Riyad Bank
Boosting productivity and profitability with lightning fast information access
In an uncertain economic climate, where opportunities to grow revenues are still in short supply, banks face continued pressure to keep operating costs under control and protect shareholder value.
To survive—and thrive—in a turbulent market, Riyad Bank must focus on driving high operational efficiency and delivering top-notch customer service. However, the bank found that inflexible manual processes were dulling responsiveness and negatively impacting profitability.
Ashraf Raslan, Senior IT Consultant at Riyad Bank, explains: “Riyad Bank’s operations are spread across a number of locations throughout the country. In the past, when we worked with mostly paper-based systems, this geographical spread made it difficult for teams from different departments to retrieve and share information.
“While we had electronic archiving in place, each department relied on a different system. Not only did this make it challenging for staff to track down individual records, it was also difficult to maintain secure access to all these systems, which introduced a degree of risk.”
Riyad Bank recognized that there were significant efficiencies to be gained by moving away from manual, paper-based processes. Providing staff with an easier way to access and manage content would help save time and money, and facilitate faster, more effective customer service—all of which would enable the bank to strengthen its competitive edge.
Taking control over millions of documents
Working in partnership with IBM Business Partner Saudi Business Machines (SBM), Riyad Bank launched an ambitious project to transform the way it stores and manages information. The bank has established a single, centralized repository for electronic content, built on IBM® FileNet® Content Manager.
“When it comes to delivering a successful ECM implementation, there’s no secret: you need the right solution to be implemented by the right people” says Essam Bastwesi, ECM Practice Manager,
Saudi Business Machines.
Currently, Riyad Bank is storing and managing more than 200 million electronic files in the new repository, and is adding around 50,000 new document images every day. These range from customer account opening files and loan documents to checks, remittances and credit card details.
With the core electronic content management system now in place, the bank is working to bring all departments onto the platform. It expects to extend the solution to approximately 5,000 users across the bank within the next five years.
Accelerating access to information
Ashraf Raslan states: “The performance we are getting from IBM FileNet Content Manager is perfect. Even though we have built up a complex environment, and are managing millions of documents with the system, it has very easy for the business to get to grips with the new solution.
“Instead of having to track down paper records—a process that could take weeks and even months in the past, as documents had to be physically shipped between bank departments—users can now access the information they need in a matter of seconds, with just a few mouse clicks.”
More efficient content management
In the future, all departments will be able to access information using the same central repository, eliminating the need for each department to store its own records and helping Riyad Bank work more effectively on an enterprise-wide level.
“Staff will no longer be confined to departmental silos; it will be easy for anyone in the bank to find and access files, no matter where they originated,” comments Ashraf Raslan. “With the ability to rapidly access and share content, whenever and wherever they need it, teams can work more productively. They will have much more time to focus on valueadded tasks, and will be able to deliver a much more responsive service to customers.”
