Bank of America 1998 Annual Report Download - page 16

14
which links call centers to the Model
Banking platform, will be expanded
nationwide as well.
Similar investments give us the
ability to stay in the forefront of such
fast-growing operations as Internet
banking, electronic payments and many
other key programs that provide cus-
tomers with greater speed, accuracy
and options. The result, as we build out
this technology across the country, will
be a nationwide, world-connected bank
developed to the specifications of our
clients, customers and associates. And
we are making technology flexible, so
we can change quickly as customer
preferences and markets change. This
saves dollars and time.
Bank of America is redefining
banking on many other fronts. A major
example is how people today wish to
manage their money. Increasingly, our
customers and potential customers are
moving away from deposits and toward
investments, and we have responded by
building one of the nation’s largest and
most comprehensive asset management
businesses. People also are becoming
more and more pushed by time, so we
have answered by expanding the ways
people can do business with us.
Telephone and Internet banking are
1998 Bank of America Summary Annual Report
Our telephone banking call centers
expect to handle more than 500
million customer calls in 1999.
two prominent examples.
Listening is still another way we’ve
responded. We are constantly asking
customers to evaluate processes that
affect their banking experience. Then
we act decisively on what they say.
Customer input has led to a number of
changes our customers appreciate. For
example, we cut decision time for some
business loans from days to hours.
We also are preparing our associates
for the challenges ahead. To help our
bankers better understand our
customers, our markets and the
competition, we have undertaken a
coast-to-coast education program
involving nearly all of our associates.
These kinds of efforts make a differ-
ence to our customers and our share-
holders. They directly affect the quality
of customer and client relationships
and the billions of transactions they do
with us every year. They produce the
actions and attitudes that determine
whether our customers are satisfied . . .
and how much business they choose to
do with us.
The geographic reach and the
resources of Bank of America may be