Case Study - Bigbank

The financial sector is a communication heavy sector. Lending, buying, selling, transactions, notifications, balances and invoices, debt collection, and promotions all require intricate and tailored communication.

In the past decades, the fintech sector has also experienced an increase in service providers. It’s no longer an era where every financial decision is handled by your local bank that also houses your pension, your credit cards, and all other financial provisions that you have in your everyday life.

Furthermore, as time moves on, more people are looking for alternative service providers for specific aspects of their finances as the competition heats up on who can provide the most competitive financial products.

Lending has also become a more active financial field since people no longer save money in their stockings but instead rely on financial service providers to grant access to many financial tools.

The biggest developer in the lending sector could surely be the consumer-lending sector. More providers open financing opportunities to markets where the bank-offered interest rates are high or the financing terms and conditions are too strict for a regular person to obtain access to the services.

In the Baltics as well as other markets around the world, one of the companies helping people with consumer loans, depositing services, and business loans is Bigbank AS. 

Being a specialised bank means that Bigbank has the resources to get to know its clients better and address their needs more personally. This allows Bigbank to be quicker and more flexible than universal banks without compromising the quality of issued loans.

Bigbank applies the same principles as universal banks in assessing the solvency of clients and performs a credit analysis every time before issuing a loan. 

Operations in Bigbank are automated, which makes the process of applying for a loan very convenient. Clients of all banks can apply for a loan – as a person’s salary does not have to be received at the bank and the client does not need to have an account with Bigbank. 

The loan conditions are reasonable too – you don't need to have a previous client relationship with Bigbank to apply for a loan. They make decisions, formalise loan contracts, and disburse loans quickly. 

Bigbank is additionally guided by the principles of responsible lending when making their decisions. As a service focusing on the personalised aspects that make them stand out in their field, communicating with their clients and having a whole host of automatic notifications in place to notify you with the latest updates is vital. 

In time, those updates change according to technological advances as an ever-adapting system is needed to keep up with the high demands of a participant in the fintech industry.

How does SMS come into play?

Over time, Bigbank’s need for SMS had grown from using it as a promotional tool for direct marketing to now being a part of the customer journey. It consists of giving updates on the contract status, application detail reminders, payment reminders, customer authentication, and internal system monitoring. 

SMS is also used as a channel for the customer service personnel to contact the clients if any additional questions need answering.

The use of Messente also varies by country, such as when certain markets using OTT platforms like Viber or Whatsapp makes sense or where the toolset is less advanced or more expensive and SMS is the best option to use.

Kristjan Bek, the Technical Service Manager in charge of Bigbank’s messaging operations, says, “SMS is a quick and reliable channel for when you need to make sure the message gets delivered”. He’s further alluding to the fact that with all phones being able to receive SMS messages and the delivery occurring in seconds with an open rate of 98%, SMS is one of the best tools for rapid information delivery.

In the future, Kristjan says that they plan to automate more processes by using the Messente API to get more customer journey notifications, especially drawing emphasis on the communication aspects that are currently handled manually. As the company still has a few legacy systems operating, they are looking to automate more aspects of their internal processes to ensure that all messaging and service delivery becomes as functional as possible.

For these types of advancements and multi-layered relationships, having a strong partnership relationship is critical. Messente and Bigbank have been in business together for around ten years and the relationship is based on a mutual understanding of the needs of both companies and constant communication. 

“Issues pop up from time to time, and it is crucial for us to have them fixed ASAP, Messente has been able to deliver so far”, says Kristjan who has been around to see a few market troubles that can come about in a very multifaceted use situation like this. 

As Bigbank and Messente move forward in their partnership, Kristjan highlights the need for continued communication and growth to ensure that Bigbank can rely on the messaging tools provided, no matter the scale of growth.