Kotak Mahindra Bank powers unified, omni-channel customer experiences on Salesforce

Kotak Mahindra Bank is constantly pushing the boundaries of technology to make financial services seamless and accessible to every Indian. The flagship company of the Kotak Group is one of India’s top 5 banks with over 43.5 million customers.

“We’re shaping Kotak into a digitally-enabled financial powerhouse based on four strategic pillars - technology, customer-centricity, talent, and product innovation,” says Milind Nagnur, Group President and Chief Technology Officer, Kotak Mahindra Bank. “Through a solid tech foundation, we aim to strengthen customer trust, while simultaneously fostering a culture of innovation that generates greater value for our customers.”

Guided by this vision, Kotak has embarked on a massive digital transformation to align their customer relationship management efforts, aided by Salesforce. The goal is to put customers at the centre of every interaction.

“We want to deliver omni-channel DIY and assisted customer experiences, while also improving employee productivity,” says Bhavnish Lathia, Chief of Customer Experience & Head of Technology, Consumer Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank. “That starts by automating our processes, and building an integrated customer view across business lines and systems.”

Eliminating friction caused by data silos

Previously, Kotak’s lead management, loan origination, and service processes were distributed across multiple legacy systems, spreadsheets, and emails. This made it hard for teams to find data when processing loans. Also, if customers raised a request on chat and then tried to continue the conversation over email or phone, the transition wasn’t always seamless.

“We wanted to unify lending journeys across multiple products, automate information gathering, cross-sell better, and enable partners to onboard customers directly onto our systems,” says Nagnur. “We were also keen to make the service as DIY as possible, while reducing the turnaround time.”

To help fulfill these objectives, Kotak turned to Salesforce.

“We now have a connected platform for customer relationship management across the bank,” says Nagnur. “This helps us deliver seamless and consistent experiences at scale.”

Converting leads and fulfilling loans faster with automation

Using Salesforce Sales Cloud, Kotak has unified its lead management processes across products and business lines. All leads are consolidated in one place, so that none are overlooked.

For those leads interested in a loan, Kotak has streamlined the entire loan origination cycle. Relationship managers, direct selling agents (DSAs), online partners, and even customers can now track and manage loans from a single platform.

At the backend, Salesforce integrates with multiple systems and databases to verify the customer’s credit worthiness and KYC details. The results flow back into Salesforce where a business rule engine automates credit decisioning and approvals for small loans – or, initiates further processing for large loans.

Delighting customers with DIY loans and credit cards

For customers that prefer unassisted home loan services, Kotak is building DIY options on Salesforce Experience Cloud.

The bank has also created an online partner portal through which DSAs and fintech agents can directly onboard and service customers, raise invoices, and view reports.

These initial implementations were so successful that Kotak expanded its use of Salesforce beyond retail assets into retail liabilities. Customers can now open a Kotak811 digital-first savings account through omni-channel methods (DIY/ assisted/ express), verify their KYC details, and get on-boarded with ease.

Making service seamless with a 360-degree customer view

When customers purchase multiple Kotak products – loans, savings accounts, credit cards – they expect a consistent service experience across these portfolios. Kotak is meeting that need with Salesforce Service Cloud.

“We’ve consolidated 12 systems into one omni-channel customer service and engagement platform across products and verticals,” says Nagnur. “So, customers feel like they’re talking to one organisation, not multiple departments.”

Service requests can be raised through email, phone, live chat, or other channels – all of which are consolidated on the platform to enable smooth, omni-channel experiences.

Accelerating time-to-value with Salesforce experts

To help implement the Salesforce platform, Kotak relied on the Salesforce Professional Services team. In just eight months, the team designed and implemented a case onboarding framework, a customer 360 console, relationship manager 360 dashboards, and an integration and data management strategy.

Kotak is now creating a unified customer profile across all its products and divisions. This will help them understand customers more fully and optimise their experiences.

“The next wave of growth will be about using technology to transition from a product-centric approach to a holistic, customer-centric approach,” says Nagnur. “As a tech company, we believe Kotak will take the lead in this new era of digital banking and consumer experiences.”