Interface – Issue 16 by B2e Media

ISSUE 16

W W W. T H E I N T E R F A C E . N E T

MAGA ZINE

Five opportunities that COVID-19 has created for the digital banking sector Carlene Jackson: Embracing technology, people and change

The power of teaching. The power of technology Ray Stanley, CIO and VP of Marian University, tells us how an IT strategy empowers the student to unlock their potential

Executive Insights

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Marius Galdikas: Cashless is king

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WELCOME TO ANOTHER PACKED ISSUE OF INTERFACE MAGAZINE! Our cover story this month is an exclusive look behind the scenes at Indianapolis’ Marian University to see how its unique technology strategy puts the student experience front and centre. Ray Stanley, CIO and VP of Marian University, tells us how an IT strategy empowers the student to unlock their true potential. “In higher education, we have many different groups of customers. We have the staff, faculty and students and so being a driver of technology is critical,” explains Stanley. “But you also have to make sure that you’re listening to your entire customer base as a whole and that you’re understanding and aligning with the trends in higher education.” “In higher education, the industry kind of forces you to go where it needs to go in its offerings,” Stanley explains. “You also cannot force technology and expect adoption. You’re not here to support a business to make a profit, your goal is to support the

EDITOR IN CHIEF Andrew Woods

EDITOR Dale Benton

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Callum Rivett

faculty to instruct a student for successful graduation and it’s a

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

completely different mindset and a completely different model.”

Nell Walker Kevin Davies

Elsewhere, this month, we spoke to Carlene Jackson, CEO of Cloud9 Insight, about the transformative power of both technology and company culture. Marius Galdikas, CEO of ConnectPay, explains the role of digital finance during a pandemic, and how it has changed society forever. Plus, Agnė Selemonaitė, Deputy CEO at ConnectPay reveals five opportunities that COVID-19 has created for the digital banking sector…

CREATIVE LEAD Mitchell Park

VP GLOBAL FINTECH & INSURTECH Alex Page

VP TECHNOLOGY Andy Lloyd Craig Daniels

Enjoy the issue!

VP PROCUREMENT Heykel Ouni Greg Churchill

PRESIDENT & CEO Kiron Chavda

ndrew Woods, Editor in chief A content@b2e-media.com

PUBLISHED BY

CONTENTS

Marian University

Marius Galdikas: Cashless is king

Carlene Jackson

50 Amplifon

32 Five opportunities that COVID19 has created for the digital banking sector

OTP Bank

The power of teaching. The power of technology Ray Stanley, CIO and VP of Marian University, tells us how an IT strategy empowers the student to unlock their potential

WRI T T EN BY PRODUCED BY

D al e Bent o n Cr ai g D aniels

MARIAN UNIVERSITY

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

echnology is an enabler. Whether it enables us to pay our bills, stream media, do

our jobs or simply access more information, technology is the crucial cog in our everyday lives. When we talk of technology in business, we think of huge digital transformations, IT architectures and omni-channel experiences to better understand and ultimately serve the customers, but what do we think of with regards to technology in higher education? Are investments in technology in this space purely to serve the needs of the business (in this case a college, or a university) or to serve the needs of the student? If it is purely the latter, then the technology is implemented with the faculty members in mind. To look at it from a business perspective, the technology conversation remains the same;

entire customer base as a whole and that

the stakeholders have different needs

you're understanding and aligning with

and the number of them is considera-

the trends in higher education.”

bly more. “In higher education, we have

A technology man by trade, Stanley

many different groups of customers. We

joined Marian University back in 2016

have the staff, faculty and students and

with a career defined by what he

so being a driver of technology is criti-

describes as a mix of “corporate” and

cal,” explains Ray Stanley, CIO of Marian

government IT. He moved to Marian

University, a higher education facility

University at a time where it had grown

that services nearly 4,000 students in

exponentially and needed to reinvigor-

Indianapolis, USA. “But you also have to

ate its IT and technology architecture to

make sure that you're listening to your

cater to the ever growing demands of

MARIAN UNIVERSITY

the student. Stanley acknowledges the

to go in its offerings. You also cannot

differences of working in higher educa-

force technology and expect adoption.

tion, particularly when coming from a

You're not here to support a business to

corporate background. “It's much differ-

make a profit, your goal is to support the

ent in corporate America, where IT can

faculty to instruct a student for successful

completely dictate direction and tech-

graduation and it's a completely differ-

nology adoption a lot of times. As long

ent mindset and a completely different

as they partner with the business units,

model.”

they can kind of dictate the path as far as

Despite the different model and mind-

where the technology is going to go,” he

set, Stanley finds it an incredibly reward-

says. “In higher education, the industry

ing job and admits that he feels truly

kind of forces you to go where it needs

blessed to see students he’s worked w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

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with, and knows personally, achieve their goals thanks in part to the work he is doing with the university. “It’s a very different feeling to producing profit for somebody,” he says. “Your goal is to not produce widgets, it's to successfully move that student forward in their lives, and to play a part in that is so incredible.” A common talking point in any IT discussion in business is how the IT function can become stronger and more effective as a partner to the business, rather than simply a separate office that is only needed when required. In higher education, and indeed Marian University, this is an important and ever-evolving conversation due to the needs of the most important stakeholder: the student. Students demand more and as a university that offer a multitude of degrees ranging from Doctoral of Ostephathic Medicine, Nursing and Biomed Sciences to Management, Marketing, Exercise Science and several other Arts and Sciences, where the technology needs to be truly leading-edge. “We have a leading College of Osteopathic Medicine and top tier Nursing School where a lot of the technology we're using is unbelievable,” says Stanley. “We have an assortment of full Simulation Labs where students learn through several technical avenues. In short order, we’ll be introducing a new 3D simulated operating table. It is a large touch-screen operating table with an image of a body on it. Students can use the touch-screen to stretch, open, twist, enlarge, and shrink the 3D images. It really gives students another level of hands-on learning that will help them better understand their practice, and ultimately more competitive for top residencies and jobs as they graduate.” 12

