Small and medium sized businesses and their bank managers have always had a push-me-pull-you relationship. Bound together by mutual interest, a bank can be the ideal foil that helps a business to succeed while helping the bank to grow at the same time. On a macro-economic level that interdependency is reflected in the prosperity of UK Ltd and the health of the financial sector. But, small business owners often view their relationship manager (RM) as the warm body to hold accountable if things go wrong, while the RMs see their small business portfolio as a group of patients in various states of health they have been put in charge of treating.

Historically, especially for the smaller firms, one bank as a one-stop-shop has been convenient and provided the basis for controlling trading and investment. For the bank, the RM has been the only way to manage service, sales and risk.

Technology has played its part for a long time, from decision support systems for credit underwriting, to CRM systems for contact management. Over the last twenty years, the application of technology has been to automate processes and introduce new distribution channels and direct banking - for the smallest business this has taken out the traditional RM, though elements of it do remain. Technology now promises to change the fundamental operating model for relationship management and its role in a more direct way. Customer expectations in terms of personalisation and speed are rising based on their service experience in a digital world, new competitors are challenging the incumbents, and the integration of data and services through platforms is enabling multi-sourcing without the loss of convenience and control.

How will segmentation be affected by this? Can we have a more agile approach to feeding in relationship management at moments of truth in an efficient and truly value-added way? Will RMs really be relieved of their admin and service recovery duties? What will the skills, training, incentives and culture of a relationship management team look like in five years? time?

In a series of four podcasts I have chaired, Accenture offer some insights from fascinating research and engagement with their financial services clients. Senior cutting-edge practitioners from the commercial and transformation worlds share their experience, and I hope you?ll be encouraged, even if slightly daunted, by the challenge ahead. Not everything has changed from when I first became a relationship manager 30 years ago, but the prospect is that the industry can offer much more value than we ever did in the past.

Listen to the first two below, and tweet us what you think!