To achieve a competitive advantage based on cost and/or customer service excellence, bankers need the right tools and, specifically, the right communication tools. Banks must embrace the latest advances in Internet-based communications to provide employees with the ability to communicate amongst themselves and with customers in the most efficient and profitable manner possible.

In particular, Financial Insights has identified video technology as an important communications tool for delivering higher-value service to customers and for implementing business strategy throughout the bank. Providing customers with the opportunity to interact with knowledgeable bankers who have the right expertise in a face-to-face setting will become increasingly relevant for banks that are focused on 'delighting' the customer with high-quality customer service.

The purpose of this special report is to illustrate how retail banks can leverage technology to achieve greater business flexibility and higher-value, differentiated customer service. In this context, the special report describes how banks have leveraged video communication, supported by a high bandwidth IP communication network, to accomplish these strategic business goals. We show how several early adopters of video technology have repositioned their institutions to expand real-time availability of high-value services and, simultaneously, improve operating efficiencies. More innovative programs are on their drawing boards.