MARIAN UNIVERSITY

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

Technology is a partner for the faculty

times because they will quite simply be

for instruction, for students, for learning

forgotten. “Students want mobility. They

and for their on campus life. It's critical

want mobile apps. We are working to

and it's certainly very interwoven into

grow with the students to provide their

every part of the university campus. In

mobility needs,” he says. “You have to

Stanley’s own words; gone are the days

evolve with the students and the faculty

of chalkboards as there is no room for

has to evolve with the students. Anyone

a university or college to be behind the

who’s instructing any class has to make

MARIAN UNIVERSITY

sure that they're maintaining a level of

cybersecurity holes, a lack of clear tech-

technological demand that the students

nology policies and an overall complex

expect.”

infrastructure. Over the past four years,

As part of his remit with the University,

he has focused largely on cyber secu-

Stanley was tasked with looking at

rity as his number one priority. Given

putting the pieces together to fix what

the increasing connectedness of every

he describes as ”technical broken

part of the student experience, this was

glass”. This consisted of a number of

a no brainer. Working with a number of partners, Stanley and his team are constantly training and testing faculty staff and students on a regular basis in order to ensure that they are at a very high level that’s required with regards to understanding cybersecurity and better protecting their data and that of the faculty. “We've also had to really beef up our infrastructure in terms of internet bandwidth,” he adds. “Wi-Fi, of course, is huge for students. We went from a single one gigabyte pipe coming into campus to where we have two 10gb connections coming in and right now we are also getting ready to bring a third vendor in so we have a three-way composite if one goes down.” With a number of years focused on getting cyber security, networking and infrastructure to the required levels of a growing university, eyes are now focused on a significant cloud migration that will see Marian University leave the data center days behind. Breaking away from w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

the traditional (and ultimately costly) colo-

When operating in the technology

cation approach represents a big change

space, making big investments and

for Stanley and his teams. “We talked

implementing new processes and new

about the mobility that students demand

solutions the pressure to provide real

and to be honest, there really weren't a lot

tangible results is high. This is only natu-

of mobile devices on campus, other than

ral and the pressure is no different for

cell phones when I got here,” he adds.

Stanley and the higher education sector.

“We were tethered to PCs and we had

In the corporate IT space, results can be

a few iPads and so we have flipped that

defined by cost savings or an upswing

on its head. We really don't invest in PCs

in customers but what is a key measure

anymore. Everything is on laptops now. So,

of success for Marian University? For

we've really had a monumental shift in our

Stanley, it goes back to the student. The

technology exposure over the past four or

student and the success of the student

five years and I think that will change even

are what drives the IT strategy.

more the next four or five years.”

“For us we look at the retention rates.

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MARIAN UNIVERSITY

“ Your goal is to not produce widgets, it’s to successfully move that student forward in their lives, and to play a part in that is so incredible” — R AY S TA N L E Y, C I O , V P, M A R I A N U N I V E R S I T Y

If we have a student on campus and

system and as a result of this has seen

the classes aren't what they expect or

record enrollment for its first full-time

the technology experience isn't what

freshman student class in 2020. Stanley

they want, they'll go somewhere else

attributes a lot of this success directly to

and that's very well documented,” he

the investments that are being made in

says. “So, we've really helped increased

technology.

our retention rates through a posi-

The technology space is over satu-

tive student-IT experience. At 83% our

rated with shiny new digital solutions that

retention rates are above the national

will claim to fix any problem and solve

average, which is a big number. Most

any challenge and in turn, the conver-

colleges or universities aren’t nearly at

sations become dictated by buzzwords

that level. So, there's a big focus there on

and “sexy” technologies. Headlines focus

retention.”

on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine

Elsewhere, and also feeding into this

Learning, Blockchain, Big Data and one

retention focus, Stanley continuously

could be forgiven for feeling somewhat

monitors the technology provided to the

overwhelmed or worse, focusing on the

advancement team as well as the func-

solutions that don't have any real rele-

tionality of the fundraising and the abil-

vance to their own particular challenges.

ity to reach deeper into a fundraising

Stanley is aware of this challenge and

network as well as admissions. Marian

points to a key example that is currently

University has completely revamped the

a hot trend for the higher education

student information system and recruiting

space. “We’re investigating keyless door w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

entry into the residence halls. It could

exacerbated in recent times following the

be a key differentiator for us. Now, there

COVID-19 pandemic. Stanley points to

are a lot of new technologies out there

the shifting needs of business and how

that allow you to take a phone, using

that had created a flooding of the market

Bluetooth, to scan your door to open it,”

with solutions that were almost pitted as

he says. “Suddenly, students don't need

a silver bullet for many. He admits that

a key anymore and I can use a phone

yes, some were, and are, right for the

to go to the dining hall, Subway, or

University, but what's important for him

Starbucks as well. It's a great opportunity,

is to recognize and acknowledge the

but we need to perform the homework to

“imposter companies”. These “imposter”

ensure it provide the best return of our

companies were, as Stanley notes, just

investments.”

