Importance or advantages of human intervention in a bank

Importance or advantages of human intervention in a bank

Importance or advantages of digitalized systems in a bank

· E-banking: This enables the bank to deliver its services easily to its  customers. To make the system user friendly to all clients, banks have used a Graphical User Interface  , with this software , customers can access their bank details on their own computers, make money transfers from one account to another, print  bank statements and  inquire about their financial transactions. Another technology used by banks to exchange data between the bank and clients is called Electronic Data Interchange this software can be used to transmit business transaction in a computer-readable form. So the client on the other end will be in position to read the information clearly. 

· Plastic money:  Credit cards or smart cards like Visa / Master  have made the banking industry more flexible than before. With a credit card , a customer can borrow a specific amount of money from the bank to purchase any thing and the bank bills them later. In this case, they don’t have to go through the hassle of borrowing small money. Then with Smart Cards like visa/Master electron , a customer can pay for anything using that card and that money is deducted from their bank accounts automatically, they can also use the same card to deposit  or withdraw money from their accounts using an ATM machine.

· Self inquiry facility: Instead of customers lining up or going to the help desk, banks have provided simple self inquiry systems on all branches. A customer can use their ATM card to know  their account balance, or to get their bank statement. This saves time on both sides.

· Remote banking: Banks have installed ATM machines in various areas  this means a customer does not have to go to the main branch to make transactions. This facility has also enabled anytime banking, because customers can use ATM machines to deposit money on their accounts. Remote banking has helped people in rural areas improve on their culture of saving money.

· Centralized Information results to quick services: This enables banks to transfer information from one branch to another at ease.  For example, if a customer registered their account with a rural branch, they can still get details of their account while at the main bran in an urban area.

· Signature retrieval facilities:  Technology has played a big role in reducing fraud in banks which protects its clients. For example, banks use a technology which verifies signatures before a customers withdraws large sums of money on a specific account and this reduces on the errors or risks which might arise due to forgery.

 Disadvantages of digitalized systems in a bank

·         Accessing money through an automatic teller machine (ATM) anytime is convenient to clients. On the other hand, that freedom can allow easier access to people’s money for someone who has stolen  ATM card.

 ·      Online Banking

Online banking empowers customers to pay bills and transfer money without leaving their living room. Unfortunately, it also allows new ways for criminals to seize control of their bank accounts and other information associated with them. If a criminal finds out one’s online banking log in information, for example, he can make money transfers and can probably find other numbers.

 ·      Fast Credit

Advanced banking technology allows bank account holders  to arrange for credit faster than in the past. Decades ago, obtaining credit was purely a paper based process. Today consumers can acquire credit lines instantly. While many people enjoy the convenience of getting a car loan or store credit card within minutes, the temptation can lead them to borrow money they can't afford.

 ·      RFID Payment

By using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, customers can pay for goods or services by simply waving their debit or credit card in front of a reader. The RFID chip inside the card broadcasts bank information wherever go, which can be quite convenient

for example, instead of having to go into the gas station to pay, you can simply make sure your wallet is close enough to the reader. However scammers can get that information if they have their own scanner.

·      Website Interruption

Many consumers become reliant upon technology to pay bills or conduct other kinds of banking transactions. Ideally, this is a beneficial arrangement.

For example, if client forget a credit card payment, he don't need to worry about whether paper check will get to Credit Card Company in time. Simply log on and make the payment. If the bank's website suffers an interruption, may be unable to send payments to creditors, incurring late fees or other consequences. Unfortunately, websites experience downtime on occasion.

  Importance or advantages of human intervention in a bank

·         Humans provide judgment to the system. It is a common perception that humans are more flexible, adaptable and creative than a purely automatic system. 

Eg:-Banks are tending to keep backups of databases even though how much advanced the existing systems used.

-In ATMs employees are deciding how much cash need to be loaded  for specific periods.

-Implementation Integrated Risk Management processes even though it generate reports through automated systems.

- Banking systems are controlling by the staff through placing username /passwords

 ·         Customer service is the key objective in service organization like a bank

Because it can help differentiate a company from its competitors, the employees themselves in the process of deciding about the customer service, it is them who are in the direct contact with clients and meet those most often

Sales people bridge the gap between customer needs and the product/service that fulfils that need. Often, salespeople are dealing with already warmed up prospects that have an existing awareness of the company through marketing and advertising efforts, and it’s the job of the salesperson to close the deal by introducing further information and helping the customer make those connections.

Bank employees play a key role in the building of loyalty and trust between customer and the bank. There is a high correlation between the customer service quality and profitability.

Eg:-Employees meet potential non customers,even existing customers time to time and create awareness of them regarding banks products/services, benefits of dealing with the bank.

-Initial level customer attraction mostly depends on the reliability of bank staff.

-Even for maintaining existing relationship with clients staff has to work on tactfully .such as keep wishing for B’Days, offering gifts.

 Problems may create through human intervention in a bank

·         Work overload

Extreme pressure, stress, and fatigue from work overload can lead to loss of concentration and consequently to inadvertent errors or omissions. Even the best trained employee cannot sustain flawless work if overtime and overwork have become routine.

·         Complex tasks

If tasks and procedures are too complicated and unsystematic, employees may be not able to repeat them correctly and consistently hundreds of times during the day, every day of the week.

·         Unclear instructions

If the job to be done is unclear and poorly documented, execution may result in errors especially by new recruits. If the procedures and sequence of steps are stored in someone's memory, they may not be repeatable and transferable to others.

·         Lack of standards

If banking procedures lack standards and are subject to whimsical changes, personal style and interpretation, then we are inviting errors and confusion. There is nothing wrong with changing procedures, especially for the sake of improvement. The problem is when these changes are not documented and communicated right away to the rest of the organization. Another problem occurs when it is not clear who is authorized to make the changes in procedures. In this day and age of all-out employee empowerment, we should address this downside risk of changing things without proper and timely documentation and communication.

·         Lack of training

If untrained or inadequately trained personnel are assigned even the simplest of tasks, then errors are prone to happen. If fact, these incompetent employee may not even know they are committing mistakes.

·         Monotonous jobs

The minds of employees bored with monotonous jobs wander continuously. They try to fight the system and eventually lose concentration and make mistakes.

·         Poor working conditions

An employee working under adverse working conditions, will make mistakes, whether he likes it or not. Distracted and irritated by noisy, hot, cramped, or poorly illuminated work area, he cannot put enough attention to the job on hand.

·         Inadequate, unreliable equipment

If employees are made to work with machines that keep on breaking down or difficult to operate, then equipment induced human errors are inevitable.

·         Wrong incentives

Finally, employees must be financially motivated to do things right the first time, rather than to produce the most volume or quantity. Incentives, like piece rates, which are tied to the volume of output, e.g. number of documents processed, can be very counterproductive by inducing employees to disregard quality and accuracy in their haste to reach or exceed quotas.

Conclusion

As highlighted above it could observe importance and issues related to the both systems and employees related to the banking sector.

However the basic purpose of any organization to achieve pre set goals so that it important to hold their employees motivated and satisfied. If the employees are motivated, case by case the quality and quantity of performance increase that has a positive effect directly to all organization’s performance.

Humans provide judgment to the systems though systems provide high efficient contribution towards success of banking activities.

Simply systems can’t play the intended role without human touch in banking .Hence it can conclude that human intervention as the most crucial factor.