At a Glance
This national bank knew it had a problem – huge amounts of data spread across more than 1,500 systems. The bank wasn’t sure of the data’s quality, where it came from, where it was going, who had access to it and how it was being used. Knowing that previous modernization initiatives had failed, the bank made a bold goal: “Become the best digital bank in the industry through a transactional Master Data Management (MDM) platform for client data.”
Together, Prolifics and the bank slowly, iteratively and deliberately modernized and integrated system after system. Five years later the journey continues, but the bank has already realized major benefits.
Challenge – We couldn’t modernize the bank
Our client, a leading financial institution, realized they had an overall data issue – there were more than 25 terabytes of data in 1,600 systems within the bank. The bank wasn’t sure of the data quality, or even how it was flowing within the organization.
Old legacy systems made it impossible for the bank to automate or optimize processes for even the most basic transactions. For example, if a new client walked into the bank and opened an account, the bank couldn’t onboard to the digital platform for an hour as it waited for a batch process to go through.
Every initiative to modernize the bank failed to deliver its promised value, because for a bank (and really most organizations) data is at the heart of delivering value, and you can’t deliver that value with data that’s not properly organized. The bank’s leadership agreed that it would not be able to compete in the world unless it dealt with its modernization challenges. They came up with a solution that they believed would be a differentiating factor and give the bank a unique competitive advantage: Become the best digital bank in the industry through a transactional Master Data Management (MDM) platform for client data.
Action – An ongoing journey
The bank foresaw a four- to five-year journey to modernize and create a Master Client Profile (MCP) as its MDM platform – a full transactional customer master hub. They decided to go with the MDM Advanced Edition suite through IBM, and needed developers to help with the development framework – what they learned is a rare expertise in the industry. IBM highly recommended Prolifics.
The bank and Prolifics recognized that the most complicated part and biggest challenge was to build the “new world” while maintaining the old world intact. The companies knew from the beginning that the MDM transition would not be a “big bang,” but done iteratively, starting small and growing. The key was to build a transition roadmap, stay on track, sustain existing customers while enabling future customers, all while adding value and transforming the bank.
Prolifics experts started with commercial banking, which saw an immediate benefit of improving client uniqueness from 23 percent to 95 percent. Then the team transitioned various customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, including SAP. It’s important to note here that many people outside the bank/Prolifics team thought that having SAP under IBM’s MDM was impossible. But it proved to be successful. More transitions followed and are ongoing.
The journey is not something you can do in a year. That’s why a lot of MDM projects go a year, go two years and then stop. They never get to that real transactional MDM hub because the process is transformational. It takes everyone involved and a lot of money. And some people leave, so the drivers of the project are no longer there. This bank’s MDM journey has taken it farther than most … and it’s set to keep going and to achieve results.”
Steve Livingstone, Account Executive, Prolifics
Result – A foundation for a digital bank you can’t do without
There are several examples of how the bank is utilizing the MDM foundation created with Prolifics help (see below). However, in the bigger picture, the MDM will be “the gift that keeps on giving.” With robust customer data in one place, there’s an endless amount of flexibility and possibility, which the different lines of business will take advantage of as the MDM becomes more and more connected. So, the biggest benefit is that the bank personnel will now have the same information on all the platforms that have been connected to the MDM. In terms of process efficiency and trusting the data, this is a huge advantage. Some of the first successes the bank has realized include:
- Consistency and access – In the bank’s private banking service, they previously had to create the profile of a prospective client in one system through the onboarding, then go to another system to create company data and do compliance. Now, the profile is created in one place and it’s already present for the other uses and needs. The bank’s personnel doesn’t have to re-key the information or create duplicates.
- Efficiency – Over time, the bank generated up to 7,000 duplicates for companies. That’s been resolved through connection with the new MDM platform.
- Trusted data – The bank has managed to eliminate almost 100 percent of free text within the data model. With concentrated, structured data and centralized rules, building algorithms and using artificial intelligence (AI) will provide valuable insights.
Technology – IBM MDM Advanced Edition
IBM MDM Advanced Edition enables multiple MDM styles and domains to work together to provide a comprehensive set of capabilities to meet the demanding MDM requirements. Built-in tools help streamline the planning and addition of physical capabilities:
- Features highly accurate probabilistic matching and search
- Supports multiple implementation styles
- Includes comprehensive pre-built and extensible data models and business services
- Supports large transaction loads and high-availability environments
- Helps improve data quality by implementing policies and processes to coordinate multistep and multi-role workflow for data governance
- Features a comprehensive security model to help you manage access and actions
About Prolifics – Vision to Value. Faster.
Prolifics is a global digital transformation leader with expertise in Data & AI, Integration & Applications, Business Automation, DevXOps, Test Automation, and Cybersecurity across multiple industries. We provide consulting, engineering and managed services for all our practice areas at any point our clients need them. Vision to Value. Faster. It’s not just the Prolifics’ tagline, it’s what drives us. Connect with us – solutions@prolifics.com