Nippon India Mutual Fund Achieves High Customer Engagement Rating for its Investor App Developed by Applied Cloud Computing
About the client – a snapshot
Nippon India Mutual Fund (NIMF) is one of India’s leading and fastest-growing mutual funds, offering investors a well-rounded portfolio of products to meet evolving investor requirements. It has a presence in 272 locations across the country and constantly strives to launch innovative products and customer service initiatives to increase value to customers. NIMF was formed to launch various schemes under which units are issued to the public to contribute to the capital market and provide investors with opportunities to make investments in diversified securities. It has Average Assets Under Management (AAUM) of Rs. 279431.27 crores (April 2022 to June 2022 QAAUM) and 182.57 lakh folios (as on 30th June 2022). Registered with the SEBI, NIMF was earlier known as Reliance Mutual Fund and changed to its current name effective September 28, 2019.
Client’s challenge and the business need
NIMF wanted to change its existing legacy app which had low ratings on the Google play store with downloads significantly decreasing in number with time. Commissioned in 2013, this app which had served investors for many years was no longer appealing to the new-age, mobile-first online customers of today, who invest in the digital experience first before putting their money into buying the product. Yes, customer preferences have undergone a sea change over the last decade with improved internet access, highly interactive tech platforms, and embedded technologies such as AI. The pandemic has further fueled the already growing D2C market.
Along with the investors’ evolving needs, habits and demands, the new-age fintech players have brought about tectonic shifts in the digital ecosystem with newer dynamics and disruptions. Millennials, the fast-growing category of economic decision-makers are always on the lookout for innovation and up-to-date functionalities on their apps.
Therefore, the need of the hour for NIMF was to sunset the legacy app which had challenges such as outdated design, taxing experience, and legacy technology that led to performance issues, in addition to the lack of user understanding or view.
The client wanted a team of technical specialists to develop a new app with a next-level, simplified and intuitive interface coupled with new-age features and capabilities to provide a best-in-class, enhanced digital experience for its investors.
NIMF chose to partner with Applied Cloud Computing (ACC), an emerging leader in the Cloudtech Space, with offerings that drive digitalization, cloud services, and innovation for customers across industry verticals – BFSI, Media, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and others. ACC had to develop and implement a new solution – an app that addressed all the above-mentioned challenges of the legacy app.
App development by ACC and its successful implementation
The team of developers had discussions with the Client to understand and uncover the need for developing the new solution. ACC developed a powerful and customized app with features that enhanced the investor experience. This project was part of the Digital Transformation journey at NIMF. The ACC team of engineers intensely followed an elaborate and methodical process in the app development journey, such as Tech development, Rigorous Unit and Operational testing along with Multiple rounds of Closed User Group (CUG) testing with select employees from various branches of NIMF.
The new app had features such as future transaction scheduling, setting reminders, and a customizable dashboard based on user interactions. The ability to add multiple schemes to the investor’s cart, fund comparison options and goal planners, integrated helpdesks, and the ability to resume and repeat transactions were also included.
Key Highlights of the New App
While several contemporary designs, innovations, new features, and enhancements were a part of this avatar, some of the key highlights are captured here,
- Styled for millennials and simplified for the current investor base
- Completely self-service and frictionless onboarding process
- ‘Investor journey’ centric flows (and not inward out, Classic Product and Service bouquet approach)
- Discoverability – Products, and Services are available in line with user expectations
- Enhanced purchase experience – Cart Buying and Drop-off win-back with Express Checkout for repeat transactions
- Scalable framework – Leveraging the Digital stack (Targeting, Campaigns, Analytics, and more) for a more enriching and powerful experience
Business and other benefits of the New App
The new Investor App was built in line with the Mobile-first strategy with ACC’s digitization concept and NIMF’s philosophy of 3 Fs – Frictionless, Friendly and Futuristic – at the core. The app or the asset construct was around two key principles of Simplification and Empowerment.
- Brings about simplicity to the entire process – from smooth onboarding of an investor to continue helping him with his first and repeated purchases
- Empowers the investor by helping him navigate the complex maze of mutual funds investing, facilitating lucid understanding and helping him take informed and wise decisions
- Helps paves way for a better and financially prosperous future for the investor by serving as a one-stop shop for first purchase, re-purchase, and servicing needs
- Enables to onboard more investors and drive more first-time purchases
- Generates more repeat purchases, cross-selling and upselling
- Biometric feature delivers effective and precise physical security
- Creates distinct avenues for both existing and new investors
- Increases user-engagement significantly
Quote: Arpanarghya Saha – Chief Digital Officer, NIMF, said, “Our engagement with the ACC team, one of NIMF’s tech partner, for the construction of the new app has been very rewarding. The new app has boosted our customer engagement and investors are now able to make their own decisions with all the new features effortlessly and without the interference of an agent.” He further added, “At NIMF, we strongly believe that our investors always deserve the best-in-class digital solution to serve their needs. With the help from the team at ACC, we were able to achieve that as we strive to deliver the best customer experience and remain a digital pioneer in the BFSI sector.
About Applied Cloud Computing (ACC)
Founded in 2014, by Nilesh Satpute in Thane, Maharashtra, ACC is today an emerging leader in the Cloud Services segment. The organization is working at transforming business processes, rationalizing product portfolios, strategizing business assets, complying with regulations, managing risks, and maximizing customer satisfaction. These services are delivered by ACC with the adoption and implementation of Digital Transformation, Cloud Computing, Digitalization, App Modernisation, Big Data and Analytics, Cloud Security, and Product Engineering. ACC was awarded by AWS as the best BFSI industry Consulting Partner for the year 2020.
For more information about ACC, please visit, https://www.appliedcloudcomputing.com/
