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By the end of 2022, 270 Alfa-Bank offices will operate in the phygital format, and by 2024 all branches will be transformed. We tell you what the new offices are like and why clients do not want to leave them
Alfa-Bank is the largest private bank in our country, on the market since 1990. The client base is almost 900 thousand corporations and 20 million individuals. It operates 500 offices across the country, 158 of which operate in a phygital (physical + digital) format that allows for a combination of physical and digital client experiences.
Task
To give customers the opportunity to comfortably solve financial issues, get a new unique experience when visiting bank offices and transform their perception.
Motivation and background
Alfa-Bank thought about launching a new format back in 2019. Then a pilot office was opened, which was tested by employees. It was clear that online would not completely replace real communication, Alfa-Bank recalls. Therefore, the company faced the question of what to do with office space.
It used to be normal to come to the computer racks, get paper coupons. However, people’s expectations of space, including bank offices, have changed a lot. This is how Alfa-Bank came up with the idea to create something new. Make bank offices a territory of comfort.
Solution
To create a seamless space at the junction of mobile, digital channels and the physical world – the so-called phygital office.
implementation
To date, the bank manages 158 branches in the phygital format: they are in almost every Russian city.
To implement the concept, Alfa-Bank formed nine teams, each of which was responsible for a separate area. For example, one of them dealt with mobile devices, the other with space, the third with employees and their adaptation to the new format.
During the pandemic, teams had to look for new logistical and design solutions, to be inventive in design.
What do the offices look like now?
Phygital offices are changing the way a modern bank should look and work. Entering such a branch, the client finds himself in an open, comfortable and barrier-free space, where there is no advertising. The new offices are more like cozy cafes. Pleasant music plays here, there are no racks, computers and wires.
Children, bloggers come to the offices, various events are held here – conferences, financial literacy days. You can remove tables and arrange chairs: flexible space allows you to turn the office into a lecture hall.
“You can also come to us with dogs, cats. Clients even came with exotic pets,” say representatives of the credit institution. In addition, stickers with photos of dogs from the shelter are placed in the offices, they are marked with QR codes – you can pick up the pet you like.
People are accustomed to the fact that a visit to the bank is inevitably associated with stress and strain. Now the departments have become a territory of comfort. “When clients come to our phygital office, they ask if this is a cafe,” Alfa-Bank notes.
How phygital space works
The bank immediately recognizes the client at the entrance using Face ID technology, and employees quickly receive all the necessary information to help him. The visitor does not need to get a passport, and you can sit down to wait anywhere.
“The combination of digital and physical space just gives a unique customer experience. The format is very different from the retro standard with windows and coupons,” Alfa-Bank states.
At the same time, phygital offices are completely universal. Regardless of whether a retail client or a corporate client came to the bank, he can get the whole range of services here, most often from one employee.
The employees themselves use a single front-end solution that combines about 40 different programs. In one window, they can serve a client, view their KPIs, and even get training. There are no wires and bulky computers in phygital offices: employees are mobile, they all work with laptops and tablets.
The results
In the offices of the new generation, the speed of work has increased by two to three times. First of all, thanks to the single window mode. Now employees spend much more time communicating with customers and better identify their needs.
Now clients stay in the office longer – they just don’t want to leave. Many actions can be performed via mobile, customers know about it, but they still come to the branch, tell the bank: “We made sure that we chose the right path – a story with open spaces, human interaction. Today it is important for clients to have a place where they can comfortably talk about money.”
Plans and prospects
Alfa-Bank plans to further develop its network of phygital offices and enter new cities. The number of such offices is expected to rise to 2022 by the end of 270.
To select the locations where new branches will be located, the company uses a geo-spatial model with 2 parameters: where the client works, where he goes, where he stays, where the competitors are. The result is a multi-layered map of our country, on the basis of which the bank decides on the location of offices.