Towards a context-aware multi-channel messaging model for African banks: Preliminary investigations

Technological advancements have provided Banks several means of sending messages to their customers. In the context of business-to-customer interaction, Single Channel Messaging (SCM) model is prominently used by most Banks in Africa. SCM is restricted to one communication medium and messages are not sent based on urgency or priority. The ultimate aim of this research study is to propose and implement a model for Multi-Channel Messaging (MCM) that addresses the weaknesses of SCM. However, in this paper we only present and motivate the proposed conceptual MCM model. Unlike SCM, MCM uses different modes of communication to pass on information to Bank customers. Depending on the importance of a message, MCM provides mechanisms for choosing a channel, amongst available options, that matches the message's urgency or priority. The suitability of the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) as an implementation approach is highlighted as it offers a robust, loosely coupled and scalable strategy for realising the requirements of MCM.

1. Introduction

Technological advancements have provided Banks (i.e. financial institutions) with the opportunity to reach out to various customers in different ways. Messaging has been playing a significant role for information sharing between businesses and people. The different modes of communication available, such as Short Messaging Service (SMS), Instant Messaging (IM), Emails and Social Media messaging platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp) and others can allow businesses to communicate critical and relevant information to their customers. Getting information at the right time and via the most reliable means at that time may determine the level of success or failure of the business or customer. According to [1], recent advances in Information Technology (IT) have created various opportunities by raising users' expectations, thereby necessitating businesses and customers to be in constant communication irrespective of distance, time, demography and geographical differences [2]. Businesses need to keep good relationships with their customers by ensuring an open and steady medium of communication [3]. Banks' customers are increasingly aware of the advantages of technology and messaging, hence businesses also need to match up with the customers' expectations with the different communication channels available. With these diverse communication means, it is important for Banks to leverage on technologies that offer the best user experience in terms of communication to its customers.