Webank fights off competition with help from HP Business Intelligence implementation

Founded in 1999 as a captive service for banks in the Bipiemme Group, from the 1st of November 2009 Webank has been a direct bank operating exclusively via the internet. Today, the institution allows its 80,000 customers to manage their current accounts, savings accounts, all standard banking transactions, loans and mortgages online, as well as offering three different trading platforms to operate on the Stock Exchange via the internet.

Webank is also recognised for its excellence in online service provision with regards to the multi-channel nature of the banks it works with. In addition to managing the telephone channel, it also provides online services for the banks in the Group through four websites: www.bpmbanking.it for Banca Popolare di Milano, www.blbanking.it for Banca di Legnano, www.crabanking.it for Cassa di Risparmio di Alessandria and www.bmbanking.it

ObjectiveWebank needed to replace its old data warehousing system with a more advanced platform. It wanted an innovative, scalable and flexible solution that would deliver proactive business intelligence and precise data analysis.

ApproachWebank engaged HP as its partner and adopted the HP Global Method for Business Intelligence Implementation. The project has been split in two phases: the analysis and the development.

IT improvements • Prompt assessment makes it possible to

anticipate deployment times.

• An Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) ensures full visibility on all service lines.

• Diversification of the analyses to 45 business areas (previously 6).

• Greater flexibility, stability, manageability and security.

• Optimisation of monitoring systems and application maintenance.

Business outcomes • Webank can now understand what works from

a business point of view.

• It can pinpoint popular products, highlight areas of improvement and so become more competitive.

• Fact finding and analysis provide a firm foundation for both short-term action and long-term decision making.

HP has helped Webank achieve the change in operations and move from a service-only division to a banking division, creating a new Enterprise Data Warehouse. Today, Webank uses a single integrated and certified database, containing all the information relevant to business users for their daily operations. Thanks to advanced Business Intelligence (BI), the new multi-bank, multi-channel system developed by HP makes it possible to quantify and qualify performance in terms of web channel use by customers from all the banks in the Bipiemme Group. This is done within a structure which is more governable and efficient and able to support continuous company evolution.

for Banca Popolare di Mantova. Webank continues to manage the internet and telephone channel for banks in the Bipiemme Group, while at the same time diversifying its offerings through a range of services dedicated to advanced traders.

A web-based strategyOnly operating online, the website has a double significance for Webank, strategic and technological. On one hand, the portal is the point of contact with customers and, on the other, it represents the driving force of the entire business support infrastructure.

For this reason, Webank needs to keep a constant eye on what is happening on its web pages through a monitoring system that has to provide detailed, precise numbers about all transactions performed by each process area.

For Webank, in fact, the data represents the voice of the customer and constitutes a key to understanding what works from a business point of view, what needs to be improved to facilitate browsing and what are the most popular products, also making it possible to make comparisons with competitors. The quantitative analysis, supplemented with qualitative observations, plays a key role not only for short-term actions, but also for long-term decision-making processes.

“Ours is a distinctive business model, providing a dual service: to our users and as an Application Service Provider (ASP) for the other banks in the Group as regards online activities. In order to provide efficient and effective supervision, we needed a new Enterprise Data Warehouse. The system used previously had a limit: it was not possible to have an organic overview of information relating to all Group entities.” Carlo Panella, Webank Commercial Director

Integrated, advanced data warehousing In mid-2008 Webank decided to re-engineer the Business Intelligence platform, looking for a technological partner capable of developing an Enterprise Data Warehouse project closely integrated with all the information systems belonging to the bank and the Bipiemme Group. Webank was aiming for a single integrated and certified database, containing all the information relevant to

business users for their daily operations. Thanks to advanced BI logic, the new multi-bank, multi-channel system developed by HP would make it possible to quantify and qualify performance in terms of web channel use by customers from all the banks in the group, according to a more governable and efficient structure.

“Our company is constantly evolving, so we needed to equip ourselves with technology that was easy to manage and expand. While assessing our information needs, one of the main requirements of re-engineering was ensuring that information was as prompt as possible and that data was transparent and traced from its origin.” Carlo Panella, Webank Commercial Director

The new platform had to make it possible to retrieve information as close as possible to its source, to ensure clean data. It also needed to be close to the customers’ situation in real terms, in order to avoid the intervention of an operator who was required to interpret the information in the best way possible. Making use of an analytical level of automation capable of processing data perfectly matching the customer profile, Webank aimed to increase its operational and decision-making productivity, which would then enable managers to implement campaigns or develop targeted services, fully corresponding to the companies targets.