showing up making it really difficult to

This is a challenge that has only been 18

MARIAN UNIVERSITY

find a real solution that provides benefit

versus something that acts like it's going

ideas,” says Stanley. “We rely on some of

to produce benefit. Key to overcom-

the bigger schools like Indiana University

ing this has been the way in which the

and Purdue University for some of their

University works with its external part-

guidance and leadership. It’s about

ners. One such partner is EDUCAUSE, a

getting out, communicating, understand-

nonprofit association in the United States

ing the marketplace and understanding

whose mission is "to advance higher

the needs.”

education through the use of information technology”. “We spend a lot of time with them and

The work and the collaboration with EDUCAUSE allows Stanley and Marian to ask and answer the important ques-

we have a group of 30 in Indiana made

tions: will making a bigger investment

up of colleges and universities. We sit on

make sense? What will the return be?

a council together and we exchanging

And ultimately, how many students does w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

it either retain or bring into the univer-

into our IT strategic plan because of

sity? Students, much like customers in

the feedback that we get there on what

the corporate IT space, are the biggest

we're doing well, what we're not doing

and most important stakeholders for

well or what we are missing as far as a

Marian University. Stanley and his teams

need, really then drives a lot of that IT

can tell us that they make sure that

strategic plan.”

they [the students] are at the very heart

Being with the students proves critical

of every decision they make, but how

for Stanley and for the success of Marian.

do they go about actually doing that?

What is clear is that there is a culture

After all, no two students are the same

of bringing the students in, getting to

and offering individual experiences to

know them and ensuring that the univer-

each and every one is possible to some

sity is doing what the students need. A

degree but it is a difficult and often fruit-

key example of this can be seen in the

less endeavour. Stanley knows this, but

Freshman Connect program. By visiting

he also knows how to walk the walk and

the residence halls and taking part in

not simply talk it. “The very first thing I

a root beer social, interacting with the

did when I joined was create a student

students and showing them how to use

survey that goes out twice a year at the

different technologies, Stanley and his

end of each semester, gauging feedback

teams took feedback from them in a way

on how their technology experience has

that was more personal than just relying

been and what things they would like to

on the surveys. “It was so rewarding,” he

see changed,” he says. “I then meet with

beams. “I was really looking forward to

the different student government associ-

doing it this fall, but we couldn't quite do

ations and that's my time to listen. Sure,

it with the social distancing that we need

I tell them where we are at with certain

to, but we'll certainly put that back into

initiatives but I'm there to listen. Tell me

place next year.”

what you want and what you need. Tell

In early 2020, the world was gripped

me what's not working. Tell me what is

by the COVID-19 pandemic. With lock-

working.”

downs, social distancing and isola-

The results, for him personally, speak

tion being enforced all over the world,

for themselves. “It really is a great feed-

the education sector faced a difficult

back loop. The survey also leads right

challenge; how to continue providing

MARIAN UNIVERSITY

“ ...The biggest key to success is setting a path and making sure that you’re always looking ahead. Yes, you’re going to encounter deviations off that path, but you need to know where you’re going. If you don’t. Then you’re not going to get there. We simply cannot chase those shiny objects” —

R AY S TA N L E Y, C I O , V P, M A R I A N U N I V E R S I T Y

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

education services to the students when

planning, which included being able to

they are not on campus and to do so

teach remotely. And so, that pivot in the

in a way that does not jeopardize their

spring was almost a non-event for IT,”

success. Marian University closed and

he says. “Now, there were some things,

the students were sent home. Rather

people needed different devices than

than be faced with a new challenge of

they'd had before getting the devices

online teaching, Stanley and his team

in March and April was almost impos-

had spent the last few years focusing on

sible. But that was really the only large

how to use the technologies to deliver

hurdle we encountered, which is really

exactly that. “We had been doing a lot

amazing.”

of work in our emergency response

MARIAN UNIVERSITY

The new demands that were required

of IT included temperature monitor-

there's still equipment that's aging, all

ing, capacity scanning and planning

of that,” says Stanley. “So, it really threw

and contact tracing, things that Stanley

an extra amount of work in. But we were

openly admits he knew little of only 12

able to kind of parallel the work streams

months ago. The technology that's been

and still make it back. As we speak today,

required to have a university open back

we've successfully had students back for

up was a whole new experience for

about three weeks now.”

Stanley, but there still remained an over-

At the time of writing, the future

arching IT strategy that needed to be

remains uncertain and there is no guar-

addressed. “I still have to keep things

antee that those students will not be sent

moving, where there's still licensing,

back home in the near future although

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

MARIAN UNIVERSITY

the immediate future looks good. What we can be certain of is that Marian University has worked extremely hard to ensure that it can still be there for its students in their time of need. There have undoubtedly been a number shifts in its IT strategic plan to cater towards more mobility and to be able to deliver that technology remotely and virtually for teaching. But Stanley affirms that the IT strategic plan has remained intact and all of the yearly schedules and goals are where they need to be. Looking to the future, the next 12 months and beyond, Stanley is keen to fully migrate into the cloud and to be able to continue to improve the University's network offering. For him, the biggest complaint of any student is connectivity and so there will be constant work in improving that connectivity and improving the (already high) student satisfaction rate. Working in the technology space is not easy. Combining that challenge with the challenges of serving a higher education facility and it becomes even more difficult. Stanley reflects on a piece of advice that has stuck with him throughout his career. "Don't steer a cruise ship, like a speed boat,” he laughs. “An old manager told me that and it’s stuck with me because it is easy to chase the shiny objects because they are shiny, new and promise great benefits. But you cannot shift a large group of 5,000+ people that quickly, it just doesn't work. The biggest key to success is setting a path and making sure that you’re always looking ahead. Yes, you’re going to encounter deviations off that path, but you need to know where you're going. If you don’t plan and set a path, then you're simply not going to accomplish your goals for the University.” w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

Cashless is king WRI T T EN BY

N el l Wal ke r

Marius Galdikas, CEO of ConnectPay, explains the role of digital finance during a pandemic, and how it has changed society forever

Could you tell us a little about your background?

governments reacted and we had these

I originally come from the field of tech-

there’s a lot of funds being distributed

nology. I’m a physicist, and I’ve always

through different programs. And many of

marveled at engineering and technol-

those funds are meant for relieving the

ogy – digital technology, specifically.

consequences of joblessness.

stimulus programs released, which means

Through the years, I shifted into products and then into fintech, which was very exciting to me, because fintech is about people and technology. It’s about good people that understand regulation, understand business and understand technology. I am now the CEO of ConnectPay.

