Digital,

Ana A. Delgado, UnionBank's deputy center head for consumer finance, said that not only did the shift to DX mean better customer experience with the interior design of the branch, but it also boosts the efficiency of the branch's operations with the use of less paper in transactions.

“One of the things we look at are the speed transactions. One of the objectives is to take down the time it takes to open an account, to process a cash deposit and that's one measure we look at, and another is how many are using the self-service machines,” added Ms. Delgado, who is also the bank's chief user experience officer.

“Some are not open to it but the ones that we want to help educate on how to use self-service because the benefit is that it's available beyond banking hours, when the bank might be closed but you can still do all the functions like the deposit of cash, check and all other process,” she said.

Julian Aboitiz, Unionbank's customer experience manager, said the bank also measures the quality of the customer's experience, noting that there should be a deeper engagement between the teller and client.

“Is the ambassador (teller) trying to solve the problem and not just process you? So, speed is not just one measure. We're trying to up the quality,” he added.

Through the feedback received from the branch, Ms. Delgado said the bank is planning to work on the other branches. She assured that the branches would not have a “copy and paste” type of strategy.

She did not disclose the number of branches that would open this year nor the number that would “digitally transform,” but hinted that UnionBank was planning to administer it nationwide. The bank has 206 branches at present.

“If you were just doing a space transformation, you can just copy-paste because it's just a look and feel of the space but because we're transforming people, processes, you really have to make sure that you understand how people behave in particular area. It's not a one- size fits all,” she added.