Fifth Third Bank 2006 Annual Report Download - page 8

needs is paramount to success in this business and broadening our
offerings is the right thing to do. We’ve recently brought in new
leadership to drive improved results, and we are already seeing a
positive impact to our strategies.
Technology for Tomorrow
As we’ve discussed here for the past several years, Fifth Third has
taken significant strides in elevating the level of our infrastructure
and front-end technology. Frankly, we were underinvested in our
infrastructure three or four years ago. Today, we have the systems,
security and capabilities that are necessary for an institution of our
size, and that will allow us to continue to grow.
During the past 36 months, we’ve replaced or upgraded 80
percent of our technology systems. With much of our
infrastructure investments behind us, further progress in this area
will be evolutionary. We are leveraging our technology spending
into improvements in our product offerings and our services.
Examples would include our placement of more than 1,000
remote-capture deposit scanners with our business customers,
deploying an enterprise problem resolution platform, developing a
new customer experience portal, and creating performance
management tools and dashboards.
A Better Customer Experience and a New Brand Promise
Customers are more demanding than ever, and we must continue
to meet and exceed a bar that is continually being raised — by
customers and our competitors. Fifth Third has long been known
for our sales culture and our ability to bring customers in the door.
But we have not been world-class in keeping them. This is one of
our biggest opportunities.
And, while our sales culture is terrific, there has been a large dose
of hard work and hustle associated with that. Historically, we’ve
been more transaction-oriented than is ideal. Focusing on our
relationships with customers — not just today’s relationship, but our
future relationship — will help us increase retention and increase
wallet share with our customers.
What our customers tell us they need is a trusted advisor for the
long haul. To deliver, we must understand our customers’ needs
tomorrow to properly address the need today that brought them
into our banking center or caused them to pick up the phone. In
our service delivery, we must prove we care about our relationship
tomorrow when we’re dealing with today’s issues.
In February 2007, we began rolling out a new brand — a brand that
will encompass visual changes in Fifth Third’s marketing but, more
important, a brand that changes the promises we make to our
customers. We are aligning everything toward fulfilling our brand
commitment and building a better tomorrow. Later in this report,
you will see further discussion of developments at Fifth Third
related to consultative sales training, customer experience
enhancements and key brand elements.
Ultimately, I believe our renewed focus on the customer experience,
and a brand that supports it, are the most exciting developments
under way at Fifth Third.
Closing
I’m excited about our prospects for 2007 and the future. And I’m
honored to have been chosen to lead Fifth Third into that future.
This is a great company — a company full of people who are
hard-working, passionate about Fifth Third and passionate about
winning — and I have every confidence that we will deliver for you,
for our employees and for our communities…That is what Fifth
Third is all about.
Sincerely,
Kevin T. Kabat
President
February 2007
6