Emerging technologies such as blockchain will transform customer experience in the banking sector, enabling organizations to gain greater insight from customers’ data, Avaya announced at the24th World Islamic Banking Conference in Bahrain.

Blockchain could be used to transform how customer satisfaction is monitored by regulatory bodies, and how banks control identity management, amongst other innovations, Avaya told delegates at this week’s event.

Many organizations today are struggling to turn the huge volumes of data they have about their customers into actionable insights. For banks, this issue is particularly important as they have to meet strong regulatory compliance standards, combat online fraud and meet their digitally-savvy customers’ expectations.

Failing to deliver the required customer experience can be costly for banks: more than half of Saudi banking customers and four in ten of UAE customers would change their banks if they received bad service, according to Avaya’s recent Customer Experience in Banking survey.

“For many organizations, blockchain in banking begins and ends with cryptocurrency applications. However Avaya is committed to leveraging so-called disruptive technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence and analytics to drive innovation in customer experience,” said Fadi Hani, vice president, Avaya, Middle East & Africa and Turkey.

“By helping organizations gain greater value from the data they collect, and make life easier for their customers, we can enhance customer satisfaction, ensure greater compliance and reduce fraud.”

Avaya recently showcased at Gitex Technology Week in Dubai the Happiness Index on Blockchain, a solution that demonstrated how companies and government organizations can leverage blockchain to securely collect and integrate data from multiple sources to dynamically measure satisfaction levels. Banking regulators could use such a solution to measure customer service levels across different banks, Hani told conference delegates in his presentation.

“Moving forward, Avaya is committed to open technology platforms that allow us to integrate these technologies in new ways to bring even greater value to our customers and partners across the region,” Hani said.

According to PwC, financial institutions in the Middle East are launching initiatives to understand possible business and operating model for blockchain solutions. – TradeArabia News Service