Romania’s digital transformation & a culture of trust
PROJECT PARTNERS
OTP Bank Romania’s digital transformation & a culture of trust Interface magazine speaks to Constantin Mares, Executive Director of OTP Bank Romania, regarding the bank’s massive digital transformation
WRI T T EN BY PRODUCED BY
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Andr ew Woods Al ex P ag e
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A
A digital transformation
company to become truly free, flexible
is as much about altering
and agile in its operations, there needs
the mindset and actions of
to be a culture of trust at every level of
humans as it is the implementation of new digital infrastructure, software and
the organisation. Constantin Mares is Executive Director
operations. A workforce, and a work-
of OTP Bank Romania, responsible
ing culture, that embraces change and
for the IT, PMO and Transformation
harnesses its potential, is integral to any
Offices. Constantin is an experienced
digital transformation. To create a fertile
technology leader within the banking
environment in which to grow a busi-
sector, having worked with ING among
ness and its digital operations requires
others. He is a firm believer that an
a bold and creative approach. For a
engaged and motivated workforce,
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one that is aligned, and committed
especially big projects constantly
to a digitally-lead working strategy, is
delayed, and over budget,” he explains
key to unlocking the potential of any
from his Bucharest office. “We soon real-
forward-thinking enterprise.
ised that if we wanted to be success-
When Constantin took on his current
ful – and we desperately want to be
position at OTP, his first assignment
successful – we had to break the silos
was to strengthen the IT function ahead
and have a better collaboration between
of a major transformation programme.
the business and the support units at
Increasingly, OTP was finding that the
the back. We had to bring faster new
standard waterfall methodology was
features and products for our clients, to
holding the bank back from realis-
be closer to their needs so our projects
ing its full potential. “We were having
would create value for them faster.” 5
One of the first major challenges facing Constantin was the establishment of a team that could help deliver the transformation. At that moment, the whole IT department consisted of around 30 people. But the need for change was there because of changes in the market, changes in the banking regulations as well as the demands of the IT department. The colleagues from the team were high-calibre professionals, highly skilled and experienced, but they were overwhelmed by the numerous projects and activities. They needed to receive help at similar level of expertise.” Constantin went to work establishing a management team of 11 to cover all units consisting of business & process analysts, programmers & workflow developers, data analysts, project managers, process analysts, DBAs,
notoriously difficult. “To hire very skilled
network and infrastructure special-
people was seen by the CEO as mission
ists. “United as a management team
impossible,” Constantin explains.
we were able to overcome the inher-
“However, we enjoyed very good
ent difficulties of any transformations or
cooperation with our HR partners who
turn-arounds. Moreover, we were crazy
went to work on the job descriptions
enough to still enjoy our roller-coaster
and our advertising campaigns, which
adventure.” OTP then started to recruit
were very simple and straightforward,
for new people able to deliver change
making it very clear what we needed.
to a high level of expectation.
We highlighted the challenge and the
IT recruitment in Romania is
ambitions we had ahead of us as well
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as the exciting projects.” Within a year,
arrivals understand the complex new
Constantin already doubled the team
environment around us. And of course,
and now, nearly two years on, the team
the new people were avid to learn and
has tripled in size.
very eager to contribute to the new
Recruitment is hard enough, but often
environment.”
the biggest challenge is the onboarding and integration of these new people
A culture of trust
into a rapidly changing workplace. “The
The working culture at OTP initiated a
core of the team was a minority all of
vibe of collaboration, fostering a fail-
the sudden,” he says. “But our managers
fast-to-succeed strategy. “We wanted to
and senior colleagues helped the new
be open, to ask for feedback, to allow 7
We deliver solutions that work
“With the help of SMP Solutions we were able to deliver the possibility of using mobile token application and create higher customer satisfaction.” – Constantin Mares, OTP Bank
At SMP Solutions, we have been committed to providing high-quality and efficient solutions for challenges in IT, banking and security technology for over 30 years. Our cooperation with OTP Bank Romania is a great example of helping our customers along their digital journey by providing them innovative solutions. We are proud that we could take part in enabling the Bank to meet their PSD2 SCA requirements by introducing a mobile token application for their customers. We are looking forward to helping our key client make their customer service more efficient by providing a digital queueing system and CRM solution for their branch network.
