Overshadowed by the modern delivery channels such as the ATM and the Internet, the Branch was widely believed to have gone out of fashion. However, with most routine transactions ‘outsourced’ to the cheaper and more pervasive channels, bankers at the branch are free to focus on what they do best – bonding with customers through friendly service, satisfying them through sensitive problem resolution and selling products through expert, personalized advice.

Enabling this transformation requires powerful information systems that support the branch functions. A 360-degree view of the customer’s relationship – a must for meaningful cross-sell – requires data from diverse back-office applications to be synthesized. It is also critical that system upgrades do not disrupt the smooth functioning of the branches. Finally, improving branch profitability requires pruning the money spent in maintaining and upgrading the IT infrastructure. Such challenges are forcing many a bank to postpone what is clearly an imperative change for retaining the competitive edge. Intellect Front Office (IFO) is the answer to all this.

IFO has been designed to deliver on the promise of nondisruptive, incremental modernization of customer facing functions in leading banks around the world. IFO gives the bank the power to design the customer experience. It is meant to coexist with other applications in the bank’s ecosystem, thus extending the useful life of the investments the bank has already made. The platform offers flexibility in implementation – can be done for a single branch and then rolled out to the others.

IFO offers capability ranges from teller functions to wealth management advisory services, includes cross-sell prompts, account origination and everything that a branch banker would need, on the teller or the platform side of the business, on a single menu at the top. This does away with the need to constantly log in and out of stand-alone applications. And as a platform that does not require a server to be maintained at every branch, it significantly reduces maintenance overheads.

Analyst surveys clearly show that your best customers are making a beeline to the branch. With Intellect Front Office, you can more than meet them halfway down the branch corridor.