Accelerating organic growth across segments, products, and services is a prime objective for today's banks. The rubber often hits the road with the account opening process. And that process can go flat, especially when a customer runs into difficulties that cause it to breakdown creating an undesired customer experience. Cisco and Ignite Sales know that those potholes can be avoided and that's why we recently teamed up during the Save the Bank Challenge Technology Showcase at the American Banker Digital Bankers Summit, in Los Angeles, CA and demonstrated how cross-channel account opening is a core element of an engaging customer on-boarding experience.

Customers who have a great on-boarding experience are inclined to consider additional products or services from the bank and the best time to capitalize on this opportunity is at the point of sales, when they are already buying. With the Cisco and Ignite Sales solution, banks have an opportunity to make account opening the centerpiece of a compelling customer acquisition strategy. Our 'Save the Bank' demonstration showed an Omnichannel account opening process that closes the gap that all too often exists between digital channels and in the branch.

Ignite's Recommendation Guide solution provides a consistent cross-channel experience that intelligently guides a customer through a discovery and decision process that recommends  the most suitable products for each individual customer and leads directly into account set up. The integration of Cisco's Mobile Advisor allows customers to connect instantly to the most appropriate bank expert whether the customer is on a mobile device, online or in the branch. This instantaneous connection to the right expert helps customers during the buying process.  When the process requires a customer to visit a branch, Cisco's Connected Mobile Experience solution allows a bank to detect, connect, and engage customers when they enter using customer data to personalize their experience.

Bankers that watched the technology showcase demonstration were pleased to hear that the Cisco / Ignite solution integrates into existing mobile and online banking applications and business processes. The result is an efficient and seamless cross-channel experience for customers.

The combined solution solves several Omnichannel challenges:

• Enables a seamless cross-channel sales process and customer experience, accelerating account openings at the customer choice of point of sale
• Gives the customer the option of self-service or assisted consultation by the most appropriate bank expert regardless if they are in physical or digital channel
• Provides consistent product recommendations based on customer need, eligibility, historical benefit tracking data, and specialized banking data
• Lowers the cost of providing consultation for more complex products (small business, lending, etc) at scale across channels

Using solutions like Ignite's Recommendation Guide solution integrated with Cisco Mobile Advisor and Cisco Connected Mobile Experience, banks can turn a cross-channel experience into a seamless Omnichannel experience that connects the customer buying process with your bank's selling process.

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