Banking Made Easy?

All banks want to get a complete view of their customers across various channels. Last week, Citizens Financial Group Inc. said it's taking early steps toward that goal with a planned $100 million IT investment starting in July and extending through the end of 2005.

The bank, which has $64 billion in total assets and 2.5 million customers, will spend the majority of the money on WebTone Technologies Inc.'s TouchPoint customer sales and service software. The goal is to improve the quality and efficiency of one-on-one customer service in branches and supermarket locations, particularly for customers opening deposit accounts. Executive VP and CIO William Wray hopes to reduce by two-thirds the time it takes for customers to open accounts. "We make our money by providing world-class customer service," he says. "We need to give our people tools to get better."