Tapping into
THE WEB'S POTENTIAL
r
6
IT update
WHAT's Nf.wS Issue 3 March 1998
The Internet's world wide web (www) has been a remarkable catalyst for
innovation and change in every industry. It will also play a meaningful role in
the way we manage our own customer relations.The challenge is to unlock its
business potential in a strategically coherent and cost-effective way.
shared folders, and coordinate complex
projects that straddle multiple disciplines
and time zones. We are also using the
www for marketing purposes. With a basic
electronic 'presence' on the Net, people
can visit our web site to find out more
about our business and our motivating
beliefs, and get a general sense of the
'touch and feel' of our group. A basic
Rabobank International web site will be
unveiled shortly on www.rabobank.com -
and it will serve as a common gateway
through which all of our clients and other
interested parties can pass on their way
into RI's electronic space. Initially, it will
be a simple site that offers traditional
corporate background information, both
in English and Dutch, contact nuntbers for
offices throughout the R1 network, and
links to other companies including
Rabobank Nederland's Dutch-language
site. Eventually, the RI website will evolve
and become more feature-rich in much the
same way as the Dutch one already has.
The latest incarnation of that Dutch site,
which went 'live' last month, has pushed
far beyond basic information-provision.
Among the most elaborate banking sites in
the Netherlands, it offers retail customers a
full telebanking capability as well as the
opportunity to trade in equities.
CREATING INTIMACY
Indeed, the evolution of the Rabobank
group's website highlights the broad range
of feasible Internet applications and the
need to intelligently manage them.
Communication with customers can be
configured in an almost infinite variety of
ICG
member
Roel van
Veggel of RI
Marketing
ICG member and Interlink concept
developer Theo van Koningsveld
With this goal in mind, a new Internet
Commerce Group (ICG) has been set up
within Rabobank International. The ICG
includes representatives from Investment
Banking, Food Agri, Health Care,
Global IT and Marketing. lts task is to
develop an integrated strategy on the use
of the Internet in pursuit of our broad
commercial objectives - to bundie our
Internet initiatives into a coherent whole.
Technology can never replace the personal
cliënt intimacy that is so crucial to success
in relationship banking. Used properly,
however, it can become a powerful
supplementary tooi for communication,
for image building, and for the
distribution of products and services in the
context of new 'transactional
environments'.
EXCHANGING INFO
Most of us know the Internet - together
with our internal 'Intranet' - primarily as a
means of communication and information
exchange. Within the space of a few short
years, we have seen a new 'virtual
organization' take shape: an electronic
'space' inside of which we e-mail
colleagues, locate needed information in
ways; new Internet-based initiatives
continue to pop up in different RI busines^|
lines and branches as well as the
Rabobank organization as a whole.
Together, these must complement our
basic cliënt focus strategy and customer
intimacy. They require a coherent
framework. One of the tasks of the ICG
will be to analyze examples of www 'Best
Practice' to determine which dynamic
strategies and tactics promise the greatest
results. The aim is to avoid adding an
(electronic) layer between ourselves and
our cliënt, and instead to use the Internet
as a tooi to bring us together.
INTERLINK CONCEPT
One idea, the so-called Interlink concept
developed by ICG member Theo van
Koningsveld, involves forming closed user
groups in specific business sectors like
Health Care and F&A. Customers who
access such electronic 'locations' could
find themselves looking through a broad
window that offers a complete picture of
their business: they would communicate
with their relationship managers on
routine matters, access important reports
and news flashes, and even check the
status of their Rabo portfolios. 'These
kinds of concepts are clearly intended to
complement relationship banking,' says
ICG member Roel van Veggel of RI
Marketing. 'It will provide added value,
speed up ordinary business, and therefore
enable the bank and its customers to
spend more "quality time" on meaningful
affairs.'
VALUE ADDING
Other transactional capabilities that could
also eventually be adopted include full-
service electronic commerce on the
Investment Banking side. There, the
Internet could serve as an additional sales
channel for honds, derivatives and
currency-related products designed for
retail and wholesale customers. It might
be extended to include stock trading - and
to provide the customer with a complete
picture of the company in which they are
interested and the business environment in
which that company works. The concept
of adding value rules above all. People
already have more than enough
information and we cannot impose on
their limited time and attention by
throwing more raw undigested material
their way. Our task is to filter information
and design electronic transactional
environments that are directly relevant to
their interests and needs. The job of the
ICG is to realize this goal and to make
sure our Internet policy is driven first and
foremost by commercial, not
technological, considerations.
