Forrester Consulting Study Finds New Revenue and Efficiency for Financial Services Using Salesforce CRM
At a disruptive time in the financial services sector, the study found that switching to Salesforce delivered $81.3m in benefits over three years to a composite Finserv company with $1.2bn annual revenue.
It’s a uniquely challenging time for Finserv IT leaders: not only must they respond to rapid tech advances, they also must contend with shaky consumer confidence in the financial services sector as a whole.
Cyber security failings and an increase in scam activity have eroded trust. Meanwhile, the forward march of consumer technology and ever-increasing internet speeds are raising consumer expectations and rendering internal systems inadequate in record time.
Together with growing regulatory requirements, these factors have created a perfect storm for financial services organisations. It has shouldered the sector’s IT leaders with a huge responsibility: how can they update internal processes and bolster customer confidence without straining the company budget?
A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Salesforce showed cost savings and business benefits from adopting Salesforce Customer 360, which brings together Salesforce’s complete product and software suite in one unified platform.
Dive into the report
Discover findings on how Salesforce helped financial services organisations to decrease costs, improve customer engagement and employee satisfaction.
Forrester aggregated interviews with Finserv IT leaders that have already introduced the Salesforce Customer 360 ecosystem. It then created a composite organisation that is a financial services and insurance organisation with 4,000 employees and revenue of $1.2 billion per year.
The study found that the Total Economic Impact (TEI) on the organisation from adopting Salesforce Customer 360 amounted to benefits of $81.3m over three years.
The composite organisation experienced both quantifiable and unquantifiable benefits, from improvements in administrative efficiency and security management to greater employee engagement.
The Forrester study concluded that Salesforce Customer 360 decreased operational costs while increasing efficiency and driving revenue.
Here’s how the Salesforce ecosystem could revitalise your organisation.
Real-time CRM makes Finservs Better, Faster, Stronger
Put simply, the Forrester study found that Salesforce Customer 360, the world’s first real-time CRM, helped the composite organisation work more efficiently– and become more profitable as a result.
Specifically, the Salesforce ecosystem boosted the efficiency of several vital operating functions.
On the CX side, Salesforce Service Cloud improved call centre average handling time by 25% and improved agent time to competency by 66%. What’s more, Service Cloud’s self-service capabilities reduced inbound service centre call volume. In other words, the Salesforce ecosystem helped the CX team achieve significant results while alleviating pressure on the organisation.
Salesforce Sales Cloud improved the efficiency of completing administrative tasks by 10%, while the ecosystem as a whole improved the efficiency of managing security, compliance and regulation items by 50%. Meanwhile, in the marketing department, the delivery of marketing campaigns became 60% more efficient.
The Forrester study also noted that the unified Salesforce technology suite made cross-departmental tasks easier to complete – for example, application and upgrade development and deployment became 50% more efficient.
Together, these efficiencies led to a 10% increase in overall revenue while simultaneously reducing internal workload.
The Human Touch with Customer Service Analytics
The Forrester study also identified beneficial changes that the composite organisation’s staff and customers underwent after the switch to Salesforce Customer 360.
Crucially, the Salesforce ecosystem helped improve employee engagement. Day to day, it gave staff a clearer picture of operational matters and made it easier to communicate with colleagues.
Over the medium term, the reporting and insights delivered by Salesforce generated robust cross-departmental discussion. Salesforce Customer 360 also improved the efficiency and effectiveness of working with partners (including brokers).
Switching to Salesforce Customer 360 changed customer behaviour, too: namely, it reduced inbound service centre call volume, thanks in part to Salesforce Service Cloud’s self-service capabilities.
For inbound service centre managers, data captured by Salesforce Marketing Cloud shed light on discontinued customer journeys, helping the department implement new procedures and generate additional revenue. And the marketing department said it improved the effectiveness of its campaigns.
Why Salesforce?
The Forrester study identified several common pain points when interviewing the Finserv organisations that formed its composite. In particular, legacy environments were characterised as Frankenstein’s monsters, unevenly sewn together and difficult to upgrade.
The decision to switch to Salesforce Customer 360 was driven by some key desires. Seamlessly integrate internal functions, perform sophisticated data analysis and provide improved customer service and a better customer experience.
According to interviewees, the Salesforce ecosystem delivered all this and more. For the composite organisation, the benefits amounted to $81.3 million over just three years.
For innovative, motivated organisations, that figure could be just the beginning.
Get your copy of The Total Economic Impact™ Of Salesforce
Customer 360 For Financial Services
