Digitalisation Q1 2021 1
DIGITALISATION@HANDELSBANKEN “Holding customer me
etings in our living rooms enables us to make decisions faster, and be more available in more areas. Above all, it allows us to take a more personal approach to the advisory services we offer.” Johan Fröberg is a corporate advisor at Handelsbanken Vasagatan in Stockholm. hat would you say is the most important insight into how you work with advisory services today? At the moment, my customers and I mainly work remotely – physical meetings are rare. In spite of this, I do not think that my relationships with customers have suffered. They are perhaps even more personal now, thanks to digital technology. I previously almost exclusively used the telephone and email as an alternative to physical meetings. Skype, Teams and similar digital meeting channels have facilitated an upswing in many customer relationships. Meeting in each others’ living rooms allows for a more relaxed and, in some respects, more intimate way of meeting than at our respective workplaces. Video calls will never be able to replace physical meetings entirely, but are certainly a fantastic complement – and are in many ways better than the other alternatives. W What do you think of the branches’ availability to your customers? We have become more accessible and available, no doubt. I can have more meetings planned on any given day, but also have the option of arranging more spontaneous meetings. And that’s not just me as an individual corporate advisor. It has become much easier to quickly invite various specialists to meetings with my customers. Sharing knowledge is not always about a deal here and now. Some business is prioritised by us, whereas the customers have it lower down on their to do lists. These meetings are much easier to agree on when they involve a half hour in front of the computer screen, rather than taking up half the day, with a conference room, etc. The simplicity afforded by digital technology is not a hard sell. Are there other aspects of digitalisation worth highlighting? As well as improving our availability, a digital way of working means we can work more quickly and makes our processes more professional. For example, digital signing is brilliant for both us and customers. Granted, a new customer has to meet us physically to open an account, but from then on most things can be solved digitally. To prepare a power of attorney is now a good start to a relationship, compared with a customer’s surprise at how many forms need signing. HANDELSBANKEN 19