Lloyds TSB uses Orbit UK to better support corporate customers
Orbit UK helps Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets division to differentiate service for business customers
Understanding your customers is key to success in the 21st Century business environment. Those organisations that take the time and effort to ascertain their customers’ requirements are better able to design solutions and services that will improve customer satisfaction and ultimately loyalty.
This is particularly the case in the business finance sector where product and service differentiation is vital in attracting and keeping customers. Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets is a division within the Lloyds TSB Group providing a dedicated service to businesses with annual turnover in excess of £2m. They offer a unique approach to relationship banking which allows their customers to use a service tailored to their distinctive needs. Their expertise in corporate markets is based upon years of experience, ensuring that they can offer a distinctive financial, banking and advisory service for their customers.
Each service provides access to a wide range of specialists in a number of areas, including capital markets, treasury services, debt and equity finance, international business services, leasing and financial institutions. In addition, their corporate portal provides a range of online services. These include e-business services such as procurement, auctions, electronic invoicing and credit opinions, and e-banking services such as Internet access to international accounts for the financial institutions sector.
Rapid and low-cost method of providing financial information
The Entry Collection Services (ECS) solution is a good example of one of these customer-focussed services. It has been designed for organisations that regularly make or receive large numbers of payments - typically 12,000 outgoing cheques and / or 25,000 credits per annum. By quickly reconciling many different types of payment ECS gives the customer a much more accurate overview of their financial position at any given time.
Originally, this information was couriered to customers on tape and cassette, but during the late 1990’s Lloyds wanted to improve the timeliness of the service as Tracy Pettit, Specialist channel product manager explained. “We realised that with the widespread availability of fast and secure Internet access we could improve the service to our customers by providing a rapid and low-cost method of getting this important information to them.”
In 1997 Lloyds in conjunction with strategic technology partner IBM started to look for an external organisation that could provide them with such a service. Steve McCall, director at Orbit UK takes up the story. “Along with a number of other organisations we presented our proposal to IBM and the bank and were eventually chosen to provide the service. This was because we had the necessary level of skills and expertise in both file transfer and network management and support.”
Orbit UK have been providing B2B services to organisations for over 25 years and now look after over 300 customers across different markets but have a particular specialisation in the financial sector.
Formatted transactions
Orbit UK designed and implemented a service that uses EDI technology to allow Lloyds to send a variety of formatted transactions to its corporate customers. These provide detailed account information such as: payments, credits, statements, unpaid Direct Debits and agency BACS.
Using Expedite software, provided by Orbit UK, a customer of the bank can securely download these transactions by a dial-up connection or via a secure encrypted Internet Gateway using X.509 certificates on a daily, weekly or monthly basis - whichever is best suited to their needs. The information can also be relayed directly into their own accounting systems, saving the time and expense of rekeying information.
Managed EDI infrastructure
Since 1997 Orbit UK have supplied and managed the EDI infrastructure that underpins ECS. This provides Lloyds and its customers with a high-quality, secure and low-cost service that includes:
- Fixed price EDI mailbox
- Secure connectivity options
- Access software
- Implementation guidance and advice
- Connection of new customers
- Helpdesk services and problem management
- Management of X.509 certificates
- Usage reporting
“Currently we have over 300 users of the service with some 5,000 linked accounts", said Tracy. “By using Orbit UK, rather than sourcing the service internally, we have been much more responsive to our customers needs. As well as improving our customer service levels it has also made it easier for us to provide the service as Orbit UK takes care of all the necessary licensing issues and the associated costs.”
“The service from Orbit UK has been excellent,” Tracy concluded. “From the quality of their help desk right through to keeping us up-to-date with new services, such as additional reporting options. In addition, they have helped us test different types of information delivery as well as establishing proof of concept projects all of which have allowed us to continue to improve the service we offer our corporate clients and give us a real competitive edge.
“They are without doubt a trusted provider to the bank and I would have no hesitation in recommending them to any of our customers.”
