Backbase Case Study 1/2

“We create our front-end by using predefi ned customer journeys. We’re now able to build and manage components in the front-end more rapidly and flexible.”

ABN AMRO, a full-service bank, has a leading position in The Netherlands. 21% of the Dutch population use ABN AMRO as their principal bank, in the (small) business segment ABN AMRO has a market share of 20%, and in private banking ABN AMRO is the market leader in The Netherlands. The bank has over 21,000 employees.

Its history stretches back through numerous mergers, notably the Amsterdamsche Bank (1871) merger with Rotterdamsche Bank (1873), which was part of a merger that included Determeijer Weslingh & Zn (1765). This formed AMRO Bank, which in 1991 merged with ABN to become what it is today, the third-largest bank in the Netherlands.

ABN AMRO is a truly innovative bank and wants to retain this position, making great strides in technology with its strong mobile offering and simplifi ed IT infrastructure. Its goal is to improve on this simplifi cation, cutting costs and streamlining IT infrastructure for the benefi t of its customers and helping the bank to make the transition to mobile banking with innovative technologies such as AI-driven personalization. To this aim, the bank created its TOPS 2020 IT program with the goal to accelerate digitisation of key client processes, to expand the digital offering and to offer clients innovative digital solutions. Cost savings targeted under TOPS 2020 are EUR 0.3 billion for the entire duration of the program.

A strong track record with Backbase

The relationship between ABN AMRO Bank and Backbase goes back to 2004, when the two parties fi rst agreed to work

Turning 200 systems into one smart digital banking ecosystem

Norbert SiegersHead of IT Distribution Retail & Private Banking

together. From 2011, ABN AMRO has used the Backbase Customer Experience Platform to enhance the user experience of its online banking portals for retail banking clients (ca. 5 million retail clients and 300,000 SME clients), as well as corporate banking clients (ca. 70,000 corporate clients). Shortly after, the Backbase platform was introduced to also digitize the employee portals at the retail branches throughout the country, leveraging the experience with the customer facing portal. The partnership with Backbase was further extended in 2013 when ABN AMRO started using Backbase Forms to optimize digital interaction with its clients. Currently, ABN AMRO uses over 100 digital forms on its website for retail and corporate clients, and a similar amount of forms for its employees.

Turning 200 systems into a smart ecosystem

“Our front-end was heavily integrated with our back-end, so not loosely coupled from the back-end and middleware, which limited our ability to innovate,” says Norbert Siegers, Head of IT Distribution Retail & Private Banking at ABN AMRO. “What we needed to do was to make sure we could manage pages and widgets independently and completely decouple. This way we are putting the business in control by applying the 2-speed IT principle.”

ABN AMRO leveraged Backbase technology to simplify its ecosystem of over 200 systems. They used the platform to create a single unified user experience across all channels. It succeeded in delivering a strong web/mobile offering, seamlessly integrated into the complete user experience narrative. To highlight the agility of the solution, ABN AMRO implemented intelligent online forms. This not only simplified the technology stack but streamlined business processes, largely eliminating manual form processing. This led to improved business agility, lower costs, less IT complexity and the transformation from being an inside-out organization to thinking customer first.

Straight-through processing for smooth customer journeys

“The main focus of our development team was not always on the front-end,” says Norbert Siegers. “We trained ourselves to become experts in creating front-end. By doing so, we always keep predefined customer journeys as the starting point. We are now able to build and manage components in the front-end more flexibly.” The end result was smooth straight-through processing that benefits customers and employees, call centre and branch level. Backbase omni-channel forms helped ABN AMRO go paperless, reducing the number of steps required to perform tasks such as mortgage processing by digitizing the process through automation.

Backbase is on a mission to empower financial institutions to accelerate their digital transformation and effectively compete in a digital-first world.Get to know more at: www.backbase.comSeamless Experiences, Delivered

Engineering the IT landscape

The digitization process included bespoke services for all-inclusive social media and rapid sharing of information through the cloud. The quality of delivery of these services was crucial in determining the right working approach and strategy. Instead of customers experiencing the knock-on effect of data duplication, multiple interfaces and a variety of different software, the idea was to “engineer our IT landscape”. This would result in a reduction of complexity and operating systems, and would lead to a standardization of data. By utilizing the web and cloud, ABN AMRO implemented a strategy that would make it lean, agile and flexible as an organization.

Backbase and ABN AMRO leading the way together

“The collaboration has been efficient and smooth, and we keep each other sharp!”

“These changes have made us more versatile and efficient as a business,” says Norbert Siegers. “We are a big enterprise with the structural issues that come along with that. Backbase was able to recognize this and work with us in improving core competencies. We’re now able to manage different portals for different customer segments. We have a portal for the corporate side, a portal for the retail and private banking side, and a specific portal for iDeal. We’re able to manage different portals for different purposes and for different client groups.”

Backbase Case Study 2/2