In our customer communication practice, C&A engages firms prescriptively to map a comprehensive view of a client’s integrated lifecycle experience. C&A believes this approach can be achieved more effectively through digital centric, cloud-based platforms’ tools and capabilities, given the greater flexibility derived from new design thinking that current generation technologies deliver when applied effectively.

The benefits derived from external client and internal employee self-serve experiences, combined with a ‘low code’ platform focus, help our clients effectively leverage their cost structure while better anchoring and improving their client experience.

Creating and Executing Effective Communications

Our Financial Services focused CCM practice enables our financial institution clients to efficiently and effectively connect with their stakeholders through three primary tenets: Inform through clearly designed and scripted communications, enabl them to seamlessly transact when prompted and achieve stakeholder consent when required.

We have helped our clients leverage key technologies and processes to attain leadership and innovation within their respective industry.

Leveraging technology automation and tools — AI, BPA, SaaS, CRM, Data Analytics and the Cloud — where skillfully deployed, enables the digital transformation journey for clients to deploy their customer communications management strategy and plans.

With the right self-service software and cloud-enabled platforms and services, firms can enhance the customer experience, while increasing workforce productivity.

As firms evolve their transformation lifecycle processes to perform and support data integration, compliance and KYC guidelines, flexible and robust technology and services paired with skilled talent and resources can help drive organic growth for the business.

From cutting-edge digital solutions to traditional print and mail, all of our technology and service providers anticipate the customer’s next move and deliver a technology rich experience across all channels.

We help clients integrate all critical customer interactions to optimize working capital, drive profitable business growth, and deliver exceptional experience through modernized processes and frictionless experiences leveraging AI and BPA functionality built into our partner solutions.

Following years of front line experience we have learned from our mistakes. Building technology back in the day was the norm. Today we are leveraging the vast array of financial technologies that are easy to work with and ultimately connect to. It is the single most important part of our practice – leveraging the advancements of others by integrating rather than building. We do it fast, efficiently, and without financial burden.

Our technolgy and service provider partnerships have enabled us to develop world class solutions that enable exceptional customer experience in effective communication delivery, on-line digital suppport and all of the requisite new account vetting requirements.

In today’s connected world, we are constantly bombarded with marketing messages. Whether it be social media posts, online blogs or direct mail, important critical customer communications are in danger of becoming lost among the digital noise. So how do financial institutions ensure that communications are impactful and capable of enhancing the customer experience? 

It’s a complex question and requires a deep understanding of how to define an effective program and knowledge of the technologies that come together to create a solution that delivers on the unique requirements of your institution.

We have done this type of work and built multiple businesses around this strategically important consideration.

Many FI’s are stuck with legacy systems (in-house or through outsourced service providers) that specialize in outdated print channel structures. They have either avoided upgrading their platforms or simply cannot build a business case within their organizations for an upgrade. Consequently, these organizations are stuck with batch/structured communications and are unable to leverage new CCM capabilities like multi-channel enablement, enhanced personalization and efficient document assembly/post-composition mechanisms.

For others, the circumstance may not be this dire and only require expertise to enhance a process, introduce a new capability or leverage a vendor/service provider to reduce direct program costs.

In both cases, we have the expertise to work a solution.

Whether you are considering the journey of retooling your entire customer communication infrastructure or making the case to invest in new generation technology the effort is costly, complex and riddled with challenges. We have the expertise to help navigate this landscape and get you to the right place with many of the decisions you will be faced with—further investment, partnership, or outsourcing.

Having an independent party that has deep knowledge of the landscape is crucial to achieving the right outcome.

Customers set the pace by consuming products and information on-demand. This places immense pressure on FI’s to deliver continuously and reliably to satisfy the rapidly escalating demand for advanced communications.

As FI’s continue to maintain and modernize older applications, they are also creating and delivering new applications that can wear out their staff and budgets while increasing technical and process complexities between organizations.

In this digital economy, failure to deliver, delivering the wrong solutions, or delayed delivery greatly affects organizations’ abilities to satisfy required business outcomes and in short, elevate the customer experience.

From our vantage, FI’s lack the specialized resources needed to bring together the plan, technology and know-how to implement an effective, state-of-the-art customer communication strategy.

1. Worked with this Global Communication Services provider to improve the way customers interacted with their corporate proxy ballots to drive automation in the way ballots were executed while improving shareowner on-line interaction resulting in cost reduction, improved experience and improved quality.

2. Pioneered one of the first high speed inkjet color communication solution for an integrated managed care consortium, based in California. The effort included the modernization of the communication design, integration of self service content management tools, and introduction of a significant cost savings by using plain white paper to deliver a highly customized color communication on high speed inkjet continuous form printers.

1. This $60B New England Regional bank recognized the need to facilitate faster, more effective and cost efficient means of delivering critical compliance messages through their core customer communication program. An on-line messaging system was built to allow non-technical personnel to enter into the day to day communication production streams (DDA, Saving, Loan and other general communications) time sensitive regulatory alerts that drove improved compliance, timeliness, and cost management.

2. For a global Fintech leader with over $4 billion in revenues, led the product development efforts in satisfying the requirements associated with the SEC mandated mutual fund summary prospectus rule. The product included an internet-based platform for compliance document management and distribution, call center enablement, and integration into the customer communications management (CCM) platform. The integration enabled the summary prospectus documents to be included in the same envelope as the initial trade confirmation, eliminating a separate prospectus mailing. The project drove significant savings and elevated customer satisfaction.

1. Hired by this Regional Brokerage Firm to build a communication platform that would rival the consolidated reporting capabilities from the national wirehouses. Lack of in-house expertise, cost, and go-to-market timeliness were the drivers in outsourcing this key technology initiative. The platform was ultimately adopted by their technology services provider who incorporated 15 other regional brokerage firms onto the platform.

2. The lack of marketing communication, fulfillment and print broker products and services was a competitive disadvantage for the global financial services industry. Merger and acquisition was the most expedient way to close this competitive gap. Performing the technology due diligence on a three, multi-million dollar financial services marketing communications, fulfillment, and print brokerage firms, two in the US and one in the UK. The result of the activity was the integration of the three firms to complement the products and services greatly improving the competitive advantage in the financial service and healthcare marketplace.

We have partnered with several private equity firms to bring specialized knowledge and experience in the following areas:

1. New Market Entry/Revenue Growth
   – Worked with this PE firm to leverage knowledge and relationships within Financial Services to further penetrate this growth market.
2. Targeted M&A Due Diligence
   – Engaged by this PE firm to perform multiple acquisition target assessments in evaluating fit and value.
3. Technology Assessments
   – Hired by this PE firm to facilitate a complex assessment of the scalability of the underlying technology that was at the foundation of this acquisition opportunity.
4. Digital Transformation
   – In discussion with this PE firm on the identification and assessment of several digital workflow and on-boarding solutions that would transform the targeted companies from a cost and service delivery standpoint.