UBS has outsourced its social media monitoring to Accenture which helps them to effectively monitor activity on social media platforms and identify the posts, comments and tweets that could affect its brand and reputation, and respond or countermeasure them fast and efficiently there by reducing the damage.

1. Analysis& Outlook
UBS, global financial services provider started using the social media and social data to manage
reputation risks since 2010 when the company deployed Jive Software, but the initial intention of
monitoring is to provide customer service on social networking sites. Later UBS started
combining social data and other media reports like news reports with internal data to identify
reputation risks and garner insights to assess its risk exposure before doing business with clients.
UBS understands the importance of reputational and professional risks in the financial industry
as any damage to these risks will have a significant effect on the bank’s business. Social Media
mentions, posts, comments and updates by customers and people posted on social networking
sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. have a significant effect on the firm’s brand reputation.
According to Accenture Case Study titled “Keeping Track: Social Media Monitoring UBS”,
“Swiss banking giant UBS is using social media monitoring as an integral component of its
communication strategy. The bank wants to get a good snapshot of its public image and identify
what type of issues are gaining importance in the banking industry. “First, we want to listen
carefully to, and meticulously evaluate, what customers are saying about us and what they
expect,” says Michael Willi, Chief Communication Officer at UBS. “If we succeed, we can use
social media to better address the different target groups.” Customers are actively engaging on
the various social networking sites and are posting both negative and positive comments on
social networking sites and financial services firms have to monitor and respond to them or else
there will be significant effect on the firm’s brand reputation in the highly competitive financial
services industry.
UBS has outsourced its social media monitoring to Accenture which helps them to effectively
monitor activity on social media platforms and identify the posts, comments and tweets that
could affect its brand and reputation, and respond or countermeasure them fast and efficiently
there by reducing the damage. Accenture employees at the Delivery Center Warsaw study
comments made on German, Spanish and Portuguese social media sites located in central and
southern Europe and Latin America. The Delivery Center in Mumbai, India, processes postings
made in Western Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific (Source: “Keeping Track: Social
Media Monitoring UBS”). Accenture tracks and monitors comments in social media in English,
German, Spanish and Portuguese. Accenture delivers detailed reports on a regular (daily, weekly
or ad hoc) basis and these reports are based on the tracking results and additional analysis. UBS
gets a comprehensive view on the various social media platforms and UBS Brand Management
and Communications Department relies on Accenture to collect and analyze information.
Financial Services industry is highly regulated and firms need to follow the stringent regulations
and accordingly have to manage their social media presence and customer engagement. It is not
easy to keep track of the various social networking sites and it requires highly advanced
technologies and analytical tools to capture and analyze social data and use it in further
improving the existing and launching new products and services.
Social Media Strategy @ UBS – Social Media Monitoring outsourced to Accenture to
hedge reputational risk