Consumer perception towards service quality of Internet banking

Consumer perception towards service quality of Internet banking To perceive customers perception towards quality aspect of services provided through remote banking channels. Objectives and scope of study: To give a detailed account of the services offered by the banks in the Banking sector through Remote Banking ( Internet banking). Perception of consumer towards the quality of Remote Banking including parameters like (Usability, Convenience, efficiency, effectiveness). To understand the level of e-banking exposure of the banking sector (private and public). To study the future prospects and scenario in line of the banking sector. Methodology: Will conduct a mail based pilot survey to find out what are the common concerns problems faced by the i-service users at present. It will also give an insight on the future expectations from remote banking services from users perspective. Collecting info. About the various services offered through Remote Banking from information available on the net, written material and by questioning /interviewing working executives of various banks. A survey to be carried out to identify what the bank service users think about the quality of Remote banking services offered using a questionnaire, on a representative sample of working executives in the age group of 20 40 yrs. Location: Auckland(CBD) ,New Market Scaling Technique : Non -Comparative Research Design : Descriptive (Cross -Sectional) Sources of Information :Primary Secondary Sample Technique: Convenient sampling Analysis on the basis of data collected through primary secondary sources and application of various marketing tools Interpretation of data. Introduction Banking sector plays a vital role in the economies world over, during the past decade the banking sector has undergone an astronomical change in terms of technology. Traditional mode of banking is fast loosing ground to one click banking(E-Banking).The figure below shows the perceived threat by the banks which are responsible for the above transformation. Substitute(customization) New Entrant Banks(Rivalry) Buyer Supplier Porters 5 Model Rivalry, competition among rival banks can drive the profit of the banking industry to zero. Industry concentration is a real term indicator of the extent of rivalry in the industry. In USA alone there are approximately 7000 banks with around 82000 branched at end of 2008.Chinas top banks constituted to around 67000 branched, there are around 129 different banks in Japan and finally the combined number of different branches in UK, Francs and Germany exceeded 30000(Wikipedia). With effective use of technology(Introducing e-commerce, mobile banking), a bank can improve its distribution and communication channels thus creating a niche in the minds of the customer, other banks have to follow suit to maintain the competitive advantage. Substitute, threat of a substitute exists when the price elasticity of a product is affected, due to abundance of similar type of product offering. There are a lots of banks operating across the banking industry all round the world. Customizing product offering or upgrading the already existing financial product is a common practice(Jayawardhena Paul Foley). These innovations in product development and delivering was a pivotal factor for the banks to adopt internet related tools in day to day operations. New Entrants, due to the increase number of players within the banking industry, the purchasing power of the buyers have increased many folds (Jayawardhena Paul Foley). With a wide spread use of technology and internet adoption there exists ample opportunities for financial companies and other new entrants to reach the target customers and show their uniqueness in terms of product offerings. Perceiving the actual advantage of using internet technology for reaching the customer, product offering, banking operations becomes all the more important for the participating players of the industry. Buyers, customers of a bank, are perhaps the most important assets of a bank. Increased number of choices across the banking industry leaves the customer with ample of choices. Banks in order to retain their customers and increase the customer base have to rely on internet based technology. Previous studies indicate that the educated class forms the majority users of internet, they are high network individuals. Banks unable to respond to the demands of a these customers for a new product may end up loosing them to the competitors. Enabling mass communication using internet technology by the banks can create a niche mind share of the customer. It also makes the customer feel important, when it comes to customizing a new product. Internet technology is also a centralized and efficient mode of advertising for the banks (Jayawardhena Paul Foley). Supplier, operational banks in the sector. With an increased number of financial services provider in the banking sector, it often becomes a head ache for the customers to choose. Customers of the bank are aware that switching their bank would lead to altering product requirements and switching cost(Michael E. Porter). Internet enabled tools like Siebel internet banking , sales platform are used by the banks to maintain transparency with the customers. Creating products after taking in the requirements of the customers acts as a tool for retaining customers. From the banks point of view using internet technologies has multiple added advantages . Cost saving, using virtual channels proves 11 times cheaper than using a physical channel for service delivery (Jayawardhena Paul Foley), this is done through proper utilization of the workforce and economic resources. Services Offered Services Type Service Core Banking Balance Statements(account) Transfer funds Account opening Applying for loan Applying for mortgages Applying for credit cards Applying for Insurance Subscribe for mutual funds Customer oriented Manage Reward Points Bill payment(Misc) Railway Reservation E-Freight services Demand Draft Intimidating loss of ATM card Excise payment online Internet banking is a fast evolving mode of product delivery, in which the service provider(Bank) and the service user(Customers) are not present at the same place at the same time. E-banking services are also called, anywhere, anytime services because services are available over the internet 247. These services are discreet and fully personalized as the service user is just a click away from using the desired services. Banks provide two separate types of internet services namely Core banking services(Traditional), offered through traditional banking channels and miscellaneous customer oriented, to make banks a one stop destination for water, electricity bill payments or paying excise duty or income tax, online