Managing Transformation through Information Technology: An Empirical Study in Rural Punjab

Abstract

The tremendous advances in technology and the aggressive infusion of Information Technology had brought in a paradigm shift in banking operations. Inducing technological input has been the second most important milestone in the banking history after nationalization of banks in 1969.This empirical study assesses the current status of developments in e-banking in rural areas of Punjab & explores how it differs from conventional banking and how more awareness can be created for e-banking to make the work easy & time savvy. IT is an important emerging sector of the Indian economy. The size of this sector has increased at a tremendous rate of 35% per year during the last 10 years. Its contribution to the national gross domestic product is expected to be around 8.5% by the year 2010- 11. The maximum technology is taking place in new generation private sector banks as well as foreign banks. At the same time the immense opportunities are also available for the public sector banks if they explore them and change their mind set and adopt new techniques to combat at the diff. recent challenges.
The study focuses on perception & motivational parameters. On the basis of an empirical study which was conducted in Rural Punjab in August 2013, the study concludes that all the factors play a vital role for developing more e-banking services in all segments of Punjab. Perception factors include Courteous behavior of the bank staff, Easy procedure and less formalities, More and appropriate e-channels & better customer relation management. Motivational factors include cost effective services, time savvy & provide accurate information.
Ultimately the paper suggests that overall satisfaction of the rural customer towards the e-banking service provided by the banks is good. All the banks should concentrate more on responsiveness. The study also frames the strategies to create the awareness regarding e-banking services.
It can be concluded that mere introduction of IT will not be sufficient to bring necessary performance improvement and to get the competitive edge. Intelligent people are required to use such intelligent tools. That’s why banks are taking steps to spread awareness and knowledge among the rural masses.