ASSIGNMENT 2 - Case Analysis: FOCUSING ON MULTIPLE PUBLICS

ING DIRECT is a relatively new entrant to the Australian banking market, having entered only in 1999, but the bank has quickly become the fifth-largest retail bank in Australia. ING DIRECT is the Australian arm of the ING Group, the third-largest savings bank in the world. While the Australian arm is part of a very large financial group, ING DIRECT is targeting specific product niches, rather than competing directly with the larger Australian banks. 'ING's focus is on simple and transparent products', said Eric Drok, ING DIRECT's

chief executive until early 2008. 'If you can't explain it to me in 30 seconds, it's not a good product.' Part of this focus means that ING DIRECT doesn't compete in some product markets, such as the credit card market, which the company sees as too competitive in Australia. Instead, ING DIRECT believes that customers value the simplicity in a crowded marketplace which ING DIRECT offers, such as a term deposit with no minimum

or maximum requirement, in contrast to the more complex terms offered by competing banks.

ING DIRECT's approach has resulted in the bank achieving very high levels of customer satisfaction (72.8 per cent, in contrast to an industry average of 58.6 per cent), the highest customer satisfaction of any financial institution in Australia. ING DIRECT believes that its staff (its internal public) are the key to high levels of customer satisfaction. As the bank has no branches, ING DIRECT places heavy emphasis on its call centre, its central point of contact with customers. 'If people only phone twice a year, it's important to get that experience right', said Drok. 'We want staff to understand what the customer feels, what was really behind their question, and did they feel the client was satisfied with the answer?'

In order to stay close to ING DIRECT's customers (part of its general public), Drok would spend half a day each fortnight in the call centre listening to customer calls. He believes that staff are the key to customer satisfaction, so ING DIRECT employs a range of factors to ensure staff satisfaction, and therefore, hopefully, customer satisfaction. ING DIRECT looks for four values in the people it hires—people who are passionate, simple and straightforward, bold and different, and can work together. In contrast with some other organisations, ING DIRECT hasn't moved its call centres offshore, and it has no monitored time periods for

customer calls. One of ING DIRECT's call centres is located in a regional area, where turnover is lower. The physical environment of its call centres is designed to provide an attractive place for staff to work, with a bright meeting area, and two dimmed rooms furnished for relaxation. Staff salaries are linked with cultural performance, and each year the best-performing operator is sent overseas for a week to another ING DIRECT office. Human resources is such a focus at ING DIRECT that the bank won the top CEO award in 2008

for its inclusive management style and for championing issues such as diversity, talent management, and staff engagement and wellbeing. The bank's focused approach in terms of its product range and its emphasis on staff and customer satisfaction has seen ING DIRECT quickly build its retail savings in Australia to about $20 billion—about a 5 per cent market share. That's not nearly enough for ING DIRECT's parent group, which  is aiming for 10 per cent market share. And with satisfied customers and staff, and deep pockets to withstand the

 global financial crisis, ING DIRECT might get there before too long!

Sources: Glen James, Networking', The Age, 8 November 2008, p. 4; Jane Searle, 'Holding the  Line, BRW, 24 April 2008, pp. 76-77; Katherine Jimenez/Online ING Puts Local Ranks on Notice with Threat to Double Share', The Australian, 29 July 2008, p. 21; .

ING DIRECT employs a range of factors to ensure staff satisfaction in the hope that this will lead to customer satisfaction.