SEB Latvia builds a comprehensive business platform on IBM Lotus Notes and Domino

Click here for a Latvian version.

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) is one of northern Europe’s largest banking groups, operating throughout the Nordic countries, Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic.

In Latvia, the bank operates from 70 branches and employs around 1,500 people, providing services to companies and consumers across the country. It also owns a number of subsidiaries, including SEB Leasing, SEB Wealth Management, SEB Pension and SEB Life Insurance.

As SEB Latvia’s business grew, the company began to look for ways to optimise and enhance its core operations. Many of its existing processes involved circulating paper documents for approval; others relied on business data that was stored in various decentralised IT systems. As a result, it was often difficult for staff to access all the information they needed, and delays and bottlenecks were affecting the speed and effectiveness of customer service.

First steps towards a new solution

As a first step, the bank decided to deploy a new groupware platform to improve communication and collaboration between staff. The in-house IT team began looking for a partner to help implement the solution and, after a full tendering process, chose Exigen Services.

“Exigen impressed us with their efficient and professional approach,” says Tatjana Vasiljeva, Head of Information Systems Development Department at SEB Latvia. “We were confident that the Exigen team had the right skills and business knowledge to help us build the solution we needed.”

With Exigen’s advice, SEB Latvia chose the IBM Lotus Domino messaging and collaboration platform, and implemented the software on servers at its central data centre. The IBM Lotus Notes client software was then rolled out to users at SEB branches across the country.

“One of the best things about the IBM Lotus solution is its flexibility,” explains Tatjana Vasiljeva. “The Lotus Notes client provides a powerful interface, which many users prefer. At the same time, others choose to log in to the system using Web browsers so they can work from almost any location.”

Building a partnership

Once the platform was in place, Exigen and the SEB Latvia IT team began working with business users to gather requirements and plan a new application landscape that would automate processes and increase operational efficiency.

“We saw Exigen as a long-term partner, with the resources and technical expertise to help us with an ongoing programme of IT and business development,” comments Tatjana Vasiljeva. “Banking is a fast-moving industry, and we are constantly receiving requests from the business for new IT systems – so it is vital for us to work with a supplier that would be able to answer these requests as and when they arise.”

The new application landscape

Since the beginning of the bank’s relationship with Exigen in 1999, a wide range of Lotus Domino applications have been developed, including human resources management, document management, call centre systems, employee training, loan documentation processing, marketing agreement management, ATM maintenance and IT project management.

“It would take a long time to explain the extent of the contribution that each of these systems makes to our business – such as providing workflows that help to standardise, manage and regulate our way of working,” says Tatjana Vasiljeva. “Lotus Notes and Domino provides a high-performance, highly reliable environment for workflow applications that helps to promote consistency and quality in our business processes.”

Benefits for business users

With these applications in place, important business data no longer needs to be collated from individual spreadsheets or located on local file servers or printed and circulated manually – instead, the Lotus solution is designed to provide a single, centralised and structured environment where users can find and share all the information they need.

Exigen has also helped SEB Latvia integrate several of the applications with its Oracle financial databases and with Microsoft Office. Almost all of the applications can be accessed either through the Lotus Notes client or through a simple Web interface – so users are able to work in whatever way is most convenient for them.

Tatjana Vasiljeva concludes: “By building on the IBM Lotus platform, Exigen and SEB Latvia have created an IT environment that utilises the latest technologies to support business process enhancement and automation. Over the course of a long and fruitful relationship, the Exigen team have demonstrated excellent project management and technical skills, and have delivered a cost-effective service.”