ticketing for railways and paying freight cost for transferring of goods. Perception of consumer towards the quality of Remote Banking including parameters(Chapter-1) The term quality in the present aspect may have different meaning from one respondent to another. Below are some of the aspects of quality that would be discussed in advance in my survey. Aspects Properties Performance Up to date Information Response time Download time Complete Product Info. Tutorial / Demonstration Help Function Features Online Registration Transfer between bank Other Language Keep data safe Require encryption (SSL) 24 hours 7 days Innovation features Reliability Require Authentication Limit to change data Complete data Correct Link Manage font display Clear Instructions Conformance Product Information Locating Information How Informative Explains Symbol Internal Connection System Responsiveness Durability Announce Information Complete Display System Performance Continue to Use Connection failed Able to fix problem Serviceability Search Function Navigation menu/ buttons Online Help Communication with Security Rapidly Services Quality aspect of Internet banking has two prime perspective: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ customer perspective à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ bank perspective Customer perspective From customers perspective, the service quality has two aspects, the expected quality (before use) and the perceived quality (after use). Expected quality is based on the expectation of the customer which are further based on self-belief about a certain service used in the past or experience of others and finally by the general image of the service provider in the market. Perceived quality, the impression that is formed after realization of the service by the customer. The difference between the two aspects throws light on the level of customer satisfaction. Providers perspective From the providers side, there are again two aspects, quality targeted and the quality delivered. Quality targeted to the customers is based on an internal conformation of standards, rules and regulation framework . Delivered quality works on an external framework which further depend on the communication and product delivery channels. Survey Details Sources of data collection Questionnaires Tele -Interview SAMPLING We have used convenience sampling technique. It is also called haphazard or accidental sampling. Members of the population are chosen based on their relative ease of access. Sometimes called grab or opportunity sampling, this is the method of choosing items arbitrarily and in an unstructured manner from the frame. Though almost impossible to treat rigorously, it is the method most commonly employed in many practical situations. Sample Unit: Internet Users Sample Technique: Convenient sampling Sample Area: AUT(City Campus) Sample Size: 25 TOOLS Statistical : SPSS Techniques :Chi ^2 test of goodness of fit Interpretation of the data collected Chapter-3 The sample survey carried out to critically analyze the utility ,advantages and disadvantages of E-banking services offered by the banks in the Indian Banking scenario yielded the following results. SWOT Analysis(E-banking) Strengths More than 87% of the people are satisfied with e-banking facilities provided by the bank which they use so already a good user base is present 83% of the respondent feel satisfied with the response time of the banks to answer their queries so already a good IT enabled communication system is in place 80% of the respondents find the usage of the E-banking services through the official site of the bank an easy process , thus the facilities catches the eye of more potential customers Regular updation facility provided by the banks E-banking wing also finds the customers nod with about 75% respondents availing full advantage of the service, this shows the presence of an excellent internet based application and maintenance of proper database of the customers About 69% of the respondent are happy with the innovative features of E-banking services like (E-Tax payment, e-freight services) ,this shows that the E-banking wing is constantly in touch with the needs of the customers . Weakness Connectivity to the sites a major problem for 54% of the respondents as they complain that sometime they could not log onto the sites, so internet access on the side of the customer is a problem Only about 38% of the respondent feel comfortable leaving their credit card numbers on the net for availing facility like the E-bill service , so security standards in some of the banks is a major set back The Inter/Intra bank fund transfer facility is a also a set back for the banks as the internal connectivity is not very strong, the respondents have complained of a particular bank not accepting the cheque of another bank on certain occasions. Only about 36% have so far not encountered such type of a problem Opportunities Have a great opportunity to spread the remote banking services to rural and second and third tier cities through net and mobile banking facilities With the type of investment done in the remote banking wings of the banks better and full proof security and privacy features could be provided to the users in the near future Emergence of open standards for banking functionality. Growing customer awareness and need of transparency Threats A common mistake made by end users is believing that their online banking session is perfectly safe when they use an SSL connection. Fake website pop-ups and malicious code running inside the web browser can extract key information about a particular user and dent the confidence of the customers A threat of virus act cannot be ruled out that can lead to loss of important information threats like hacking, faking etc cannot be ruled out. E-banking exposure of the leading private and public sectors In this section we try to compare the level of e-banking exposure in private(Stakes controlled by individual stake holders) and public sector banks(majority stakes held by the government). It is perceived that private bank users get better service in terms of efficiency, technology and staff willingness to work(Peter Kangis). It was also noted that the younger, tech savvy and urban population favored the private banks and rated them highly on the technology usage(Peter Kangis).Below is an example of Indian banking industry, it shows the internet technology acceptance level in the two types of banking systems Indian Contextà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(Pooja Malhotra and Balwinder Singh) The data covers around 57 banks which operational at the end of the 2005 financial year. There were about 30 private sector banks and 27 public sector/nationalized banks in the study. The study takes into account several factor