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BMO Financial Group Banking B BMO Maps New Locator Site

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B MO Financial Group provides retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and so- lutions to 8.5 million customers across Canada and the United States. An important part of the bank’s strategy is to continuously improve customers’ online experi- ence. To this end, it is launching a map-based locator to make it easy for customers to find an array of services. Not only will the locator reinforce BMO’s brand, but it will also offer cross-selling opportunities. “We were looking for a solution that would give us a consistent look and feel, something that would integrate all our locators and be able to offer real- time data to our customers,” says Pritesh Gandhi, senior manager, Online & En- terprise Strategy at BMO. Over a six-month period, BMO built a new locator site using Micro- soft’s Virtual Earth. Customers can now search for branches, ABMs and bank- ing specialists by typing in an address, postal code, city, landmark, transit num- ber or languages spoken. A printed list of names and addresses appears beside a map with icons showing the physical location where those services are offered. BMO customized the locator so branch- es, ABMs and specialists have different icons. When the customer clicks an item or icon, the services offered by the branch, ABM or specialist appears. De- tails include the physical and mailing addresses, hours of operation, phone number, fax number, transit number, a pre-authorized debit/credit number, languages spoken and safety deposit box availability. Customers can obtain driving and walk- ing directions. ey can also email details or SMS them to a mo- bile device. All information is updated in real-time. Over the long term, BMO’s locator site is expected to rein- force its brand. Customers will have accurate information available to them immediately so they don’t have to spend time phoning the call center or logging on to multiple sites. BMO will be able to cross-sell within the locator through banner space. “If you’re searching for a mortgage specialist, it will come up with the latest mortgage rates and connect you to a mort- gage specialist in your area,” Gandhi explains. “e banner space will be smart enough to showcase either a promotion, product or service based on what you’re searching in the locator.” e locator is tagged with (and tracked by) Omniture online business optimization software, so BMO will be able to determine whether the new locator site has an impact on revenue or enables cross-selling opportunities. BMO considered map-based locator solutions from Google, Mapquest, Yahoo! and Microsoft. e bank chose Microsoft’s Vir- tual Earth platform for several reasons. It concluded the mapping and aerial imagery is superior to the other solutions. e platform contains more than 85 million addresses, and the geocoding is highly accurate. e information is available in 13 languages. In addition, the bank can customize some of the tool sets. Moreover, Virtual Earth has a track record in the financial ser- vices industry. Bank of America, Edward Jones, American Express, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are using it as well. “We picked Microsoft based on the powerful engine, the cli- ent base and the post-sale support,” says Gandhi. “Talking to a few of the customers and having worked with Microsoft in the past, we felt that Microsoft would be a good partner.” Implementation of the platform was a team effort involving the IT, information security and legal departments at BMO. Gen- erally, it was a straightforward process. “e information is being fed into the locator so we don’t have to connect to any systems,” says Gandhi. “ere were no integration issues. Even the customizations have been kept to a minimum.” Having been through the project, Gandhi has advice to share with other financial institutions that might be considering a map locator. He points out that creating a locator site is about more than just implementing “cool technology;” it is an important part of a bank’s long-term online banking strategy. www.bmo.com BMO Maps New Locator Site By Sherree DeCovny BMO Financial Group Banking 43 Windows in Financial Services www.windowsfs.com Spring 2009
Transcript

BMO Financial Group provides retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and so-lutions to 8.5 million customers across Canada and the United States. An important part of the bank’s strategy is to continuously improve customers’ online experi-

ence. To this end, it is launching a map-based locator to make it easy for customers to find an array of services. Not only will the locator reinforce BMO’s brand, but it will also offer cross-selling opportunities.

“We were looking for a solution that would give us a consistent look and feel, something that would integrate all our locators and be able to offer real-time data to our customers,” says Pritesh Gandhi, senior manager, Online & En-terprise Strategy at BMO.

Over a six-month period, BMO built a new locator site using Micro-soft’s Virtual Earth. Customers can now search for branches, ABMs and bank-ing specialists by typing in an address, postal code, city, landmark, transit num-ber or languages spoken. A printed list of names and addresses appears beside a map with icons showing the physical location where those services are offered. BMO customized the locator so branch-es, ABMs and specialists have different icons.

When the customer clicks an item or icon, the services offered by the branch, ABM or specialist appears. De-tails include the physical and mailing addresses, hours of operation, phone number, fax number, transit number, a pre-authorized debit/credit number, languages spoken and safety deposit box availability. Customers can obtain driving and walk-ing directions. They can also email details or SMS them to a mo-bile device. All information is updated in real-time.

Over the long term, BMO’s locator site is expected to rein-force its brand. Customers will have accurate information available to them immediately so they don’t have to spend time phoning the call center or logging on to multiple sites.

BMO will be able to cross-sell within the locator through banner space. “If you’re searching for a mortgage specialist, it will come up with the latest mortgage rates and connect you to a mort-gage specialist in your area,” Gandhi explains. “The banner space will be smart enough to showcase either a promotion, product or service based on what you’re searching in the locator.”

The locator is tagged with (and tracked by) Omniture online business optimization software, so BMO will be able to determine whether the new locator site has an impact on revenue or enables cross-selling opportunities.

BMO considered map-based locator solutions from Google, Mapquest, Yahoo! and Microsoft. The bank chose Microsoft’s Vir-tual Earth platform for several reasons. It concluded the mapping and aerial imagery is superior to the other solutions. The platform contains more than 85 million addresses, and the geocoding is

highly accurate. The information is available in 13 languages. In addition, the bank can customize some of the tool sets.

Moreover, Virtual Earth has a track record in the financial ser-vices industry. Bank of America, Edward Jones, American Express, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are using it as well.

“We picked Microsoft based on the powerful engine, the cli-ent base and the post-sale support,” says Gandhi. “Talking to a few of the customers and having worked with Microsoft in the past, we felt that Microsoft would be a good partner.”

Implementation of the platform was a team effort involving the IT, information security and legal departments at BMO. Gen-erally, it was a straightforward process.

“The information is being fed into the locator so we don’t have to connect to any systems,” says Gandhi. “There were no integration issues. Even the customizations have been kept to a minimum.”

Having been through the project, Gandhi has advice to share with other financial institutions that might be considering a map locator. He points out that creating a locator site is about more than just implementing “cool technology;” it is an important part of a bank’s long-term online banking strategy.

www.bmo.com

BMO Maps New Locator SiteBy Sherree DeCovny

BMO Financial Group Banking

43Windows in Financial Services • www.windowsfs.com Spring 2009

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