ASSISTED CUSTOMER SERVICE PROJECT

Winner: Barclays and AIM Technology with contact centre performance management solution

Manual processing of data is a cause of inefficiency across the financial services industry. Barclays noted a great opportunity to change that in its call centre environment. Where disparate sources of data and work-intensive data entry were being used, the bank implemented AIMCall across four business units to improve performance management, reduce manual reporting and deliver improved key performance indicators. The bank was able to show that it had saved a significant number of work hours, improved customer response times and satisfaction, and could demonstrate a clear financial return for its investment. By improving its call centre operations, Barclays has also improved the working conditions for its employees, thereby reducing turnover. This was a win-win situation for all stakeholders and was well delivered.

Highly commended: BBVA Banco Provincial with Mobile Office

AUTOMATED CUSTOMER SERVICE PROJECT

Winner: Bankinter and Hal Cash with HAL-CASH Instant Money Transfer

Reaching out to non-bank users, Bankinter and Hal Cash are facilitating the use of channels for non-bank customers with a system that simply requires installation of a piece of software in an ATM. Through issuance of dual security numbers (one chosen by a transaction instigator, one delivered via SMS to the beneficiary), a recipient can withdraw a fixed sum of money from any ATM belonging to a Hal Cash participating bank – even if they do not have a bank account. The judges agreed that, with the use of the existing ATM network and mobile phones of the instigator and beneficiary, this was a useful and simple product for banks and their customers.

Highly commended: Akbank with CepKredi/CellCredit

CORE BANKING PROJECT

Winner: SAP AG and Kaupthing Bank with SAP for banking

Kaupthing Bank has been noted in The Banker for the level of growth it has consistently achieved year upon year. To support such growth, it has used the SAP system to develop its core banking platform to assist with the process of standardisation and synchronisation across a range of services and activities. Due to recent acquisitions and a large number of suppliers having been used, the bank required a more simple architecture that could cope with cross-border applications with the various currencies, timezones and local idiosyncrasies that entails. The breadth of products and services the bank offers was a significant challenge because few vendors could cover the range. However, Kaupthing found the SAP platform fitted the bill. Working closely together, Kaupthing and SAP AG were able to create unified business processes and products across countries – for example, a single loans processing system across Finland, Sweden and Iceland. The bank believes they have not only succeeded in delivering on current requirements but will also see real benefits in the future for product development and further growth.

Highly commended: Tata Consultancy Services and JPMorgan Chase with customer information systems data integration in M&A scenario

CROSS CHANNEL EXPERIENCE PROJECT

Winner: China Construction Bank with The Practice of E-channel Service

Noted by the judges as one of the most comprehensive entries to date, China Construction Bank (CCB) has maintained its customer-oriented philosophy with the development and integration of its electronic channels. Employing Java technologies to unify transactions across channels, the bank has also integrated its call centre systems to provide a single customer view for staff in branch-based and headquarter-based centres. The latter made good use of many third-party technologies and helped to reduce costs despite the integration required. In mobile banking, CCB has developed the platform to cover various access methods to remove accessibility limits for the millions of users it claims to have. The service delivery levels indicate significant improvements for its customers and improved reliability, all supported by solid figures. The results for the bank have been an increased customer base, increased level of transactions and increased turnover, making it a contender for leader of e-banking in China.

Highly commended: Royal Bank of Scotland with Account Opening

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE PROJECT

Winner: Capgemini Consulting Oesterreich AG with KLIENT

Capgemini showed a remarkable set of integration talents in pulling together this customer relationship management solution for Czech savings bank Ceska Sporitelna, with components from several vendors and representing the largest investment in IT and business transformation the bank has ever made. The system is designed to give a single view of the customer across all channels, having integrated with more than 20 core systems at the bank plus risk management systems to give customers optimum performance. It was good to see great significance being attached to the training and changes to services that meant branches were intended to have a friendlier atmosphere, demonstrating the business-led approach taken to this project. The holistic strategy, taking into account both operational and technology changes, appears to have paid off, giving clear advantages that translate into increased profitability, brand awareness and reduced call answering times for customer service.

Highly commended: Filenet with FileNet P8 Platform

FRAUDULENT ACTION & ID THEFT PREVENTION PROJECT

Winner: Thales E-Security with Thales SafeSign Authentification Server

Taking its progress in Sweden as a sample, Thales E-Security has provided good evidence that its product implementation successfully reduced the threat of fraud in transactions under the greatest threat, such as card-not-present fraud. By setting up a secure server, banks that are signed up to the BankID network can approve the various ways in which consumers can use a secure digital ID and digital signatures alongside smartcard or software-based certificates issued by various authorities as methods of confirmation for payment. Given the predicted growth of the project (with 10% of the population using the system growing 100% per 12-month period) and the importance placed upon tackling fraud, the judging panel agreed that this was a valuable implementation that should increase the take-up of anti-fraud strategies.

Highly commended: RSA Security and HBOS with RSA Cyota Transaction Monitoring

NEW CHANNELS PROJECT

Winner: Wincor Nixdorf and HSBC with HSBC branch refurbishment

HSBC and Wincor Nixdorf have worked well together to fulfil a direct strategic need through technology innovation. The project began with HSBC’s decision to reverse its back office/front office ratio (80%/20% respectively) for space in branches. Partly inspired by the level of customer advice and service available at Swiss and Dutch banks through optimal use of space, it decided to increase the amount that it could provide with a caveat that it would not be expanding its current real estate investment for branches. To achieve this, the bank used the Wincor Nixdorf Self-Service Kiosk, particularly to handle cheque deposit processing, which is often processed manually in the back office. To integrate the systems with HSBC’s own, Wincor Nixdorf customised a number of the bank’s applications and built the integration layer to the bank’s branch platform and architecture. This was enabled in part thanks to the structure that Wincor Nixdorf used in building its software: an object-based system that allows it to be adaptable in fitting to other architectures. Following a pilot project in February 2005, a larger roll out was instigated with 500 kiosks due to be in use by this month. The project directly addressed HSBC’s needs, and the technology adaptations involved made this a winner. The demonstrable returns that were provided sealed the decision.

Highly commended: Siam Commercial Bank and CheckFree with Siam Commercial Bank’s Electronic Presentment & Payment (ePP) Service

NEW PRODUCTS PROJECT

Winner: Lloyds TSB with Ideal home services business

In a move away from traditional retail banking, Lloyds TSB showed ability to innovate in its development of a product set that plays to its knowledge of consumers’ home needs. Also winner of our Outsourcing Project of the Year, Lloyds TSB worked with a third party to add centralised billing to its current offering of mortgage and home insurance. The project has demonstrated return on investment and increased return per customer in a project that required careful management of third-party services and strong service level agreements.

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