Avoka, a software firm specializing in customer acquisition and onboarding, seeks to bridge a gap at retail banks and credit unions between the back office and the customer journey with the launch of its new module, Workspaces.

The module is an automated digital review and approval workspace aimed at solving onboarding delays and customer dissatisfaction with application processes that can often be a little clunky. It’s the first major product rollout for Avoka since its acquisition by Swiss core banking software provider Temenos in December, although it was “in the oven and cooking” before that deal, Don Bergal, SVP of Marketing for Temenos, told Bank Innovation.

Workspaces, he said, gives back-office staff at banks a better view of what the end user is experiencing.

“In most cases, in bank software, those are completely separate processes,” Bergal said. “What the people inside the bank go through is completely disjointed from what an end customer does.”

Historically, he said, there would either have to be some kind of hook created between the two processes, or the application would “pop out of one as paper and then somehow get into the other.”

“What’s innovative is tying this all together into a single straight-through processing system,” he said. “That’s where the banks want to be.”

Fenergo, a software firm focused on client lifecycle management, today released a report finding poor customer service is costing financial institutions $10 billion a year. The report, based on a survey of 250 c-suite banking executives, said 36% of financial institutions have lost customers due to inefficient or slow onboarding.

Improving data and document capture was ranked the highest critical business issue and pain point by 31% of respondents, compared to complying with a rising number of regulatory requirements, at 19%, and improving data management, at 18%.

Additionally, 84% believe the client experience during the onboarding process impacts the lifetime value of the client.

See also: Temenos Expands U.S. Footprint with $245 Million Acquisition of Avoka

Avoka’s Workspaces module is meant for banks using heavily automated application processes for account-opening, credit cards or loans, and trying to get answers to customers as quickly as possible. The solution zeroes in on pended applications, meaning ones for which a live person needs to get involved.

“Maybe they’re missing documentation, maybe there’s a fraud alert, maybe there’s a security issue,” Bergal said. “There’s a number of reasons, but there’s a significant volume of these applications in a large program where bank staffers need to get in the loop.”

He said the person whose application is pended, most of the time, will eventually be a customer.

“But, if they start out online and expect they’re going to have their account open in three minutes, and, instead, they end up with their paperwork on a person’s desk, and they don’t get a resolution for days or weeks, that doesn’t leave them with a very good taste in their mouth,” he said.

Bergal said when it comes to measuring the customer onboarding journey, banks focus on the overall submittal rate, but also the conversion rate, meaning, how many people who submit an application actually get converted into customers. Workspaces homes in on that second statistic, he said.

The bottom line, he said, is efficient resolution and assistance for customers is an essential part of customer acquisition.

The new module is included with all implementations of the Avoka platform within Temenos Infinity, the company’s omni-channel digital front office product, which includes Springboard Retail Deposit Account Opening.

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