Data shows that cyberattacks on financial institutions spiked enormously between February and April this year – why is that? I think the main reason it happened is actually at the core of the pandemic; the pandemic means people are locked up at home, so you end up with many more

So you have a lot of new funds moving

users of digital financial services than there

around and, because all of it is happen-

usually are. Cash is unusable at this time,

ing in the digital finance area, I think that

when you’re locked up, so you have a lot

stirred up the whole fraudster commu-

of new customers in digital finance – some

nity. Fraudsters are working hard, now,

of them are tech savvy and others are not.

to try and use the situation to steal funds

There’s a lot of people that never used digital

from people, which results in informa-

financial services, and now they must. So

tion security threats and cyber attacks.

you have this influx of customers into the

Cyber attacks are means of achieving

market, that’s number one. Number two,

the goals for fraudsters.

CASHLESS IS KING

How has cyber security adapted to combat this issue? It’s a very big challenge to tackle. Number one is, all of the financial services providers that already operate online, they have their assets online, they have the required technology and so on. Could that have been changed so fast? No. Information security requires a lot of work and insight, and it’s a lengthy process to deploy specific tools to combat that. So I don’t think much has changed, but I think a realisation came that fraud prevention is now a very important area.

As well as increased security, what have been some of the digital baking trends since the emergence of COVID-19? How have people changed the way they handle money?

of financial crisis, and I think we will see

The stride towards a cashless society has

for those changes? Previously in 2008,

obviously been accelerated, forcefully.

there was a huge loss in trust towards

Some countries and some companies will

financial institutions. The financial sector

do better than others, but I think majority

was the reason behind the crash, and

of the change is yet to come, because

so trust was lost, and all of these instru-

the pandemic will result in economic

ments – crowdfunding, sharing econ-

hardship and economic hardship will

omy, blockchain technology – were

result in changes, in innovation, just like

targeted specifically at, “Hey, we don’t

we had in the 2008 crisis. That gave

trust financial institutions anymore; what

birth to Bitcoin crowdfunding, sharing

can we do to exclude them from the

economies – all of that was an outcome

economy altogether?”

something come up that we cannot even imagine right now. What is the driver

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

So what will happen now, I think, will

how fast will we get to cashless society,

be the same, depending on the size of

country-by-country. But also, what we

the downturn. I’ve been hearing that in

need to understand is that cashless soci-

the Western and European developed

ety also sort of puts a strain on the soci-

markets, countries have been hit very

ety as a general, because elderly people

hard, financially, by the pandemic. This

might be excluded from this market or

will continue; there will be financial

might have trouble or problems adapting

problems. It’s different because, previ-

to the cashless environment. However,

ously, everybody lost jobs and salaries

sometime, we will all be there.

went down. Now, there’s a different

The push towards the cashless society

aspect to what the hardship will be like,

is driven by two things: one is the new

and it will result in something new.

consumer. These are new people, the new generation, and exchanging funds

What are your thoughts on a cashless society? Do you think it’s inevitable or are there barriers? And if it does happen, how far away do you think it is?

should be as simple as messaging or

I do think it’s inevitable. I think the entire

part is the actual financial institutions

world is going towards a cashless soci-

that drive the cashless society, but their

ety at different speeds; for example, the

reasoning is different – it’s efficiency.

Nordic countries are the biggest cash-

They want to cut costs. They don’t want

less societies in the world, whereas the

to have physical retail locations. Nobody

UK is probably five years behind them.

wants to transport or count cash. There’s

In the US, cash is still very important

fraud issues related to cash, so the

–people love cash in the States – so

financial institutions are driving it from

they’re about 10 years probably behind

another perspective.

the Nordics. However, the direction is the same. It’s all going towards cashless. The reasons for it is obviously internet penetration and mobile phone penetration – those are the key factors towards 31

CASHLESS IS KING

using social media. So one driver is this new generation that drives the digital economy and the cashlessness, because they live in the digital world. The other

Do you think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s safe to say that digital banking is no longer a luxury, but a necessity? Absolutely. We see that the world is much more fragile than we thought. We are all forced to go online, work from home, access our financial instruments from home, shop online, get government funding and stimulus online without going anywhere, and so on. It is a necessity, it is definitely not a luxury and everybody will have to adapt to that. I just hope it becomes less painful for everybody to transition, and that people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t lose out on their money through fraud.

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

Digital Alignment: A digital transformation with the customer at the centre Alessandro Crisci, SVP of IT for Amplifon Americas, talks digital transformation and how an aging customer base is more digitally enabled than ever before...

