Sustainability seems to be an ever-hotter topic in professional circles and in personal contexts: everyone seems to be speaking about it, yet a common definition of the term, sustainability, seems to be elusive. Especially in terms of customer experience: how does a customer perceive a sustainable product, a sustainable service, or a sustainable experience?

What does sustainability mean to you? Does it mean you abstain from buying fast fashion? Does it mean you decide to purchase an electric vehicle? Does it mean you buy high-quality products with longer life spans? Or all of those together? Is there a clear connection between customer experience (CX) and sustainability? And does such a connection extend beyond retail to your insurance products and/or your banking interactions?

Let’s imagine your sustainability consciousness enters the latter: does that extend to preferring paperless communication with your insurer, to green practices in general, or do you believe sustainable CX goes beyond that? Will you require the guidance of a reliable partner to guide you through your hurdles and to provide products that protect your living standard?

Companies approach the challenge of defining sustainable by following Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) guidelines that outline the principles of responsible corporate governance leading to sustainable outcomes. These guidelines are adhered to by companies’ commitments to sustainability that translate into sustainable commitments to diverse groups of their stakeholders, including individuals who depend on those companies.

So how are the financial service companies contributing to CX?

An ever-increasing number of insurers and banks are moving toward paperless communication with their customers, in personalized marketing offers or personalized advice about complex insurance coverages. While this is a modest initial step, it’s an important one since it indicates the birth of consciousness about environmental impacts across their activities and acknowledges heightened expectations for CX.

As with many other sustainability-related reporting requirements, paperless communication requires a dedicated communication platform. Integrating a Marketing and Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) with your backend systems allows you to obtain a 360-degree vision of your customers: a sturdy foundation for the creation of a sustainable relationship with them. The more information you can access in an organized manner about your customers, the better you’re able to serve their identified needs with the appropriate products. Differentiation with extra services, going beyond traditional insurance and banking activities, is the key to staying ahead of competitors: if you create an integrated online marketplace, the lock-in effect of the ease and comfort of CX provides you with a sturdy base of loyal customers, which is the holy grail of all corporations in these unpredictable and turbulent times.

If such an integrated online marketplace is something you aiming to create, SAP and msg global solutions have a solution: SAP Commerce Cloud with a dedicated SAP Financial Service accelerator that covers all industry-specific functionalities, giving you the key requirement for your CX Management tool to be successful: its integration with other software. A successful CX supports business goals and reduces environmental impacts with digital transformation. If you’re ready to embark on this journey with us, reach out: we’re eager to help!