The Client is an agile, ambitious, and disruptive bank that constantly sets new standards in the BFSI sector. They are a part of an Austrian banking group that operates in five CSEE countries. Around 0.8 million customers are served through six subsidiary banks and 170 well-dispersed branches and modern digital channels.
Their service portfolio is focused on lending activities and payment services for SMEs and consumers. This includes services such as internet banking solutions, cash loans, instant cash loans, online deposits and others which can provide liquidity. Since the client is focused on a modern customer experience with minimal paperwork and no branch office visits, their products and services have been standardized. This improves efficiency, ensures great customer experience, and maintains asset quality via a prudent risk approach.
Our cooperation with this client started with one .NET project, afterwards another .NET project came into the picture, and we have temporarily cooperated on a larger project – developing a Group Application Processing System.
It all started as an extension of their .NET team. Together we were developing an API integration with the system that banks use to exchange data on the indebtedness of citizens.
When the API project was completed, we cooperated on the development of the Liquidity Forecast web application whose purpose is planning the bank's liquidity at individual exchange rates, to have positive balance at the beginning of each day and to determine the minimum number of other currencies they should have at the beginning of the day.
At the same time, client was developing a solution that would enable fast and efficient loan services – a Group Application Processing System. This solution had to take into consideration the law regulations of every country the client operates in. So, it was decided to implement a group-wide fast and effective retail loan process through the new Credit Decision Engine and Application Processing System for cash loans, credit cards, overdrafts, and consolidation loans to accelerate loan approvals and improve loan efficiency. The system needed to have similar functionalities for all countries where specific requirements could be achieved by parametrization.
The system was implemented using the Appian low-code BPM platform and the MS SQL Server database, while using a web-services integration layer to communicate with other subsystems. While we were working on the .NET project, the Group Application Processing System project was behind schedule, and the client started looking for a partner who can find a way to combine the power of BPM and low code to produce a new solution faster. To achieve this, they needed a partner with engineers that possess specific industry knowledge and a partner who is a certified Appian partner. Since Serengeti is a certified Appian partner, and we have certified Appian BPM developers, we helped our client accelerate the project execution and achieve additional benefits of Appian.
All mentioned cooperation instances started with a seamless integration of our experts with the client’s development team. The cooperation on the development project of the Group Application Processing System is specific because the client was looking for a partner with experts in Appian BPM. Our senior software developers have more than 12 years of experience working with BPM solutions, proven BFSI knowledge and most importantly – they are proactive. Our proactive approach is important because we came to support the development of a mobile version, but thanks to such an approach, the client recognized us as a valuable partner and they included our team to the development of a final web version, before a mobile one. The primary user interface was created using the Appian-native Sites platform, while secondary interface channels are still being developed (mobile application).
Our developers were implementing new functionalities and maintaining existing ones through testing and bug fixing using Appian tools such as SAIL functions, Process Modeler, Interface Designer, and other platform utilities. When having the request that cannot be implemented using only Appian BPM, our team is in charge to build Java plugins for extra features that cover different needs from integration with other subsystems both internal and external, or implementation of some complex validation business rules or another complex non-standard requirement. Thanks to a great Appian Designer, the frontend was developed very fast and intuitively connected with background processes such as various user tasks, system tasks, business rules, alerts, escalations, and process flow check points. Of course, this includes creation and management of relevant business and process documentation as well as management of complex processes end-to-end, too.
The project organization is based on several agile methodology frameworks that were combined for this specific project. Our experts participate in daily meetings, share their experiences and knowledge, and make proposals towards the improvement of business solutions, code base and development techniques. Furthermore, they are constantly taking care that the system is maximally optimized – improving the code so that the system works faster and better, and that the end-user does not notice that something is happening in the backend.
The development of the Group Application Processing System was significantly accelerated. The project got back on track according to the initially agreed timeline. From the client’s perspective, this is very important due to the situation on the market. Such an improvement and acceleration were possible thanks to our proven domain knowledge, consultative approach, and rich experience with BPM.
Due to competitive needs, technology standards, legal requirements, and regulations, a high level of ethics and professionalism is vital for the client to ensure that they can recognize some additional benefits. Except the usual benefits – such as easy upgrades, faster development, easy onboarding – this client achieved better collaboration of business and IT. Furthermore, the client can now focus on innovation instead of coding similar functionalities or interfaces again. New system accelerates business process itself by enabling faster decision making but still successfully manage all risks which is crucial for any financial institution.
In the end, the client was satisfied with the shorter time of producing a system that covers business processes in a specific order and by a specific group of users, since the integration between multiple systems, data, and document processing was covered by Appian, which allows for flexible and easy-to-develop capabilities.