WRI T T EN BY

D al e Bent o n

PRODUCED BY

Cr ai g D aniels

he role of the CIO and the significance of an IT function has changed dramatically. Given the rise of digital solutions, digital transfor-

mations and the digitalisation of business, this comes as no surprise. No matter the industry, no matter the market specialization, the challenge for any business remains the same - serving the customer. The customers of today, and the customers of tomorrow, demand seamless experiences and digitally enabled interaction with their service providers. These demands are constantly shifting and so businesses over the world continue to radically shift their internal IT infrastructures to enable a level of agility and resilience that fosters innovation and allows them to continue to better meet the needs of this evolving customer base. “The world around you is constantly evolving thanks to new technologies and new market challenges; your customers are changing too,” says Alessandro Crisci, Senior VP of IT for Amplifon Americas. “There is a major generational change happening and so whatever you were prepared to face five years ago has changed quite a bit. “Every company has to continually adapt to be relevant in the market and to be relevant to the customer, whoever they are.” Amplifon is the leading global provider of solutions and services in the hearing care space. With more than 10 million customers worldwide, Amplifon provides a number of services ranging from comprehensive hearing tests, consultation on hearing aid solutions, fitting of hearing devices, and hearing care assistance. With more than 10,000-point of sales (POS), and 17,000 people across all 34

AMPLIFON

five continents, the challenge of meeting

clinics and stores) and Amplifon Hearing

the changing customer base is amplified

Health Care (managed care space serv-

significantly.

ing members of insurances, employers or

Crisci is the SVP of IT for Amplifon Americas, which is made up of four key brands; Amplifon Canada (business to

associations that are providing hearing aid benefits to their members). Through his role, he serves all four of

consumer retailer), Miracle-Ear (the larg-

the brands with a shared and unified IT

est brand made up of franchisee and

team. “I am here to drive the digital trans-

corporate-operated clinics), Elite Hearing

formation of Amplifon in the Americas

Network (offering services to independent

Region,” he says. “It’s important to w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

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

recognize that this is not just an IT journey,

to a digital transformation, and Crisci is

it’s a joint journey. We are transforming the

keen to highlight the one true common-

company in the way we operate, and we

ality in any journey. “It has to be relevant

are doing it in conjunction with all of the

and start from the customer,” he says. “At

business.”

the end, we transform to better serve our

This transformation aligns to a broader

customers. A transformation done just for

global journey of Amplifon called One

the sake of adopting technology does not

Amplifon Transformation, which will see

make sense.

the company truly align and leverage all of

“We look at all the aspects of the

its global assets, solutions and ‘know-how’

customer journey and customer experi-

while still remaining relevant to its local

ence and we define a roadmap based

markets.

on what is relevant for them. Then we

The term ‘digital transformation’ is

have regular alignment discussions with

incredibly overexposed and, with it, comes

all business unit leaders, and corporate

a key challenge in trying to define what it

and global colleagues, and we execute

even means for a company. Each company

against them. That’s the basis for this

has its own focus, priorities and approach

transformation.”

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

Placing the customer at the very centre

old. We found that even if you think they

of the transformation sounds simple

are unfamiliar with digital channels, that’s

enough on paper, but to maintain this

not actually true; a good portion of them is

approach requires a constant dialogue

very active on the digital channels.”

with the customer and keeping a close

This has forced Amplifon Americas

eye on the market. This allows the busi-

to think a little more about its own digi-

ness to ensure that any decision it makes

tal channels and recognize and iden-

is made with the customer’s needs and

tify a number of key ways in which it can

expectations in mind.

improve and better serve this customer

“As a company, of course we observe

base. Crisci is keen to highlight that as

the market. We observe the trends, and

Amplifon has such a huge global network,

we make our own studies,” he says. “One

some of which are further along this digi-

thing that we’ve found particularly inter-

tal maturity curve than others, he can

esting about our customer base is that

tap into and leverage best practices

normally they are around 60-65+ years

and successes from them. This proves

Conduent brings more precision to paying claims. Returning more than $750M a year to health plans

AMPLIFON

“It’s important to recognise that this is not an IT journey, it’s a joint journey. We are transforming the company in the way we operate, and we are doing it in conjunction with all of the business” —

ALESSANDRO CRISCI SVP OF IT FOR AMPLIFON AMERICAS

essential when establishing businesses

piece.”

cases for digital solutions, as opposed to

Amplifon Americas’ digital journey

simply following the digital trends in the

looks closely at three different areas:

markets.

digital interaction, the evolution of hear-

“You need to be aware of technology

ing aid products and the transformation

and to study both your market and the

of systems and technology to enable its

other businesses to see what is available,

people to serve the customer better. As

especially when the investments are large

Crisci noted above, the majority of the

and they change how your business oper-

customer base sits in the 60-65+ age

ates,” says Crisci.

range but market evaluation recognized

“It’s very important that you have solid

that both this group and the younger

business case study. There are some

55-60 age group are digitally active,

things you can try and pilot; a quick solu-

and so digital interaction becomes a key

tion that you can put there and see if it

priority.

works. When we invest in technology,

The company has invested in overhaul-

we have to start by asking how we can

ing its websites and the experience, capa-

better serve our customers. We try to look

bilities and the functionalities behind them

end-to-end and at the customer journey;

as well as launching a branded mobile

what they will experience? How can we

app. “We also looked at the digital inter-

provide a better experience? Or better

action not just with our end customer, but

products, solutions and a better service?

with our partners,” says Crisci. “Here we

We then try to define the technology

launched new portals to be able to interact w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

AMPLIFON

digitally with our providers. With custom-

channel. “Audiologists and hearing care

ers, we now have a scenario where they

professionals are at the centre of our

can go on our website or app, find a store

customer experience, and they need to

close to them, book an appointment, and

be enabled with tools and capabilities to

schedule a consultation online.”

provide an excellent experience,” he says.

