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Initiate's Karl Weinmeister explains how MDM can help with customer on-boarding

The first few months of your relationship with a customer are critical.  Sales has set high expectations for your firm to close the deal, and now the customer will be getting their first impression of your operations.

The customer on-boarding process is crucial, and yet rarely gets the attention it merits. Master data management can provide the foundation for successful relationships with your customers.

The Value of Customer On-boarding

Numerous studies have shown the benefits of a well-executed customer on-boarding process.  The most common benefits include increased revenue through cross-selling and reduced attrition, cycle times and operational risk.

According to a banking study by BAI Research, within the first month of a retail checking account opening, 60% of total cross-selling activity will occur. Not only is this a significant revenue opportunity, it's an opportunity to reduce attrition.

Customers who have purchased multiple products tend to be more loyal than single-product customers.  On the operational side, a strong customer on-boarding process will reduce legal and operational risks as well as improving customer satisfaction by reducing cycle times.

Master Data Management

Master Data Management is a core IT capability that lays the foundation for the customer on-boarding process.  MDM provides a unified, comprehensive and reliable picture of the customer that can be shared across multiple processes.  An MDM- powered customer on-boarding solution can support the business with the capabilities we will walk through below.

360 Degree Customer View

Placing customers into the right products is key to setting expectations properly and maintaining customer satisfaction.  With a comprehensive view of the customer, your staff will have all the data at their fingertips to properly assess the customer needs.

Unified Data Across Systems

BAI’s research indicates that the second leading cause of customer frustration during on-boarding is a failure to execute on fulfillment, i.e. issuing a PIN, bank cards, online banking, etc.  By ensuring that all systems that touch customer data are consistent, fulfillment errors such as mailing sent to an invalid address can be reduced.

Identity Resolution

By using fuzzy search built-in into an MDM powered solution, your users are less likely to create duplicate records, and you won’t frustrate customers trying to locate their information.

Householding Relationships

For consumer accounts, a householding view is a valuable feature that can show all of a household’s accounts together in a consolidated view.  Automatically matching a new account to an existing household will provide a more detailed picture of the customer, and will support cross-selling the right products.  There are also operational efficiencies to be gained by reducing paperwork and redundant mailings with householding in place.

Data Management

An MDM-powered solution for customer on-boarding should be able to support access control so that only authorized users can edit trusted customer data, and update relationships between customers and their products.

Onboarding Status

Along with the customer data itself, the MDM solution can track the overall status of the on-boarding process to be used in a simple workflow.

Third Party Data Services

Leveraging third party data services in the application can further reduce errors and increase visibility.  For example, you can complement core MDM capabilities by integrating to service providers who can validate addresses, provide credit check information, and verify do-not-call list membership.

Too often, firms prioritize cross-selling and retention in their mature customer base. However, studies show that investing early in the customer lifecycle into the on-boarding process can be more effective.  An MDM-powered customer on-boarding solution can help address these needs and will reap dividends for years to come.

Have you experienced this, either professionally or as a consumer? Share your examples below.