With the level of competition increasing day by day consumer experience management has emerged as a key differentiator between competing organizations in the retail industry. The use of Biometric identification systems has ushered an era of prompt customized service, helping the customer to reap the benefits of technology and the organization to improve their bottom-line.
The banking domain provides ample opportunities for the successful implementation of biometric systems. Already this system has been used by many banks to provide biometric enabled ATM’s that provides a highly secure environment for cash withdrawal.
Moreover, biometric access control system can also be used by retail industry to cuts cost and improve efficiencies. The banking industry has already taken a big step in this direction by incorporating biometric technology in their IVR systems. This technology uses biometric voice identification to identify a customer. Once identification is done the customer detail like name, age, and other personal and banking details are pulled from the centralized database dispensing with the need to query the customer on their personal details. Besides improving the customer experience the biometric based IVR system increases the efficiency of the entire system by reducing the average handling time for each customer leading to lower operation costs and better bottom-line.
However, there are some transactions that require actual physical presence like accessing safe deposit box, loan applications, depositing or withdrawing large amounts of cash and so on. These transactions are time consuming as the customer has to clear several banking protocols built for security reasons before getting the actual processing. For example they have to give proof of their identity which may be in the form of a signature or identity card. But with the biometric system now available the cameras installed at the entrance records the arrival of the customer through facial scanners or fingerprint scanners, searches the database for matches and depending upon the match alerts the personal who can then provide better customized care based on the banking history and other personal details of the customer. This also reduces the time taken for each transaction. Moreover, the personal can make informed decisions based on the information coming up on the screen greatly increasing the efficiency of the banking system.
Biometric technology can also help the retail industry to improve supply chains by refurbishing only those goods that are in demand. Biometric devices at the entry can pull up the customers buying history from a centralized computer and send this information for immediate replenishment on a real time basis. This helps in reducing wastage and increases the productivity of the supply chain management. Besides this obvious advantage such a system helps in the implementation of a biometric computer security protocol which reduces the chances of pilferage and theft.