As a market leader in hearing care

He envisions a situation where a customer

services and solutions, Amplifon does

enters a store and the shop or clinic

not actually manufacture hearing aids. It

personnel know who that person is and

works with partners to make hearing aids

knows in advance what issues they might

available on the market and provide new

have if they use a hearing aid.

solutions to the customer, which are more

To achieve this, Amplifon focuses on

advanced and more connected. Falling

the digitalization of enterprise processes

under Amplifon America’s largest brand,

and customization of the experience:

Miracle-Ear, the company launched an

“The more you streamline your enterprise

initiative called the Miracle-Ear Product

processes, the more precise, timely, and

Experience. This is a comprehensive prop-

reliable you are in serving” he says. “As per

osition for its customer, which encom-

providing a personalized experience, this

passes both the technology solution

means you look at an increasing number

(hearing aids) and services like hearing

of data and truly know your customer,

care and support. “This proposition is fully

because if you know your customer, then

connected,” explains Crisci. “Your hear-

you can provide better services because

ing aid is connected through your mobile

you understand their challenges.”

app and can be connected through other

Evidence of this can be seen in how

devices in the house. You have a fully inte-

Amplifon Americas has worked to improve

grated journey, and you can also provide

its capability as a third-party administra-

care to the customer. Remote care is a

tor in the managed care space. These

growing trend, so this is becoming more

improvements allow the company to seam-

relevant to Amplifon.”

lessly integrate with large payers like insur-

For Crisci, the third area is very impor-

ers and employers to be able to better

tant, and for him it’s a case of enabling

serve their members, be more respon-

Amplifon’s people to serve the customer

sive and streamlined and have immediate

better, irrespective of the customer

access to the right information. This can w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

include what benefits they have or what process and even what insurance claim they might have. Amplifon Americas can now do this much more effectively in an integrated and automated way. Elsewhere, Amplifon Americas has also launched its One Big Data program, which allows the company to have a comprehensive view of its customers, including visits to any of its clinics as well as what their purchases are. On top of that, thanks to the integration with the mobile app, the company can understand if they are using their hearing aid effectively and can assist them in optimising their distinctive experience. “Ultimately, the aim of this is to have a better understanding of what the customer needs in order to serve them better,” adds Crisci. “We can use this to offer the best solution to fit their needs and provide them with counselling and care throughout the journey so that they make the best use of it.” One can be forgiven for thinking a journey like this is a simple and pain free experience, thanks in part to the great successes achieved so far. But, as we all know, technology breeds great opportunity and great challenge and no company is immune to these challenges. For many, a key challenge is buy-in. After all, a transformation brings change and some 42

AMPLIFON

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

AMPLIFON

may not feel the need for change. “Any

work and deliver results and prove that

successful transformation is successful

he is doing the right thing. Having experi-

only to the extent that it’s fully embraced

enced success helps the conversation but

by the team,” he says. “I think it’s manda-

you have to continuously work to engage

tory, and a pillar of your transformation

and stimulate your team, and the entire

should be to continually promote and

organization. “Apart from the buy in of the

explain the journey, and to have ambassa-

business, a transformation is resource

dors promoting the idea and the change

demanding and intense,” he says. “Seeing

through the organization.”

results and seeing the fact that they are appreciated helps build the morale of the

“There’s also the need to integrate your transformation journey with the running

team,” he says. “That’s an important aspect

of your daily operation,” he adds. “You

too, where I work a lot with my team in

have to serve your customers on a daily

getting suggestions from them on which

basis, all while running a transformation.

type of communication, interaction and

I don’t think there is a secret sauce here

discussion they want to have. That’s some-

to face this, but you have to carefully plan

thing we work a lot to be all aligned in this

resources and not underestimate the

journey.” Aligning and energising the people is

importance of knowing which people you

something that Crisci and his team are

need to do what.”

incredibly proud of.

With a digital transformation, there is no

“The team that I have today has signifi-

clear end in sight. Businesses find themselves in a continuous evolution and Crisci

cantly evolved from the one I met almost

is one of many who must continuously

two years ago when I joined,” he says.

“A pillar of your transformation should be to continually promote and explain the journey, and to have ambassadors promoting the idea and the change through the organisation” —

ALESSANDRO CRISCI SVP OF IT FOR AMPLIFON AMERICAS

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

ALESSANDRO CRISCI SVP OF IT FOR AMPLIFON AMERICAS

“There is a good part of the team which is

cannot be achieved alone, and Amplifon

still the same, but with a different energy

Americas works closely with a number of

and interest. There are people who are

partners on this journey. Some of them

energized talking about new technol-

have been partners for a long time, and

ogy and a new role of IT in the company.

others brought in specifically for this

They are passionate about learning and

journey.

evolving.”

Crisci is keen to highlight a few that he describes as, “the backbone to providing

Vendors and partners A transformation is something that simply 46

AMPLIFON

services to our customers”.

A time of crisis

“Think about the journey we are doing.

At the time of writing, the world has been

We are transforming the way we run our

gripped and devastated in many ways

operations. To us, it’s very important that

by the COVID19 pandemic. For business,

the partners bring their experience and

this has been a time of uncertainty and

perspective. Have honest, constructive

opportunity and Crisci is quick to highlight

and open conversations,” he says. “It’s

that the strength of these partnerships

much easier to deal with partners, where

(coupled with the work completed so far)

you can talk straight, you can have an

has been key for Amplifon Americas to

honest conversation, you can give feed-

remain strong throughout.

back to each other, and we can improve w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

together. I think that’s the type of partner that we of course look for, and those are the partners we try to work with.” The next few years will see increased optimisation of the IT infrastructure and it will also see a degree of harmonisation, bringing the best practices from one brand into the others; aligning the people, and the businesses, together. Crisci reflects on what has been key to success for him and what will remain key moving forward - is it the best technology? Or is it investing great deals of money? “It’s simple: listen to your customer,” he says adamantly. “I have a lot of internal customers who I work in partnership with and we have a lot of mutual trust. For a transformation it’s about managing the change, the priorities, the team and the organization “If you openly discuss with everyone and manage it together and if you work in partnership and align on the priorities, then you are achieving success from the very start.”

