Intesa Sanpaolo's “Insieme per la Crescita” (Together for Growth) programme focuses on managerial change and new ways of employee involvement, for effective customer relations.

Mandatory conduct, depending on the type of customer, includes assisting customers when they enter the branch, offering fully comprehensive advisory services and, for businesses, defining new roles and instruments to support customer relations, consolidate credit capability and achieve more effective commercial action.

The idea is to improve network performance through a greater focus on conduct, increasing the satisfaction level of customers and employees and thereby generating widespread and permanent change. In 2016, the programme involved over 38,000 colleagues at around 4,000 branches, with a 7% increase in the number of customer contacts and a 1% increase in the proposal success rate compared to 2015. NPS indexes show an improvement in retail customer satisfaction (+1.7) and personal customer satisfaction (+2.1), between the first part of the year (April-July) and second part (August-December).

The “Insieme per la Crescita” programme uses CRM techniques to measure customer satisfaction and directly surveys employee satisfaction using the branch barometer (a synthetic rating of 7.7 on a scale from 1 to 10, with over 230,000 questionnaires collected).

Extensive online communication, including news, the exchange of experience and direct views, encourages the Bank's employees to consider change factors, on a daily basis. Over 900 colleagues were involved in training activities such as the recognition for the commitment made to the application of the programme. Further information is found in the chapter “Human capital“ @.

The Banca Estesa (Extended Bank) project also continued, with customer and advisory services available during extended branch business hours, as well as on direct channels. The new model enables customers to go to the bank at times which are more compatible with their personal and professional commitments. At the end of 2016, 489 Group Retail branches and 441 Personal Branches were open in the early evening, on Saturdays or at lunchtimes, adapting business hours to the modern lifestyles of customers.

Besides longer business hours and flexible spaces, the “Offerta Fuori Sede” (out-of-branch services) project has been ongoing for some years now: designed to meet customer needs more effectively, the project has extended advisory and commercial services to customers’ homes or workplaces.

At the end of 2016, 3,485 employees in Italy were registered as financial advisors providing services off bank premises.

THE NEW BRANCH MODEL

Besides longer opening hours, the actual bank where customers go has started to change considerably.

Branches are changing based on a different way of doing banking, which focuses on the customer and customer relations: they have become open and flexible places, with communal areas and meeting rooms; they are venues for artistic and cultural events, for engagement and interaction, in an atmosphere that is more transparent and open to the public. The new-look branch has a modular layout designed for big cities, small towns and suburbs alike.

The new model, designed in 2014, also based on customer engagement, was implemented in 2015 (with the opening of the pilot branches in Milan, Rome and Turin, followed by another 31 branches throughout Italy) and was extended to around 80 branches in 2016. The aim is to have around 1,000 new-look branches over the next few years.

The new-look branches were showcased in the “Vividigitale Day“ project, which aims to disseminate a digital culture among employees, customers and prospects. A team of “digital facilitators” (Bank staff with considerable expertise who have received ad hoc training to learn how to hold and moderate sessions) managed events to find out about user needs and help those people interested in Internet but not able to use it fully to make the most of digital services.

13 sessions were held for 150 customers.

Further information is found in the chapter “Human capital” @.