Ujjivan Customer Service Annual Report - Ujjivan Small Finance Bank

Customer Service

Sharpening our Service Edge

Delivering outstanding services is our top priority, essential to retaining our competitive edge in the market and attracting and retaining customers. We continuously advance our technological capabilities and broaden our portfolio to provide our customers with a wider array of products and services.

At the heart of our values lies a strong commitment to prioritising our customers above all else. Our unwavering focus is to deliver exceptional service to our valued customers, and we accomplish this by cultivating a culture that revolves around service excellence, continuous investment in our talented workforce, streamlining our processes to ensure efficiency, and adopting innovative policies, supported by state-of-the-art technology.
We have established a dedicated Service Quality (SQ) department to ensure that our commitment to exceptional service translates into action. This department plays a vital role in coordinating various programmes focussed on customer experience management, quality assurance, customer care, grievance resolution, and compliance with customer service standards. Through these efforts, we strive to continuously improve and meet the evolving needs of our valued customers.

Enhanced Service Quality

This comprehensive programme has undergone significant refinement over the past five years. We have diligently developed and implemented a service index to gauge the quality of service delivery and customer satisfaction. The service index objectives and targets are collaboratively defined and agreed upon by each vertical within our Bank and at the overall bank level. These targets are part of the key performance measures of the MD and CEO, heads of business/functions, frontline managers, and sales/service staff.
To ensure continuous progress towards service quality goals, our board and management forums regularly review and oversee the advancements made.

Strengthening Team Capabilities

We recognised the crucial role of training our staff to deliver exceptional customer service. We introduced the ‘Service Quality Friday School’ initiative during the year to fulfil this objective. The initiative aimed to educate branch staff on efficient customer service, including handling customer requests and complaints, providing life event-related services, and analysing case studies. The selection of topics for these sessions was based on observations on service quality at branches, customer feedback, complaints, and identified knowledge gaps among frontline staff. We continue to strive to provide superior customer service to all our valued customers by addressing these areas.

Advancing through Empathy

During events in life, whether positive or negative, customers encounter unique and complex banking service needs that necessitate empathetic, professional, and efficient care and support. We have successfully implemented the 'Aajeevan' campaign, a specialised banking service tailored to life events. This initiative provides hassle-free and empathetic services for various aspects such as nomination facilities, joint accounts, settlement of claims for deceased account holders, insurance claim settlements, priority services for senior citizens, and assistance for specially-abled customers.

Bettering our Service Standards

We achieved remarkable success in FY 2022-23 through the substantial the substantial improvement of our service index, which rose from 66 points (on a 100-point scale) in March 2022 to an impressive 85 points in March 2023 - a noteworthy increase of 19 points over the previous fiscal year.

During FY 2022-23, our dedicated efforts yielded positive outcomes. The resolution of service requests within specified timelines significantly improved, with 94% of requests in FY 2022-23 being addressed promptly, compared to 86% in the previous year. Furthermore, by emphasising the importance of nominations through rigorous staff training and enhancing customer engagement, we successfully reduced the number of accounts opened without nominations from 18% in FY 2021-22 to 8% in FY 2022-23.

Elevating Customer Satisfaction

Customer care and problem resolution have been given the utmost importance within our Bank. We have established a robust grievance redressal mechanism to address customers' concerns effectively. This mechanism aims to provide timely and satisfactory resolutions to customer complaints and focuses on identifying the root causes of service deficiencies. By doing so, we can take corrective actions to eliminate or minimise instances of customer dissatisfaction.
Despite significant growth in customer acquisition and digital transactions, the number of complaints in FY 2022-23 remained consistent with FY 2021-22 levels. Moreover, we made notable progress in providing faster resolutions for service requests and complaints throughout the year.
Alongside our internal mechanism for monitoring service standards provided to customers, an external evaluation was undertaken during FY 2022-23. A research agency was commissioned to independently assess customer satisfaction levels across six major business verticals. This assessment was aimed at gaining insights into customers' perceptions and feedback on our services, evaluate our competitive performance across various touchpoints, and assess our brand image. This external evaluation was aimed at further enhancing our understanding of customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.

96%

Resolution rate for customer complaints within the standard turnaround time, showing a notable improvement from the previous year's rate of 90%

More Convenience for Customers

In FY 2022-23, we introduced Video KYC services, allowing customers to complete KYC for digitally opened accounts without the need to visit a branch. This initiative aimed to enhance convenience and streamline the KYC process. We plan to expand its services by introducing video banking facilities in the upcoming year. This measure aligns with our goal of promoting branchless banking and offering customers the convenience of accessing banking services through video interactions.