Ricoh IT Services “We have a complex, IT infrastructure, some of which is in the public and private cloud space. Ricoh supports us in managing our private cloud and the data center infrastructure. We started a journey with 48

AMPLIFON

them to increase virtualization to our scalability. That’s very instrumental for us: for our ability to expand, to better serve our customers, to be able to operate at speed, and to be reliable.”

Sycle.net, “They provide the solutions which we use in the clinics to handle patient care, so they are a critical part of our infrastructure. We want to provide an omnichannel journey for our customers. If you come from a digital channel, or you’re going to the shop, or you use our mobile app, the interaction you have with us is visible and is consistent across the channels. They are the master of our customer data and if you take an appointment from the web, it’s synchronized and it’s visible in the store, and our hearing care professional can serve the customer better. They’ve been instrumental here.”

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

Embracing technology, people, and change We spoke to Carlene Jackson, CEO of Cloud9 Insight, about the transformative power of both technology and company culture

WRI T T EN BY

N el l Wal ker

What led to you launching your business, Cloud9 Insight? I started Cloud9 about 10 years ago, and it was an opportunity to support small businesses to deploy CRM in the cloud for the first time, because I saw a trend of more and more clients moving to the cloud. There's an opportunity to help clients with making the most of their data in the SME space, plus they're able to use Microsoft technology to get more insights â&#x20AC;&#x201C; hence the name Cloud9 Insight. At the time, most of my competitors were still looking to sell on premises-software, but I saw a gap in the market. Historically, what I'd seen with enterprise clients I had worked with, is that CRM projects had been at least a year long, and often you'd question whether the business had moved on since the definition stage of the project, and if it was still fit for purpose. I think projects these days need to be a lot more agile to

moderately dyslexic, and some say that

support clients with business transforma-

dyslexics are quite creative people. I find

tion; for me, working with cloud technol-

it hard to read anything without having

ogy allows that agility.

a pen and paper in my hand, because I

There's a quote on your website where

always got lots of ideas, and I think part

you say you have a love of change and

of the reason that entrepreneurs have

disruption â&#x20AC;&#x201C; what does that mean to you,

often been so successful as dyslexics

as a tech leader and expert?

is that we often think differently. If you

I think it comes naturally to me. I'm 52

look at tackling problems the same way

E M B R A C I N G T E C H N O L O G Y, P E O P L E , A N D C H A N G E

they've always been tackled before, then

a Microsoft partner selling CRM did.

you'll probably come up with the same

That meant my business model turned

answers – but if you can address things

out very different to a lot of others. I

differently, then maybe you might come

also recruit a lot of young people into

up with a better opportunity.

my business – which is why I've set up

When I started my business, I moved

an apprenticeship programme, called

almost immediately to the Alps; I hadn't

Vantage Academy – and having them

worked in the Microsoft channel, and I

involved in the business has helped

had no preconceptions about what did

maintain that creative, disruptive model. w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

So is company culture very important to you? Definitely. I used to work at IBM, and it was quite normal to travel around different offices around the country, visit your clients and just pop in and hot desk. Depending on which office you went to, some people were a bit more chatty and you got to hear a little bit more about what they're doing. But what I noticed about my business, as it was growing, was it was becoming departmentalized and siloed in the same way that many of my clients complain about. I didn't want that; I don't want the salespeople not working with the support people, or projects people, and so on. There's so much opportunity to learn when you have conversations with colleagues across different parts of the organisation, and I really wanted to make sure that we worked as a team.

I know you're a big advocate for diversity in the workplace, and in the general realm of technology â&#x20AC;&#x201C; what are some of the benefits diversity can bring? First of all, organisations need to make sure that the demographics of who they employ reflects the demographics of who you're selling to, because it's difficult to understand them otherwise. Certainly in a B2C market, having representation across age groups in your workforce is really important. What I've found is that what really motivates the older generation is the ability to be a mentor and a leader to those that don't yet have the experience. They want to give back. As for younger people, they have energy, ambition and hunger to pass on to across the workplace, allowing great things to happen, and I think it increases 54

E M B R A C I N G T E C H N O L O G Y, P E O P L E , A N D C H A N G E

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

the performance of my overall team.

You wrote a piece about how working

Diversity could also be gender; certainly

from home is changing attitudes to work,

in many sectors like tech and oil and gas,

specifically citing children gatecrashing

it is heavily biased towards males, and a

video calls and how that represents how

lot of my staff do tell me that it's nice to

the life part of work-life balance can no

have a more balanced workplace.

longer just be hidden away â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with tech-

I'm a lot more people centric than

nology supporting people really success-

maybe a lot of my peers might be; I like

fully to work from home, will things ever

to embrace the people and the value

go back to 'normal'?

of people in businesses, both within my

I think there's no going back to 'normal',

clients and within my own team. That's

for sure. The old way is not going to exist

really important to me.

at all. There's two types of businesses:

E M B R A C I N G T E C H N O L O G Y, P E O P L E , A N D C H A N G E

those who are probably kidding them-

vicinity of the UK. Maybe we can tap into

selves and just about surviving, and

where the best talent is.