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I N A P O S T- PA N DEMIC W CONTACT USO R L D
people to make mistakes and try new
engaged and involved. We can now
things,” Constantin explains. “We were
achieve results faster and it’s more fun
able to instil this trust in our people. We
and fulfilling for us.”
become a place where people can transparently discuss with their managers
The launch of Apollo
about issues or barriers preventing them
“Apollo program was two-fold,” Constantin
to achieve our objectives. I think this was
explains. “First, we wanted to double our
one of the key success factors in achiev-
market share and grow significantly in
ing this transformation.”
our business segments. The other side
A new 360-degree feedback system
was a transformational view of the way
was introduced with staff being asked
it was working and adopting practices
to address what they should start doing,
from Agile methodologies. That’s why
what they should stop doing, and what
we formed Apollo, where we addressed
they should continue doing. According
the business efficiency and the sales
to Constantin, this method of giving and
processes while initiating the visualis-
receiving feedback was instrumental
ation aspect of the bank. We wanted
in creating and strengthening that trust
to be more present and closer to our
base, essential in any successful organ-
online clients to create a better customer
isation. “When you have this kind of
experience.”
trust, people are more comfortable to try
Apollo saw OTP moving into a unified
things, to make decisions, to be great,”
digital strategy, freeing the company
he enthuses. “Because people like to be
up from traditional silos and outmoded
great. People like to be successful and
ways of thinking and working. A new
to achieve. So, we started to empower
spirit of collaboration linked the differ-
the team more. Instead of managers
ent departments as more and more
telling them what to do they would now
people bought into the new joined-up
tell us what to do. We would no longer
approach. Constantin and his team
impose from above regarding the best
could then look into procuring the tools
way for them to go about things. This
and software needed to realise their
completely changed our priorities and
new ambitions. “First of all, we looked at
people are now much more enthusi-
the tools we needed in IT to be able to
astic because they feel appreciated,
secure this growth. We invested heavily w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t
9
in infrastructure and upgraded our core banking system, and changed the set-up, the operating system and database system (end-of-day and end-ofmonth processes run now 6 times faster than before). We replaced more than 1,400 user workstations. We migrated our data center into a tier 4 professional data center with redundant and dual-powered instances of servers, storage, network links and power cooling equipment. Then we upgraded the communication infrastructure (including the remote access capabilities) and security infrastructure. We started with our own processes such as the Demand Management Process and made the decision to adopt JIRA. Many local branches received technological refits, bringing them up to date with modern banking. The organization was enhanced created new functions for test management, IT relationship management, IT asset and contract management, RPA developers or BPM developers. To make sure this rapid growth is sustainable on long run, we created an elite squad of IT architects. We also created a Transformation Office staffed with Scrum masters, Lean 6 Sigma Black Belts and Agile coaches.� 10
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These organizational and techno-
The goal of the transformation was
logical advancements were quickly
to significantly improve productivity
embraced and highly appreciated by
and efficiency of the customer-facing
business departments. They facilitated
employees by consolidating applica-
for much better understanding between
tions, automating processes and visual-
departments with greater transparency
ising customer data and insight. This
when it came to requests for invest-
became our second transformation
ment. “They (business groups) stopped
pillar, after strengthening the IT infra-
challenging every proposal or solution
structure. We had a wide range of busi-
they received from IT,” says Constantin.
ness needs that it wanted to meet with
“We went from business having to ask
a help of a next-generation technology.
for an application, to an understanding
We evaluated numerous software solu-
of the business need and the solution
tions available on the market and opted
proposed. They started to trust us to
for Creatio as the best fit for their busi-
provide them with the solution. We went
ness. The combination of the system’s
from the status of service provider to
low code, process automation, and CRM
status of trusted business partner.” Historically, sales and front office staff faced a myriad of applications that they had to know and understand just to engage with the customer and so this was duly shelved in favour of a more linear approach to reduce the time spent in back-office activities, when they could be more customer facing. “This was because our front offices were engaged in redundant activities, or non-value-added activities,” Constantin explains. “Our growth strategy required a new set of tools and a different approach.
