Published on 26-Jul-2007
Validated on 13 Jan 2009
Customer:
Augsburger Aktienbank AG
Industry:
Banking
Deployment country:
Germany
Solution:
Web Services
Overview
When Augsburger Aktienbank AG (AAB) first launched its Web presence in the mid-1990s, the site did not include any interactive or transactional functions – features thought unnecessary at the time. The original site was designed using hard-to-modify HTML code and was hosted externally, making updates costly and time-consuming.
Business need:
AAB needed to implement a modern Web presence – one that would support real- time Internet banking and brokerage transactions, streamline business processes, and increase the number of customers doing business online.
Solution:
AAB engaged IBM to design and implement the new Web site and interactive applications. IBM developed the user interface concept and design for the new portal including both the public site and secure banking and brokerage sites. Hosting was moved internally and certain elements of the solution’s new WCMS architecture were customized to work effectively with the company’s environment. The IBM team also developed styles and templates to provide a consistent, fresh look.
Benefits:
The new system presents a modern look and provides customers with online transaction capabilities. With 25,000 users now online, the number is expected to grow to 50,000 by the end of 2008. The bank has realized substantial savings in processing costs and increased efficiency.
Case Study
Augsburger Aktienbank AG (AAB) is a small private bank, with only a single location and branch office in Augsburg, Germany. The bank is owned by Landwirtschaftlicher Versicherungsverein Münster (LVM), a large German insurance company. The bank serves about 100,000 customers and employs about 300 staff. It offers full private banking (savings, credits, asset management) and brokerage. Sales are primarily done via business partners.
Business Need
AAB had established a Web presence in the mid-1990s but the original implementation was no longer meeting the requirements of a modern Web site. When the site was first developed, it was felt that interactive or transactional capabilities were not required. The Web site was created with hard-to-modify HTML code, and it was hosted externally. This meant that changes, even small ones, were very difficult, expensive and slow to implement.
For its banking customers, AAB was providing a PC-Banking solution that was distributed via CD or diskette. This was a client application with data transfer via phone, and no real-time data processing. For its brokerage customers, orders for buying or selling funds were sent to the bank via fax or e-mail or taken by the bank's call center. These orders were then manually put into the order system and then transferred to the trading system. Thus, there were a lot of manual interfaces and no straight-thru-processing. AAB's business partners were demanding online brokerage interfaces to provide the bank's service to customers via Web sites/portals.
AAB wanted to implement a modern Web presence that would satisfy several goals:
- Relaunch the corporate Web site, to provide a fresh modern face to its customers and partners.
- Implement a Web content management solution (WCMS) to enable efficient content creation and management.
- Implement a full-scope internet banking and brokerage solution for customers and partners to replace current PC banking solution.
- Increase number of customers doing business online.
- Grow customer base.
- Enable providing Web services for partners.
- Streamline business processes.
Solution Implementation
AAB engaged IBM® Global Business Services and IBM Application Management Services to design and implement the new Web site and the interactive applications. IBM developed the user interface concept and design for the new portal including both public site and secure banking and brokerage sites supporting the Corporate Identity/Corporate Design (CI/CD) of AAB and providing an easy-to-use interface and information architecture. The consultants defined the content management organizational concept, roles and responsibilities, and roles to support simplified and streamlined creation and management of content throughout the whole life cycle, and designed the WCMS architecture.
The basic purchased WCMS package used in the project is called OpenCMS. It is an OpenSource WCMS solution and mainly developed by a small company in Germany called ALKACON. It consists of a Content Management Application and a Content Delivery Application based on a J2EE™ architecture. It runs on different databases, mainly MySQL or Oracle®. DB2® was not supported out of the box, so IBM had to develop a database adapter to support DB2.The customized content management application includes a service to deliver content into the banking and brokerage applications thus ensuring that content is managed in one place only. IBM developed a database connector for DB2 for z/OS® to ensure that it runs within the customer environment. The IBM team also developed styles and templates for all use cases thus ensuring a consistent look and feel throughout the total solution. To make the Web site usable by persons with disabilities, the solution incorporated accessibility standards in the Web development.
The solution provides a state of the art WCMS to enable AAB to keep the information up to date and easily enhance the solution when new offerings need to be marketed. The company's old solution was maintained and hosted by a small external provider. The new solution runs in the Data Center and on the infrastructure of the mother company, LVM, in Münster.
The IBM Global Business Services team provided consulting, design of the solution, implementation, project management and go-live support. The IBM Application Management Services team provided user interface concept and design, Web development, application development and testing.
Benefits
The new Web interface presents a modern "face" of the bank to its customers and partners, which AAB expects will lead to increased business. Before the implementation of the new Web site, only 4,000 of the bank's 100,000 customers were using PC banking. With the new solution it is expected that this will grow to about 50,000 by the end of 2008. As well, the use of the new Web solution by partners is expected to increase by 20% annually during the first few years. By replacing the old PC banking system, the bank expects substantial savings in processing costs. In the long term the shift of activity from phone and fax to interactive online will yield major savings.
Products and services used
IBM products and services that were used in this case study.
Hardware:
System z
Software:
DB2 for z/OS
Operating system:
z/OS and OS/390
Service:
GBS Custom AMS for e-business applications, GBS Customer Experience and Branding and Usability Design, GBS Portals and Content Management and e-Commerce, IBM Global Business Services
