CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Peter Drucker (1962) describes the millennium as an era of the 3c’s which are perplexing, complexities, intense competition and accelerated change. The global banking environment ahs witnessed rapid changes in the 90’s and that has passed serious challenges to the financial service sector. The changing customers demands and technological innovations has already transformed the face of the banking appearing outdated and specialization becoming a common feature. The global development such as globalizations, universal banking, commerce on-line banking interest and other technological developments reflect a trend towards effective and quality service delivery. While financial supermarkets where all banking, need can be supplied at one bank are and developing at one end, at the other bank are adding new products and services to their traditional offering. Hence facilities such smart card internets ATM, EDTPOS and various forms of electronic delivery channels which are common features in developed economics are spreading world wide.
Kelvin Hall (2001) observed “the most successful financial service firms of the coming decade will be those who learn to see the world through the eyes of their customers, their eyes will come from investing in technology which can generate preference and patterns of behaviour allowing the firms to measure the value of specific customers on the basis of the actual behaviour rather than their assumed behaviour”.
In this research work, the emphasis is on the banking industry and specifically Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. The purpose of the project topic or research work is to be able to bring to knowledge the accelerated changes in customers service in banking industry, occasionally, by the immense competition the industry has witnessed in the past decade. The changes of changing customers needs and sophistication leading to hi-Tech banking with information technology and globalization dictating the pace towards customer satisfaction. It is just product/service delivery that matte in the industry but now it is packaged in the place, it was delivered and cost (price) of delivering same to meet customer satisfaction. That is the difference between efficiency in service delivery and effective delivery.
Guaranty Trust Bank Plc is chosen for this research work as case study because if has been both a pioneer financial institution in effective customers service delivery and a pace setter in a distinct and clear vision of service delivery as portrayed in its missions statement. “Effort will be made in this studies to correct the widely held views that technology is the high way for banks in achieving high level of productivity”. (Okafor 2001), because this view down played the role of human resources in effective customers service.