For most banks, customer messaging is an essential function, but is also a rising cost center. Whether it’s sending OTPs, payment reminders, or promotional offers, the balance between reach, reliability, and cost has become harder to maintain. SMS is still ubiquitous, but banks also rely on other communication channels like email, WhatsApp, and in-app notifications to get the attention of their customers. WhatsApp particularly has emerged as a powerful alternative, more engaging, often cheaper, and increasingly preferred by customers.

But here’s the challenge: managing these channels well, and knowing when to use which, is not straightforward. The key lies in treating communication as a strategic function, and not just as a set of disconnected vendor contracts.

This is where customer communication management (CCM) platforms like Fyno come in: they orchestrate delivery based on message type, user preferences, and cost, without needing constant engineering support.

Why do banks need to diversify their customer communication across channels?

When it comes to banks and financial institutions, SMS or text messages still play a central role in banking communication. It’s ideal for critical, time-sensitive messages like OTPs or fraud alerts.

But for many banks, SMS costs have ballooned due to outdated workflows which send SMS messages to all the customers irrespective of whether they see them or not. The lack of understanding of user behavior and the engineering effort involved in building the right optimization logic increases the messaging Costs, makes your messages go unnoticed, and gives your team a ton of manual effort, which is often spent on engineering maintenance and reconciliation.

On top of this, new compliance guidelines from the governing bodies like RBI and TRAI adds more friction: For example, TRAI’s DLT mandates require banks to register their SMS message templates through telecom providers, adding layers of validation and complexity. While the RBI does not directly mandate template registration, it has advised banks to adhere to TRAI’s norms to reduce fraud risks. The combined requirements for template management, delivery tracking, and auditability make managing SMS as a channel resource-intensive and harder to scale.

If you’re wondering how to achieve cost optimization without compromising on deliverability, reach, and customer experience, the answer is intelligent channel orchestration.

What is channel orchestration?

Channel orchestration is the process of intelligently routing your customer communication through the most cost effective channels based on various factors such as channel performance, vendor performance, open rates, etc. The goal is to maximize efficiency, while containing costs and adhering to all the compliance requirements.

Now, let’s dive deeper.

Let’s take the example of SMS vs. WhatsApp to understand how channel orchestration will act as a cost center and how using a platform like Fyno will drive impact in more ways than just reducing messaging cost.

The rise of WhatsApp as a powerful SMS alternative

Since the last few years, WhatsApp is growing to be a strong contender for both transactional and engagement messaging. It sees 98% open rates, 40% better conversion than SMS. And, with WhatsApp flows, banks are delivering app-like experiences within WhatsApp, without the users needing to download a dedicated app.

The channel that was once used for sending marketing messages is now being used for sending critical banking communications like transaction alerts, EMI reminders, or digital onboarding, and many more at a fraction of the cost.

But, how does orchestrating messages between SMS and WhatsApp using a customer communication platform help in bringing the cost down. Let’s take a look.

Channel orchestration is the new cost control

So, instead of picking one channel over the other, banks need to dynamically route messages based on context. That’s where a CCM platform like Fyno proves essential.

With a platform like Fyno, banks can:

  • Automatically choose SMS or WhatsApp based on urgency, cost, and message type.
  • Route OTPs through SMS and switch to WhatsApp if delivery fails.
  • Send utility messages via WhatsApp during the free 24-hour window, and SMS only if the user is unreachable.
  • Run promotional campaigns with built-in consent logic and spend limits.
  • Track costs and delivery in real time, with detailed analytics for each vendor and channel.

This orchestration layer transforms messaging from becoming a growing cost center into a full-fledged cost optimisation engine. You can scale without waste, and spend based on what works, not what’s easiest to configure.

The total cost of communication goes beyond price per message

Too often, banks focus on per-message rates and overlook the bigger picture. The real cost of customer communication also includes:

  • Delays from slow vendor switching
  • Engineering time spent on routing logic
  • Compliance overhead from fragmented systems
  • Missed revenue due to poor engagement
  • Regulatory penalties from audit gaps

By consolidating channels, templates, and vendor controls into a single orchestration layer, Fyno helps banks cut total messaging costs by up to 40% while improving speed, reliability, and compliance.

What does Fyno deliver?

Fyno is purpose-built for financial institutions that need to modernize communication without rebuilding infrastructure. It consolidates all messaging workflows, templates, vendors, and reporting into one intelligent layer.

Banks that use Fyno typically see:

  • Up to 40% reduction in communication costs
  • 100% delivery of critical messages like OTPs and alerts
  • Up to 90% reduction in engineering effort for adding channels or updating templates
  • Full compliance with RBI, DPDP, and TRAI mandates
  • Rich analytics for cost reconciliation and audit readiness

With Fyno, banks don’t just reduce spend, they regain control, speed up innovation, and improve the customer experience at every touchpoint.

Final thought: move from volume to value

For banks of all sizes, customer communication is a major cost center. Putting the right orchestration layer at the center of it will future-proof your comms stack, , improve customer experience, and reduce costs without compromising on speed, reach, deliverability, or compliance.

If this is something that you’re looking for, feel free to talk to us.