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“Our managers and senior colleagues did a great job in on boarding the new colleagues, helping them understand the complex new environment around us. And of course, the new people were avid to learn and very eager to contribute to the new environment” — C O N S TA N T I N M A R E S , EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OTP BANK ROMANIA
technology ticked all boxes for us. The core project task was focused on streamlining a wide range of front-office and middle-offices processes. Since the scope was extensive, the delivery was divided into several stages. The first delivery stage covered some of the key business needs such as creating a 360-degree customer profile, setting up product catalogue, optimising opportunity management processes, and automating consultation processes. Delivery 2 was dedicated to automating the processes related to current account opening for individuals. Upon delivery 3 phase, the system was integrated with Enterprise Content Management software, which allowed for unified document management. Creatio solutions helped us deliver the large-scale digital transformation project effectively. The new approach allowed the project implementation team to test new functionality, gather valuable feedback,
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U N D E R S TA N D I N G E Q A N D H I R I N G F O R I T I N A P O S T- PA N D E M I C W O R L D
and make needed changes at any
manages the entire customer facing and
stage. Thanks to the intuitiveness of the
back office workflows that we need for
user interface and the ease-of-use of
a smooth onboarding experience. And
Creatio’s solutions, the bank was able to
we are planning to implement new digi-
achieve a high level of user adoption at
tal customer journeys using FintechOS
an accelerated pace. In addition to that,
technology in the next months and years
the bank has embraced low-code devel-
to accelerate digital transformation
opment approach. Low-code technol-
success.
ogy allows for modifying the processes
“For our customers, first impressions
quickly and adjusting them to the
count, so we were very excited to roll
ever-changing business needs without
out FintechOS’s onboarding solution.
heavy reliance on deep technical skills.
And, hitting the market in such a short
The third transformation pillar was, according to Constantin, the most
time is a great achievement. It also helped implement an enterprise
important. The move from traditional
service bus (ESB), which in terms of IT
bricks and mortar banking to a more
architecture, is a major achievement,”
digitalized customer journey was now
says Constantin. The ESB has given
seen as a standard requirement for OTP
OTP much more agility and flexibility
and the team started to think about how
with regards to communication between
they could enhance each layer of OTP
applications and departments.
for its customers. “Having a solid base
Another example is the enhance-
for growth and having internal ineffi-
ment of securities investment services
ciencies sorted out, it was time to take
for private banking and affluent bank-
care about our customers and improve
ing customers. We moved ahead and
their experience starting with their
selected Dorsum, Hungarian solution
very first step: onboarding into OTP.
provider and implemented its advisory
FintechOS’ capabilities turned out to
facing solution, the Wealth Management
be well-suited for our business needs,
Platform. Dorsum designed the func-
supporting the deployment of an auto-
tional scope of the platform together
mated, end-to-end digital onboarding
with the private and affluent business
customer journey very fast. The new
areas. In line with business and oper-
solution delivers and automatically
ational goals of the Bank, functional 15
capabilities of the new digital solution
measurable.
help the advisors to have a real-time
We continuously simplified our star
360 degrees view of the client port-
products and we were among the first
folios, detailed overview of transac-
banks in Romania to introduce new
tion history, portfolio performance and
payment methods: ApplePay and OTPay
investment costs (fees paid), to seam-
for Android platform. We also launched
lessly communicate with the clients, to
new simplified versions of Internet and
build tailor-made advisory and client
mobile banking to allow our customers a
meeting workflow. Of course, all of
smoother interaction with OTP.
these fully in line with the regulatory requirements, such as eg. MiFID2.
The data warehouse
The new digital solution is able to
The fourth pillar of transformation saw
improve the quality and accuracy of
the installation of a new data-driven
the advice, make the advisory and
‘backbone’. OTP invested in a data ware-
client meeting workflow faster and the
house system and started to implement
KPIs and effectiveness of the advisors
its visualisation by using data in making
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info@creatio.com
UK: +44 20 3384 0040
decisions. “. We believe and I believe that
deliver in time new hardware tokens to
in this century, using data is key. We need
our customers and we have created the
to make fast and informed decisions.
possibility of using mobile token appli-
We created a single version of truth,
cation in order to move towards to digi-
augmenting all the data from all different
tal transformation and create higher
systems into one warehouse. We also
customer satisfaction.” “As SMP Solutions is committed in digi-
invested in a visualization layer. We now use Tableau when presenting the data to
tal solutions, we will ensure together an
the organisation.”
intelligent branch queueing and ticketing system in order to optimise the wait-
Success through partnerships
ing time and the personal interactions
With a project of this magnitude and
at the branches,” Constantin enthuses.
