Innovative banking: powered by IT

With recently launched services like cash-on-mobile, direct connect and quick redeem, IndusInd Bank is at the cutting edge of technology rollouts in its sector. By KTP Radhika

Established in 1994, IndusInd Bank, has been using technology robustly to ensure the success of its multi-channel business initiatives. The innovative use of technology has helped the bank bag the award Technology Bank of the Year in 2009 and Best use of Technology in E-learning in 2010 from the Indian Banks Association (IBA). Today, the bank has 365 branches and 674 ATMs. IT continues to play a big role in all of its growth and innovation-led initiatives. Of late, the bank has launched three unique services—cash-on-mobile, direct connect and quick redeem service—that are aimed at differentiating it in the market through the effective use of technology.

New services

Cash-on-mobile enables customers to transfer money to the beneficiary’s mobile number by using a mobile application. The beneficiary can withdraw funds from IndusInd Bank’s ATMs without using a debit or ATM card. Direct Connect helps the bank’s customers to speak to a banking executive directly without going through an IVR. Quick Redeem Service helps credit card customers redeem their reward points on every transaction by sending an SMS. Whenever customers transact on their IndusInd Bank Platinum credit card and request a quick redemption, the earned points can be redeemed instantly.

Paul Abraham, Chief Operating Officer, IndusInd Bank, said “Since we are a mid-sized bank with high growth ambitions, innovation is our mantra. We have been using IT for business process reengineering, sophisticated product development, better infrastructure and for the implementation of reliable techniques for risk control. Using IT as the backbone, we have done a good job of reducing costs and increasing efficiency during the past few years. Now, the focus is on differentiation and being ahead of the market through the effective use of technology, in creating and facilitating responsive innovation, especially in client facing situations.”

Technology front

Extensive customer research, a focus on differentiation, quality customer service and best-of-breed technology support, helped the bank launch innovative services at a rapid pace. Abraham pointed out, “Over the years, the bank has built a symbiotic network of technology partners with a goal of mutual growth. Our technology team carves out its strategy in alignment with business forecasts and is ready to meet any requirement. All these innovations have technology as a key contributor.”

Coupled with innovative ideas, these services were made possible with the help of Internet and mobile banking. IndusInd bank has a comprehensive mobile banking platform with account information and transaction facilities including interbank mobile payment service. For mobile banking, the bank has a hosted model. The secure mobile transaction platform brings together a variety of financial and non-financial transaction solutions on to a single platform. It also supports protocols like USSD, SMS, WAP, GPRS and Mobile Apps, thereby providing the maximum flexibility to customers. The security guidelines have been followed strictly with support for Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES) security algorithms and strict adherence to Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) and Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) standards and guidelines. For Internet banking, the bank has deployed Finacle Consumer e-banking 10.x This J2EE-based solution and has been deployed on IBM p750 servers with AIX as the underlying operating system and Oracle 11g as the database.

“Finacle was selected as preferred solution after a rigorous evaluation exercise. This decision has paved the way for looking into other IT systems which would either become redundant or should be upgraded or replaced,” commented Abraham.

After the conceptualization of new services, the team had to meet tight deadlines. Also, the alignment of multiple systems to launch these services led to some challenges.

Abraham said, “To expedite matters, we built our technology foundation with great care. For better alignment, our flexible architecture and cohesive tech units helped a lot.”

Initiating the services with the help of efficient technology, the bank saw an increase in customer acquisition. The new solutions also boosted customer satisfaction.

“The initial response from customers has been good and it has created a buzz among the existing as well as new customers. The services are appreciated by existing and potential clients. It not only provides us with the image of an innovative bank but also encourages potential customers to have faith in us,” Abraham pointed out.

Technology assurance

From its inception, IndusInd bank has been a technology-driven bank. The bank is investing wisely and refreshing its technology infrastructure every few years. Some other technology applications, which have helped the bank in past are Image & Workflow Solution (iWorkS)—an enterprise-wide, image-based BPM Platform for controlling business processes; handheld terminals for enabling real time data collection in consumer finance; a state-of-the-art corporate Internet banking system; and Wealth Management System—a customer portal for insurance, mutual fund and structured products. The bank is using the image-based, BPM solution to manage all of its business processes and to monitor turnaround time.

The bank is looking at deploying an analytics tool for MIS reporting for the purpose of profitability, operations, sales and customer acquisitions. This tool would also be used as an Automated Data Flow (ADF) solution for RBI reports. The solution is an integrated BI solution with a pre-built banking data model, reports and dashboards deployed on a scalable platform. The bank is also looking at rolling out an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) to avail of a standardized platform for integration and develop enterprise-wide frameworks, patterns and best practices for building reusable services. Other than that, in the near future, the bank will upgrade its treasury and depository applications in order to cater to emerging business requirements.

radhika.ktp@expressindia.com