Evolving Consumer Sentiments and Behavioral Insights- In Conversation with Sutapa Banerjee

We spoke to Sutapa Banerjee, Independent director and behavioral insights coach about the evolution of consumer sentiments and how behavioral insights can be leveraged by organizations to recover and thrive as the new world unravels.

Here is what she had to say.

1) You are a well known thought leader with extensive experience in financial services and now an independent director on the boards of several companies and work in the exciting area of behavioural insights.
How has the idea of customer experience evolved and how are organizations using behavioral analytics to re-align processes in order to be more customer-centric? 

From a largely  product driven approach with some elements of ‘mass customisation’, the financial services sector has evolved but still has a long long way to go. In the traditional BFSI world it still is about lowering service charges, faster turnaround times and providing more people – a relationship manager, a card with a few add ons etc. to differentiate the service from mass retail. 

There are lessons for the BFSI sector and others too from companies in sectors that have swiftly moved into co-creating products and  services with the customer. Certainly the new generation of customers want to be participants in creation, delivery and communication. Smart companies are already starting to provide this deep personalisation and  co-creation by leveraging technology.

2) What are some challenges traditional BFSI companies face while taking the digital plunge? Is collaborating with emerging fintech companies the key to sustain customer relations and tap into uncharted territories? 

I’m still seeing technology being used to reduce costs to create the infrastructure that creates the service, but not substantively enhance the nature of the service itself. Using customer behavioural data to create, modify and enhance the services provided, is the future.
Collaborating with fintech companies can be one way to get there…

3) While the world is reeling under the impact of the pandemic, there is a massive shift in consumer sentiments and priorities. What does this mean for organisations? How can behavioural insights be leveraged to understand and cater to the rapidly evolving customer needs?

Yes, indeed and changes discernible earlier have been significantly hastened.

A key requirement for any business in any sector today is innovative thinking that incorporates design thinking. It needs to be a much larger part of the organisation relative to BAU than earlier. This is easier said than done.
Behavioural insights offers exciting evidence based tools and techniques to operationalise this.

About Sutapa

Sutapa is a well-recognized thought leader in the wealth management space, has spent 24 years in financial services industry across 2 large multinational banks (ANZ Grindlays and ABN AMRO) and Ambit where she built from scratch and headed several businesses.

In 2012 she was shortlisted in the ’50 most Powerful Women’ by Fortune India.
An Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University, she teaches, consults, and trains worldwide on Cognitive Noise and Biases in Decision-making.Currently, she serves as an Independent Director on the boards of several companies in the Godrej, JSW and Axis Bank Groups, India, and Mannapuram Finance.