ABOUT

As part of the UAE’s ‘smart city’ initiative of transforming Dubai into a benchmark, modern, digital city, the Vice President of Emirates National Bank of Dubia (ENBD) His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (who is the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai) initiated a programme of work to bring ENBD into line with the strategy.

I worked as a strategic UX CX Design Consultant with architects and designers at Allen International, the consultancy firm chosen to realise the project.

Results
A ‘Transformation in banking’
Digital–first banking blended with face-to-face interactions
Customer centric design optimised by big data
Blended context-specific technology mediated human experience: humans, bots, beacons, customer recognition, audio/video tellers and an updates and digital tools and apps.
Seamless and enhanced omni-channel customer experience
Clear, amplified and expanded brand narrative
Social media and real-world activity / input as key enablers of brand narrative participation, cultural inclusion, charitable giving, and a sense of local ownership.
Next-generation self-service and customer service.
Lifestyle and life-need money management tools and applications.
Smart product selection, pre-qualification and suggestion (100+ transaction types)
Attracted over Dh500M / £106M+ investment between 2016 and 2018.
Included in the ‘Museum of the Future’.

Feedback
“As the UAE’s largest financial institution with a track record of over 50 years of contribution to the UAE’s development, we are honoured to facilitate a ‘smart’ transformation in banking.”
Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim
Vice Chairman Emirates NBD and Managing Director of Emirates NBD

“We are making a commitment to the future with our digital transformation plan. Our focus on technology innovation and adoption, to create digital-only products, is creating a new paradigm in the way people bank in the UAE.”
Shayne Nelson
Group CEO of Emirates NBD

Numbers
Based on their visit to the opening at Emirates Towers showcase:
The mean satisfaction score was 8.8, or 9.0 for those who visited the partner exhibition too.
93% customers were likely to recommend Emirates NBD to their friends/family
79% (Non-Emirates NBD visitors were likely to open an account with Emirates NBD

Local branch scores for comparison:
The monthly branch satisfaction score was 8.5.
75% customers were likely to recommend Emirates NBD to their friends and family.

Figures: Top3 Box / IPSOS / CSAT

Brief
The ENBD Strategic Brief had five end goals, or ‘pillars':
End to end process transformation
Omni-channel experience
Smoother, faster and more responsive customer interface
Enhancement data management and analytics
Fortification of cyber security and anti-fraud capabilities

Underlying the five pillar brief was the desire to be:
United Arab Emirates’s first digital bank targeted at ‘Millennials’
Cognisant of the local ‘high touch’ culture of social and business interaction, the use of runners in business and high net-worth priority customers.

The expectation from the sponsor and team was of an exceptionally high impact, world-leading set of overarching concepts, attracting a commensurately high implementation budget.

It was my job to define
• a UX approach to transform and elevate the already best-in-class brand and service offering
in-context, pre-emptive digital omni-channel service delivery
• how make spaces as profitable and engaging possible for a general, integrated approach to digital roll-out.
• methods of maximising time and space in the branch network for staff and customers, within the people-focused ‘high touch’ local culture.