like age, size of the banks. We concentrate on the type aspect of the study, below is a model to explain the extent of e-banking exposure. It was found out that in general the private sector banks and the multi national banks(MNB) are better adopters on internet the technology than the public / nationalized banks. (Pooja Malhotra and Balwinder Singh) PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE(PLC) Public Sector Bank(Chapter-6) Product Life C The Product Life Cycle (PLC) is used to map the lifespan of a product(Internet Banking). There are generally four stages in the life of a product. These four stages are the Introduction stage, the Growth stage, the Maturity stage and the Decline stage. The following graph illustrates the four stages of the PLC. Public Sector Bank Stage :(Introduction stage) Characteristics: Among the public sector banks 48 % of banks offered Internet banking, however only 15 % offer fully transactional Internet banking. Only 15% of the banks are capable of managing an E-wing in the bank. Pioneer Banks like the Canara Bank has absolutely no internet banking services available to its strong customer base The customer base for the public sector bank mainly comprise of the rural population so the internet exposure is limited. The idea of the nationalized bank becoming a HI-TECH(e-Banking) has not really sunk into the customers mind , they still symbolize the banks as the pillars of authentic traditional banking service providers. Most of the common E-banking services like Instant loan, intimating loss of credit cards, fund transfer are still not fully functional. Intra-Bank Networking(connectivity between two branches ) of a bank has not been fully set up though they plan to complete the work by 2012(Basel 2 norms) Obstacles in the form of a lack of regulatory framework, a mindset attuned towards opposing technology, inadequate computerization and highly politicized unions are holding back the nationalized banks. Private Sector Bank Stage:(Growth Stage) Characteristics: More than 55% of the private sector banks operating in India provide e-banking services to its customers. Among the private sector banks 50 percent of banks offer Internet banking, however only 33 percent of banks are fully transactional banks. Cost of supporting Internet Banking in the private sector banks have been reducing steadily as the banks adopted E-banking as early as 1996 Almost 85% of the present customer base of the bank is urban based with more than 98% of the customers regularly use some form of e-banking services Cost of maintain the traditional banking functions have declined considerably The profit and the revenue earned by the banks with the adoption of e-banking has been increasing at a constant rate The number of ATMS In the urban areas have already outnumbered its PSB counterparts thus making the private sector banks more technology oriented Future prospects of e-banking in India Banks and other financial institutions across the globe are in a constant ever evolving process of virtualizing there banking and financial operations. Most of the big multinational companies, banks have already put a lot of IT enabled infrastructure in place and in turn a reaping benefits like, grater reach to the customers, increased customer loyalty, customization of the products etc. Internet banking is changing the face of the banking industry, and instead of being nice to have it is fast becoming a need to have technology to stay competitive in the industry. Future challenges Banks in the process of reaping profits from the deployment of internet technology assets and development do not pay heed to the post development issues like security, satisfaction of the customers, site maintenance. (Adel M. Aladwani). Other important challenges include the legal implication, customers privacy, enough IT infrastructure. Regulatory issues also form a major concern, of which little concern is taken by branch operation managers. At present the usage of internet technology in the banking sector is still in a very early stage and at the moment focus is more on the management issues rather than the post management discussed above (Adel M. Aladwani). Some of the key challenges that have to be researched upon in future include: Customers and other market forces roles in the adoption of internet based banking Identifying key forces that lead to customer satisfaction What is required to gain the trust of the customers The legal policies and frameworks for supporting online banking ops Effective techniques to secure and audit online transections Road Ahead B2B (Retail product applications) A greater impact on the banks profits is likely to come from business to business and business to retail product applications. The products under development globally currently include Electronic Bill Presentment (EBP) and Procurement systems. EBP will allow issuers of bills to present them to the customers on-line. The EBP intermediary will get to collect fees for this and will also gain valuable customer information that will be useful for future marketing and product development. Procurement services will allow direct buying by one company from another and the fees again will be collected by the intermediary. Changes in the present SERVICULE PROCESS Besides banks, non-financial companies like IBM and Microsoft are also working on developing similar commercial financial products. Transactions that were earlier routed through banks could now go through non-financial intermediaries. This development is a serious threat to the banks traditional grip on the global payments system. Erosion of the dominance of the banks in the financial system would be an inevitable consequence of internet penetration. Standardization of the Financial products Due to a fierce competition to gain market shares, prices of financial products would initially be dictated by what the competitors are offering rather than any predetermined pricing policy of the firm. Heavy price-cutting and price wars may be seen. In the long run, the pricing strategy will prove to be a major challenge in both banking and non-banking sectors because some consistency in prices between (low cost) on-line services and other (high cost) traditional distribution channels will have to be maintained. Strategic alliances The scale of operations required in order to exploit the new technology successfully would have to be large, and there are few players, even in the developed countries that have the required size. Intermediaries will most likely form alliances with other parties in order to offer a broader range of services. New innovative product packages will be developed to woo customers. This way companies will be able to leverage their existing base of customers to broaden existing relationships and also reach new customers.