Societe Generale Serbia turns to the IBM Business Process Manager and IBM Application Connect Enterprise to better serve its clients

Share this post:

Digital transformation in banking

Realizes 5-10 times faster process execution and client onboarding

In modern business today the key words to success are speed and digital. And this is especially the case in the banking industry. Consumers of banking products have never been more online and more digitally adept, expecting from financial institutions-their key lifetime partner, seamless online services and the convenience of accessing services from any location at any time. According to the State of Digital Banking, 34% of European online adults now use a smartphone app and/or their bank’s mobile website for banking activities at least monthly. (1*)

At the same time, the banking business is heavily process oriented. Except for core payments, all other services span across different departments and often complex bank infrastructure. This is true for customer-oriented services, such as client onboarding or loan origination, as well as different back office processes supporting all these interactions with clients. Historically, banks had implemented different tools for different processes and gradually this has resulted in complex IT environments with many separate silos. Now, when it is time to deliver services online in a fast and efficient way, to better differentiate in the market and improve client service, banks face obstacles. Complex IT environments, and closed technology silos with tightly integrated ‘point-to-point’ connections, actually result in  IT and technology becoming a bottleneck instead of a catalyser and enabler.

Societe Generale Serbia is one of the leading banks in the Serbian market and is known for its innovation in digital banking. The bank has been carefully executing a digital strategy, delivering online and digital services as a core differentiator in the market. Societe Generale knows that digital transformation in a modern bank must also include full process digitization, optimization and automation.

In order to continue to deliver innovative solutions to customers and to respond to their requirements faster, Societe Generale Serbia opted for an on-premise implementation of IBM Business Process Manager, part of the IBM Cloud software portfolio. The bank chose the solution because it was fast and easy to implement. By exposing its processes to the software, Societe Generale gained greater accessibility, and were able to begin making improvements, particularly to their Know Your Customer processes, implementing optimization and automation. They were also able to increase data quality, improve due diligence processes, and shorten the client onboarding timescale.

Cross-departmental collaboration to deliver apps faster

The IBM Business Process Management and Integration Software deployed by Societe Generale Serbia provides a high level of integration between internal and external IT systems, helping to realize the benefits of process automation. Implementing native support for multi-channel environments helped them provide a stable, flexible and extendible platform for future application development, without the need for heavy custom coding, and in breaking down the silos, provide a more transparent IT environment.

The IBM Application Connect Enterprise, part of the solution, enabled them to achieve fast and efficient integration across their different systems. The standardized BPMN based process modeling and execution, allowed Societe Generale Serbia to deliver the project efficiently and with ease. The bank has been able to accelerate its change processes, and access internal and external user data and user interfaces faster. In addition, the transparent development environment has enhanced collaboration between process analysts and IT experts.

Regulatory Compliance and paperless business

The overall business benefit for Societe Generale Serbia is 5-10 times (depending on the process) faster process execution, and therefore client onboarding, of vital importance in a highly competitive banking market. For example, it previously could take the bank 40 minutes to process simple inquiries from private customers, but now, in many cases, the bank can provide a response to the customer within 3-5 minutes. The volume of customer correspondence for simple inquiries has been minimized, and bank staff can now work much more efficiently, using data from electronic records to answer individual queries of their customers.
By moving to electronic content and streamlined processes, Societe Generale Serbia has been able to ramp up operational efficiency and provide better customer service than ever before.This project is a successful first step on the journey to further process automation, as the bank continues to advance its customer innovation, and gain competitive advantage in the market.

1* The State of Digital Banking, Forrester, February 2018