Abstract:
Sri Lankan Banks and Finance companies are forced to provide online banking/internet
banking their customers due to rapid advancement in the information communication
technology and new technological adoptions in the banking and financial sector. Current
advancements in the mobile data services and internet based services changed the consumer
behavior and current banking and finance customers are more favorable to use remote banking
channels and online banking apps. This has completely changed the banker customer
relationship and reduced the physical relationship/contact with the customer and the bank. Due
to lack of face to face interaction between bank and customer in online banking and remote
banking create huge service gap for them how to serve and maintain effective customer
relationships in online banking environment. This study investigated how Sri Lankan banks
use “Electronic Customer Relationship Management” (E-CRM) tools to maintain profitable
customer relations in online / remote banking. A qualitative study was conducted for three Sri
Lankan Banks to find their E-CRM practices. Research methodology used is questionnaire and
focus group interviews. The findings revelled that banks use E-CRM tools to profiling and
assessing their customers, customer retention, cross selling, recognise the customer need for
the trade-off between extracting and delivering customer value, and increase the profitability
(for customer and bank) of transactions by reducing transaction cost.It was identified
continuous staff training and customer feedback is critical for the successful implementation
of E-CRM strategy in banks.
