financial services
How to Accelerate Your Omni-Channel Journey
Featuring John Thomas, COO, Relay Network
Ryan Curley, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group
Watch the full Webinar Here
In a dynamic session led by John Thomas (COO, Relay Network) and Ryan Curley (Managing Director & Partner, BCG), banking leaders gained invaluable insights into how to modernize their omni-channel strategy without having to rely on IT resources. The webinar explored how banks can evolve from the first wave of omni-channel initiatives, Omni 1.0, into a digitally led, human-enabled model of Omni 2.0—starting today.
From Omni 1.0 to Omni 2.0: What’s Changed?
The 2010s brought the first wave of omni-channel efforts in banking, aimed at integrating and connecting branch, digital, and call center experiences. But the process to do this was slow and complex. Then, the pandemic came and accelerated digital adoption but didn’t eliminate human-assisted channels overall. Instead, we saw customers return to a hybrid model, using both digital and in-person services, which still rings true today.
Maybe digital had reached a higher plateau because of what happened in the pandemic, but the return to analog and human assisted channels was very real in 2022 through where we are right now in 2025.”
– John Thomas
With over 35% of customers still visiting branches annually, data that Curley shared from BCG, the role of the human channel remains essential. The challenge now becomes: how to build seamless experiences across channels without massive tech investments.
The Rise of the “Channel Bridge”
The webinar introduced a practical and transformative concept: the Channel Bridge. Unlike traditional integrations, channel bridges allow frontline bank employees to trigger digital experiences in real time, without needing deep backend integrations.
Let your humans be the data layer.”
– John Thomas
What is a Channel Bridge?
- It’s NOT a backend data sync, technical integration, API, or CMS.
- What it is, is a lightweight digital connection initiated by a human-assisted channel (e.g., branch or call center) to drive action on a customer’s mobile device.
- No app download, no login required—just instant, actionable content sent to the customer’s phone.
This is what these channel bridges are doing. There is no integration between your branch system or your call center and some digital platform. Your employee is literally able to push this content directly into any of your customer’s phone.”
– John Thomas
How Does it Work?
Thomas suggests that the best way for the channel bridge to work is having pre-curated content developed by the bank’s marketing and product teams packaged up and ready to go for the branch team. This content should align to key moments in customer journey, like during onboarding. Consider important actions like account funding, mobile deposit capture, and how to set up direct deposit. By building a library of pre-curated content available to send, you can control the types of content that an employee can push to a customer’s phone.
Then, it is important to empower your front-line employees to send the content confidently and easily. Rely on their judgement as to what message makes most sense to send to the customer in real-time. This is not a free form digital chat, but rather a set of pre-curated, digital experiences that are designed to drive a specific action.
Key Use Cases & Impact
Channel bridges are already in use at banks of all sizes. The most common starting point? New account onboarding.
Example Workflow:
- 1. A customer opens an account in a branch.
- 2. The employee pushes messages like: onboarding instructions, debit card activation links, and direct deposit set up guides to the customer’s phone.
- 3. Weeks later, the same customer gets a tutorial on a mobile check deposit, triggered in real-time by the branch employee.
This “digital nudge” approach drives faster digital adoption, improves onboarding completion, and boosts both customer satisfaction and employee confidence.
In fact, Thomas shared a success story about a client who leveraged the channel bridge in their branches. This large bank created pre-packaged content and used a personalization engine to determine the next best experience to send to each customer. Then, they trained 12,000 branch employees on the technology, and if a customer in their portfolio who was flagged to receive a specific experience happened to walk in one of their branches and talk to one of their people the next day, that employee could push a button and send the appropriate message directly to the customer’s phone. And this was done practically overnight.
Digitally Led Omni-Channel: A Practical Blueprint
Ryan Curley of BCG emphasized that the future is digitally led—but not digital only. The bank of the future:
- Treats digital as the lead for both service and sales.
- Redefines the branch as a hub for high-value, advisory conversations.
- Optimizes call centers with remote, human-assisted solutions—often enhanced with AI.
By creating flexible bridges now, banks can progress toward a fully integrated model without waiting on IT projects to finish.
Final Takeaways
The omni-channel journey doesn’t have to slow while waiting on IT resources. Channel bridges provide a fast, scalable, and effective way to connect human and digital experiences—today.
Digitally led omni-channel is still the North Star. But there’s plenty banks can do right now to drive business impact.”
– Ryan Curley
To learn more about how Relay can support your organization as a channel bridge, reach out to sales@relaynetwork.com
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