Kiwibank: Taking a different approach to a business process

The bank’s head of customer experience, Anand Ranchord, talks about his approach to business process when tasked to create a new mobile app for home loans

‘You have to be able to think across multi-dimensions’

Anand Ranchord talks about what it takes to be head of customer experience.

“No one has mastered orchestrating end to end experience across channels, understanding what is the role of people, process and systems, and how they come together,” says Ranchord. “How do we orchestrate these functions? How do you create the right culture to support that? That is my role going forward.”

Ranchord moved to his current post three months ago after working as senior manager online for Kiwibank for over two years. Before that, he was head of distribution, process and retail with another bank.

The job suits "someone who is willing to critically assess, and question, question, question why we do the things the way we do... Why customers do things, what are their unmet needs? What are really important in terms of decision making?”

Technology is a critical component, he says, but equally important is a research background, “not in operations research, but in marketing and customer research”.

Ranchord says it is also important not to be “completely wedded to the concept of best practice, of taking something that someone has already done, and say, ‘that is great, that is what we are going to do’”.

That is great for being operationally effective and efficient, but not for creating new experiences, he says. “If you are trying to differentiate on experience, you would actually want to think about developing your next practice.”

“Don’t reinvent the wheel completely,” he says. But he says being able to do this requires a different organisational environment, where staff have a mandate to question.

He says someone working in customer experience, for instance, can go to the credit department, and question how the credit process is constructed.

“You have to think across multi-dimensions, asking why, why, why, like a kid,” says Ranchord, smiling. “I am like a kid who never grew up.”

Related:Status: Ready for anything 'Anecdotes are useless, you need facts,' says Dave Morgan of Kiwibank.

Kiwi empowerment Ron van de Riet, general manager, IT and business delivery, Kiwibank: There is a world of difference between being a manager, and a manager-slash-leader.

Follow Divina Paredes on Twitter: @divinap

Follow CIO New Zealand on Twitter:@cio_nz

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Tags GartnerGoogleAppleamazonpaypalvendor managementmobile appse-businessAir New Zealandcustomer focuslinda pricekiwibankjulia rauecustomer centricSush MobileSheenu Chawlaonline channelAnand Ranchorddigital edge

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