Organisational critical success factors in adoption of e-banking at the Woolwich bank

Abstract

The provision of banking services on the Internet (e-banking) is growing but there is a lack of research related to the organisational issues involved in its adoption. This paper brings theory and practice together by synthesising the existing literature with real-life experience of a UK bank. Two questions motivated this research. First, what is the experience of organisations in adopting e-banking? Second, what are the organisational factors which are critical to the success in e-banking adoption? A case study research approach was used to investigate organisational critical success factors in e-banking adoption at The Woolwich bank. The factors found to be most critical for success in e-banking included: understanding customers, organisational flexibility, availability of resources, systems security, established brand name, having multiple integrated channels, e-channel specific marketing, systems integration, systematic change management, support from top management, and good customer services. We concluded that banks need to implement considerable organisational changes in order to web-enable themselves. The main focus of their e-commerce strategy should be to integrate the e-banking channel with other service delivery channels to maximise benefits.