In a climate of economic turmoil, banks are among the heaviest hit institutions, making it difficult to keep their existing customers and attracting other new ones. However, Microsoft has one strategy that could be part of the solution designed to solve the problems generated by the worldwide financial crisis.

According to the Redmond company, banks need to continue investing in innovation and technology. The marriage between connecting consumer-facing technologies and back-office banking systems will make it possible to provide the right mix for increasing market share amid economic downturn. Microsoft’s U.S. Financial Services General Manager Colleen Healy summed up that the strategy banks need to deploy referencing the necessity for a “connected experience” for end-users.

“We all know that customers have many ways in which they choose to interact with their banks, whether it’s via the phone, Web, branch or more. Couple this with the emergence of new digital and consumer technologies — whether it’s Xbox or mobile phones — and you have the clear emergence of a consumer-centric, experience-based market,” Healy said.

“This ultimately requires banks to engage them in a consistent way across all touch points. Microsoft is unique in that we have technology across the consumer and enterprise space — something we call 'connected experiences.' We’re uniquely able to help banks connect these consumer and business technologies together, to better build relationships and loyalty with customers.”

At this point in time Microsoft’s U.S. Financial Services is a division with in excess of 600 people, which has grown from a headcount of just six, up to six years ago. Healy indicated that Microsoft had the necessary technological resources to help banks deliver a connected experience to customers. The Redmond giant itself is an adept of the “digital lifestyle,” working to delivering seamless connectivity for users across a broad range of devices.

“Our platform is easy to deploy and use, and it’s widely supported. In fact, some of the key offerings we’re discussing with banking customers today include solutions in risk analytics and reporting, regulatory compliance, high-performance computing, customer insight, and integration services. In some cases, banks already have the ability to deploy these sorts of solutions with Microsoft technology they currently own in-house. In other cases, we’re happy to discuss new innovations on our platform, or bring in a best-of-breed partner to assist,” Healy added.