Axis Bank To Ramp Up Investments In Digital Technologies

THE BANK INTENDS to increase the digital budget by approximately 25 per cent in 2018-19; investments will continue in Axis Aha, the AI/ML based chatbot. Further with multiple channels, the focus this year will be on investing in an omni-channel kind of a platform. Praveen Bhatt, Head - Digital Banking & Customer Experience, Axis Bank, shares more information

You were a COO and CFO at Axis AMC, and have helped set up the company in 2009. How has your experience helped in coming up with ideas in your current role?

In IT, at times, the investments are upfront and secondly, one has to invest in something new, but beyond a point, it has to have an RoI, either in reducing costs or enhancing customer ease. There are a number of requests that flow from different businesses like cards, forex, MFs, insurance, etc, to add more features. Every feature addition has a cost of development. They have to be prioritised. We look at business cases, in terms of whether adding a proposed feature will reduce the costs or enhance customer ease, which should result in a reduction of consumer requests or complaints.

Consumers no longer stick to categories. They compare bank apps to any other non-banking app. We also have to understand that mindlessly adding features fails to cut the ice with customers as they desire simplicity and in any case they only use selected features. Ultimately there is a cost of development and marketing for the concerned feature. My experience of a CFO at Axis AMC always keeps me cognisant of this aspect.

What are the latest updates in the area of technology at the bank?

Speed and availability are two key ingredients for a successful digital operation. Thus we are constantly upgrading our hardware, so that systems are available 24x7. The failsafe mechanisms are in place for mission critical applications. Secondly, we are investing in tools that allow us to ascertain where customers are dropping off in various journeys within their app. These an alytical tools are coded to strip information on whether the issue is on the bank’s side or in the customer’s device. This helps in taking remedial action.

What is the digital strategy you plan to adopt at Axis Bank?