complexity, partners are essential to
“The new solution will assist our custom-
OTP’s success, something Constantin is
ers to reserve timeslots remotely for
keen to stress. OTP decided to rely on
personal appointments, while serving
core strengths of such partners imple-
their convenience we will be able to
menting new EU directives of PDS2 SCA
ensure their safety more effectively
in 2019. We created a strong coopera-
during the period of COVID-19.”
tion between OTP and SMP Solutions
The value of a great partnership
that resulted in an adequate solution
really hit home earlier this year when
of providing two-factor authentication
lockdown struck in Romania. OTP’s
method for our customers. With the
work with Dell Technologies and SMP
help of SMP Solutions we were able to
Solutions over the previous two years
“We were able to instil this trust in our people. I think this was one of the key success factors in achieving this transformation” — C O N S TA N T I N M A R E S , EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OTP BANK ROMANIA
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In this picture, from left to right: Nicolae Doca, Daniel Lazar, Isabela Ibraim, Liviu Dragomir, Constantin Mares, Adrian Circel, Alina Donciu, Cristian Marcu, Ciprian Zane Missing from picture: Dragos Serban, Catalin Ileana, Adam Salomon, Florin Gologan, Camelia Drenscu, Bogdan Firican, Ioana Nedelcu, Irina Popovici, Andreea Plesa, Miruna Dinu
had placed the bank in a compara-
Constantin explains. “The fact that we
tively comfortable position when the
achieved this in a very short time frame
pandemic struck with the digital back-
– in two weeks we had 97% of the
bone of the bank continuing to oper-
people from headquarters working from
ate as if they were back in the office.
home – is also attributable to our part-
“On the infrastructure side we like SMP
ners from Dell Technologies and SMP
Solutions, which is a partner of Dell
Solutions. They immediately understood
Technologies in this infrastructure area,”
what was going on. They were standing
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next to us and helped us in these crazy
how the mindset and people’s behav-
times.”
iour adapted so quickly when we went
In terms of how OTP addressed or
through a crisis period.” It was felt by
reacted to the pandemic, are there any
some at OTP that working from home, in
learnings that have happened during
a paperless environment just wouldn’t
this time that Constantin might take
work. “However, in a matter of weeks,
forward with him, post COVID? “Yeah, I
guess what? Business functions were
would say it was very interesting to see
increasing following a decrease in 19
month three. By July, we were back on track and even above the levels before the pandemic. We are still working with no paper, and we are still working from home and I would say this is an important take away. I mean every crisis has opportunities and I think this was the opportunity resulting from this particular crisis.” Another key takeaway of this period for Constantin is the new level of understanding between managers and their teams. Again, it goes back to this culture of trust. “I think it’s very important that the management comes to the people, understands their problems and takes decisions to support the teams,” says Constantin. “The management team cares about the health and the wellbeing of the people and so provided some specialised client psychologists for our people should they need to call such a person.” Bolstered by a new digital backbone and organisational structure OTP is now able to research and develop new products at speed, including the recent chatbot. “In three weeks, we launched this chatbot with end-to-end integrations from the website, in which the customer could go through the process
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in a completely automated way, rather
mindset shift also applied to our busi-
than interacting with a call centre oper-
ness colleagues would not even dare to
ator. This channel was used by 55% of
believe that the implementation could
the clients asking for a debt release, a
be done in such a short time frame nor
significant number. We were not esti-
that such an implementation would have
mating such a big success or such a
such a big success for the client.�
big impact for a newly launched chan-
OTP is now a much more agile and
nel, but it was very easily embraced by
flexible enterprise, fuelled by an intox-
the customer (having more than 60,000
icating spirit of collaboration, creating
interactions in less 3 months). This
new products at speed and seamlessly
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attracting and onboarding new clients
once. We have so many things to do that
through its state-of-the-art customer
it is very fulfilling for me and something
journey. It’s clearly an environment that
I’m enjoying a lot. To see this change in
has engaged Constantin. “To work in
the culture of the organisation, to see
such a rapidly growing environment and
people more open, more vibrant and
to be able to implement transforma-
happier at work is a good accomplish-
tions on so many levels is very fulfilling
ment and a great motivation for me and
for me, because I get to apply all my
my work at OTP.”
management experience, all my banking experience, and people skills all at
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www.otpbank.ro