specializes in offering financing to the agricultural sector in China as well as offering wholesale and retail banking services to farmers. The policy banks in China banking and finance industry include the Agricultural Development Bank of China (ADBC), China Development Bank(CDB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (Chexim) (Diamond,2016). There are also various city commercial banks that are majorly owned by the local governments. Private investors also have a minority shareholding in these banks. The other significant players in China`s banking system is the Trust and Investment Corporations, County Banks, Credit and Deposit Insurance companies. Creating customer personas is very important for a company since it helps the organization offer tailor made services that help to improve the levels of customer satisfaction. The use of personas in business has increased in the recent past since organizations are facing growing demand for more personalized and tailor made services. Customers expect organizations to understand their tastes and preferences better and serve to meet their needs as expected. The personas help the organizations in understanding how customers behave and why they behave in such a manner and this enables brands to make changes in their operations which help them to improve customer satisfaction. ICBC serves different segments of the banking sector globally (Kalbach, 2016). In order to develop customer personas in different industries, it is important to segment the market of ICBC based on the industry in which a corporate customer is operating. Customer persona for individual customers is based on the data o n the behavior of individual customers conducted through market research. A persona of a company operating in the manufacturing industry is created based on the available primary and secondary data on that company. 361 degrees is a major designer and manufacturer of shoes and sports products in China. The company was first established in the year 2002 and the brand name,361 degrees was launched in 2004. The brand name represents 360 degrees of a circle plus an extra one degree which represents the professional functionality on which innovation and creativity is added (Barnes & Kelleher, 2015). The characteristics of the company and its needs are analyzed to help ICBC understand its needs as a customer and hence improve customer satisfaction. 360 degrees may get services and products such as long term loans for expansion and investment, short term capital, cash deposit services. ICBC can also offer corporate mobile banking, corporate telephone banking, and corporate internet services (Wright & Snook, 2017). Given that 360 degree has outlets in many countries across Asia and Europe, Internet banking services for the company can be tailor made to help customers from different countries pay for goods using a common paying method which is simple and convenient. 360 degree also needs corporate wealth management services. A company operating in different countries and especially through outlets that are not owned by the company needs to manage its wealth effectively and efficiently. ICBC can manage the manufacturing plants of 360 degrees to help cater   ICBC should create a spe cial profile for the company to help cater for all the corporate banking needs of 360 degrees which is a manufacturing company. ICBC can also receive deposits on behalf of 360 degrees (Information Resources Management Association. 2018). The deposits can be in form of payments made by different clients or the sale of assets. l   He has been in restaurant business for the last 9 years l   Location of business is Shanghai l   He needs short term business loan to expand his business l   The interest rates charged on loans l   The customer does not want high interest rates on loans l   The customer deposits cash regularly l   Most of the transactions by the customer are online l   He takes huge risks in his business l   He has a variety of personal investments Customer preferences and personality l Likes tailor made banking and finance products l Uses mobile banking a for most of his transactions l Makes regular transactions involving deposits and withdrawals l   Internet banking products that offers customer convenience l   Wide range of personalized banking services l   Loan terms depending on the customer history with the company. The Chinese banking industry is very competitive. One of the major competitors of ICBC is the Bank of China limited. The bank is also government owned and it offers the same products as ICBC. One of the metrics that is used to compare the two banks is the customer support services. ICBC has better customer support because it has online customer support system where the customers can be able to interact with the company and problems that they face are addressed (Cardoso, Fromm, Nickel, Satzger, Studer& Weinhardt, 2015). The other metric is the problem resolution time. ICBC takes less time to solve problems that customers present to the company. This is because the company has an elaborate online automatic customer support system. ICBC also has a large number of staff working in the customer care department. Comparison with China construction Bank Limited; China Construction Bank Limited offers banking services mainly to the businesses in the construction industry. The customer support system of CCB is efficient and effective and it enables the company to become competitive and to offer specialized customer care services to different customers. This helps in improving the level of customer satisfaction. The time taken to solve customer problems is also a crucial determinant of customer satisfaction. Both competitors have focused on coming up with the right systems and programs to help improve customer satisfaction. This has been mainly by designing online customer self service websites where customers can be able to solve their problems without having to consult the company. Social media monitoring is one of the tools that can be used to monitor customer experience by ICBC. The company should establish social media accounts through which the company can get feedback regarding the experiences of customers when dealing with the company. Another tool is seeking for feedback directly from customers and avoid over-reliance on social media. Customers can be requested to fill feedback forms after they visit the bank or through the companies` website. Analysis of company information regarding customers is also an important tool for monitoring as well as the rinse and repeat technique. From the analysis of the results of the study, it is clear that ICBC offers its customers high quality products and services compared to its customers. This has promoted the companies` growth beyond China and ensured that ICBC becomes the largest company in the world in terms of assets. ICBC has relied on technological innovation to improve customer satisfaction which is at the core of the success of any company in the banking industry. ICBC offers corporate customers mobile and internet banking and it was one of the first companies to offer these product. ICBC has been able to focus on satisfying customers in the corporate world by making it easy for them to open accounts and obtain big loans at highly competitive interest rates. The paper also discusses the profiles of different categories of customers, both individual and corporate customers and draws journey maps for both. Cardoso, J., Fromm, H., Nickel, S., Satzger, G., Studer, R., & Weinhardt, C. (2015). Fundamentals Of Service Systems. https://Rave.Ohiolink.Edu/Ebooks/Ebc/9783319231952. Barnes, R. A., & Kelleher, B. (2015). Customer Experience For Dummies. Diamond, S. (2016). Content Marketing Strategies For Dummies. Information Resources Management Association. (2018). Mobile Commerce: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, And Applications. Http://Search.Ebscohost.Com/Login.Aspx?Direct=True&Scope=Site&Db=Nlebk&Db=Nlabk&An=1540772. Kalbach, J. (2016). Mapping Experiences: a Guide To Creating Value Through Journeys, Blueprints And Diagrams. https://Search.Ebscohost.Com/Login.Aspx?Direct=True&Scope=Site&Db=Nlebk&Db=Nlabk&An=1234236. Nielsen, L. (2013). Personas -- User Focused Design. London, Springer. https://Www.Books24x7.Com/Marc.Asp?Bookid=54139. Pijl, P. V. 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