those who are probably a lot more agile and forward-thinking, who are going happening, jump onto those trends and

How do you think female entrepreneurship can be encouraged in tech, and other STEM industries?

allow a lot more flexibility around people

I love that question. One of the exciting

working from home.

things about me being able to set up an

to look at the trends that have been

The other great thing about this mobil-

apprenticeship business is I'm definitely

ity of the workforce, is that maybe your

going to use my voice and position to be

team don't even have to be in the vicin-

a great advocate for younger females to

ity of your office â&#x20AC;&#x201C; maybe not even the

come into the tech sector. I think there w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

E M B R A C I N G T E C H N O L O G Y, P E O P L E , A N D C H A N G E

might be a perception that you need to have technical skills, but having great leadership skills, having creative skills are also very important and greatly valued in the sector. It's just trying to open the younger generation's mind, especially for young females, as to the skills that they have inherently, in great abundance, how are they valued, and how can they use those skills to make a difference. And for me, technology is a great enabler of change and making a difference. I'd like to see schools working more with younger people to help them feel confident about working with technology. When I hire people that are fresh out of school, I'm absolutely dismayed by how few skills they have in using technology. That crosses all genders, but it's really sad to see the percentage of females attending degree courses that are highly attended by males. However, when you look overseas at places like Poland, they have a much greater balance, so I think we have a lot to learn about what is it that overseas countries are doing that we're not. I suspect that starts at a young age in school, and if we could create more entrepreneurs, then our economy will be much more successful.

So it's about encouraging STEM topics in schools, full stop, not just for girls but all genders, in order to fill that skills gap. Yes, absolutely. I think that if there's more integration between businesses and their involvement in schools, and that opportunities to learn entrepreneurship and problem-solving using technology exist, that might open their eyes. w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

OTP Bank Romaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital transformation & a culture of trust Interface magazine speaks to Constantin Mares, Executive Director of OTP Bank Romania, regarding the bankâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s massive digital transformation

WRI T T EN BY PRODUCED BY

Andr ew Woods Al ex P ag e

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,

OTP

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.” w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

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

OTP

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 w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

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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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

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.â&#x20AC;? 68

OTP

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

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.

OTP

“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,

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

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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 w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

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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OTP

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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

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

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

OTP

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 w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

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

OTP

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

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.â&#x20AC;?

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

OTP

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

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

Five opportunities that COVID-19 has created for the digital banking sector While the virus has presented many challenges, it has also opened up opportunities for increased industry security and customer relationships. Agnė Selemonaitė, Deputy CEO at ConnectPay, explains.

WRI T T EN BY

N el l Wal ke r

FIVE OPPORTUNITIES THAT COVID-19 HAS CREATED FOR THE DIGITAL BANKING SECTOR

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

Banks and other financial institutions have

Alongside the World Health Organization

been a major target for scammers since

encouraging us to go cashless, the crisis

the beginning of the pandemic; in fact,

has stimulated the growing amount of

cyberattacks between February and April

e-payments. Selemonaitė notes Sweden’s

alone spiked an astonishing 238%. The

example: amidst the uncertainty,

increased volume of threats has encour-

Sweden’s central bank signed an agree-

aged companies to face the situation

ment to gain access to EU TIPS platform,

head-on and implement new safeguards.

which will act as the basis for the coun-

"Putting more safeguards in place will

try’s own platform for instant payments.

Increased industry security

Growth of digital payments market

benefit market players long after the

“Sweden’s approach shows that in order

crisis has blown over, as market players

to be in a better spot to satisfy increas-

will be better equipped to deal with the

ing demand for faster, more convenient

constantly evolving digital threats," says

services - you need to be proactive,” Selemonaitė explains. “We follow this approach too; having realised our clients’ needs for greater options amidst quarantine, we integrated more payment methods into our Merchant API.”

FIVE OPPORTUNITIES THAT COVID-19 HAS CREATED FOR THE DIGITAL BANKING SECTOR

As banks had to severely limit their

The aforementioned McKinsey survey

working hours during the lockdown,

showed that people who are highly satis-

digital banking picked up the slack to

fied with their digital banking experience

accommodate the financial needs of

are two-and-a-half times more likely

people working from home. “As the

to open new accounts with their exist-

new wave of customers sieged the

ing bank than those who are just just

system, faster development of bank-

satisfied. The aftermath of COVID-19 is

ing services took precedence,” says

expected to continue down the path of

Selemonaitė. In the US alone, over 45%

developing simplified UX to attract and

of people have changed the way they

retain clientele.

Accelerating digital banking development

Enhanced customer experience

bank amidst the crisis, and accord-

“Although requiring meticulous work,

ing to a European customer survey

constant UX evaluation can greatly bene-

by McKinsey, there has been a 20%

fit product credibility and client retention,

increase in digital engagement.

for instance, our first UX update led to doubling our monthly conversions,” says Selemonaitė. “It is likely that we will see a more customer-focused approach in the post-crisis industry too.” w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

A catalyst for fintech companies The ’08 financial crisis gave a boost for the fintech industry, as, at the time, people were losing trust in the system, and in legacy financial institutions. In the aftermath, some entrepreneurs parted ways with the concept of traditional banking, aiming to present the market with a more technologically sophisticated solution. “This time, the crisis could have an even greater impact for fintechs, as well as regtechs, as they rely on solutions fintechs can develop,” adds Selemonaitė. “Unfavourable circumstances drive the need to innovate across interconnected sectors.”

FIVE OPPORTUNITIES THAT COVID-19 HAS CREATED FOR THE DIGITAL BANKING SECTOR

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

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