Author(s): Benjarut Chaimankong, Mayookapan Chaimankong, Kittisak Jermsittiparsert, Paitoon Chetthamrongchai
The pandemic of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is causing unprecedented hardship and uncertainty across the global community. In Thailand, the outbreak has driven significant changes in consumer behavior, particularly in banking services. The number of digital transactions has seen an increase since the beginning of the crisis. Many businesses were seeking continuity during the lockdown work to increase their presence online and boost sales through digital channels. The COVID-19 is accelerating the shift towards digital transactions. Commercial banks were struggling to maintain their normal operation. They no longer solely depend on their branches to capture new customers, to retain the existing ones, and to deliver the required customer outcomes. Digital banking turns to be a necessary alternative during the pandemic; however, research on how it affects bank performance and customer outcomes are still limited. Therefore, this study employed a qualitative method to better understand the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on digital transformation of large commercial banks in Thailand. The findings reveal that the rapid advancements in digital transformation in the banking sector and an increasing number of channel options to prepare for the aftermath of the COVID-19. The results show that an alignment in the bank has contributed to increased satisfaction among digitally oriented customers. The contributions of this paper would assist commercial banks to add more digital platform of financial products and related services to improve customer experience and financial performance.