Following thorough market research, Webank chose HP as its project partner and, from October to December, HP concluded all the analysis needed, speeding up the process thanks to an established

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method: HP Global Method for Business Intelligence Implementation.

This is a method developed through four specific lines of action: identifying business requirements, defining the type of information and therefore the data necessary for the business, resolving all technological aspects and highlighting the metadata, i.e. the set of technical and operational information gathered during the life cycle of each process.

BI gives rise to the virtuous circle of data supporting decision-making processes Adopting the HP Global Method for Business Intelligence Implementation to the letter, HP staff managed the process from a code optimisation angle, which enabled them to speed up the collection and analysis of requirements and to reach the design of the final solution more quickly, helping Webank identify the business areas to develop or create from scratch.

Given the quality of the output, Webank reconfirmed HP as its reference partner for the whole development stage, which was completed in 2009.

“HP created a very complete and accurate output from an assessment point of view, helping us to take stock of our architecture in order to highlight strengths and weaknesses. Providing us with a complete overview of the infrastructure, HP enabled us to capitalise on the systems in use, at the same time strengthening the whole analysis and reporting area.” Carlo Panella, Webank Commercial Director

Helping Webank to achieve the change in operations, HP built a new marketing support information system, ensuring visibility not only for the web service but also for the banking area.

The data warehouse developed with HP is used by 20 per cent of employees, operating in a variety of areas. The analysis and reporting feature provides an identity card for all Webank customers and is useful at all levels, from general management to sales representatives, call centre employees, the finance department and the virtual agency.

The new database is used primarily to create detailed reports and certificates that are consulted by Webank managers to plan activities and establish strategies. As well as providing in-depth analysis of aggregate data, forecasts and customer profiling thanks to direct and intuitive information tools, the new BI platform has significant operational value, integrated into the technical heart of the company, making it possible to profile customers and formulate an ad hoc offer for each, translating into specific content conveyed via the website.

“Working on the numbers is part of our fundamental principles, which we apply in all phases of business: from the design stage through development, ending by measuring the results obtained. The main advantages we have found in the solution designed with HP are scalability and manageability, enabling us to achieve high levels of efficiency, as well as making it possible to easily integrate future Business Intelligence projects (and more) at a low cost.” Carlo Panella, Webank Commercial Director

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Operational and decision-making productivity, always in line with company evolutionA look at the numbers highlights the amount of work related to the project: over five million lines of code, 900 man days for design and development, 50 GB of data managed and growing constantly, 250 tables on a basic level and 150 tables with analytical data. These are just some of the numbers associated with this complex, extremely high quality project. The result is a multi-bank system, used not only for Webank customers but also for the other banks in the group, that is quick both in providing cross-modal analysis and in meeting the specific needs of the individual entities.

“Before, we received data at the end of the business day and now we have it at ten o’clock in the morning. This allows us to be far more proactive in defining marketing campaigns or formulating an ad hoc service in a much shorter space of time. Compared to the previous system, whose logic covered only six business areas, with the new platform, we have coverage of 45, which translates into a highly diversified extension of the analyses, with a much more accurate definition of information.” Carlo Panella, Webank Commercial Director

By nature, Webank lives in a fast paced market. Thanks to the new BI platform, the issuing methods have also been engineered in accordance with more industrialised procedures, which allow the optimisation of the monitoring systems but also the whole of the application maintenance area related to updates and new developments.

The Enterprise Data Warehouse, designed and implemented by HP, will continue to develop and expand the areas following the growth of the bank and its needs.

In the foreseeable future, for example, Webank is planning to add a system that will make it possible to manage and organise certain business initiatives, such as advertising campaigns, operational Customer Relationship Management and customer contact.

As a complete provider of company-wide Business Intelligence Solutions, HP brings in sector and business expertise, which allows customers to transform their decisions into competitive advantages, and investments in Business Intelligence are fully exploited.

The reasons customers have chosen HP as a partner for their individual challenges vary. Nevertheless, there are four key factors that make HP stand out as a strategic and reliable partner:

A globally-acting consulting organisation with more than 2,400 consultants, the successful implementation of BI in their own company, the technological leadership of the HP Global Method for BI and honed communication skills, with the help of which, the requirements of business areas in IT can be successfully implemented.

For more information: www.hp.com/go/bi

HP Business Intelligence Solutions

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4AA2-4451EEW, Created September 2010