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Miami’s Pinebank Increases Customer Traffic Three-fold
source IBM.com.us - Success Stories |
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“The Challenge
PineBank N.A. wanted to increase its response time to customers and speed up its ability to process transactions in a timely manner.
The Solution
IBM iSeries™ 810 system, IBM ™ Series®
servers, IBM Lotus Notes® and Domino® software,
WebSphere® Edge Server for Multiplatforms Version
2.0, WebSphere Application Server — Enterprise
Version 5.2, and Datapro’s Integrated Banking System.
The Benefits
Increases customer traffic by 300 percent due to improved response time and end-of-day processing, increases data processing and backup time by 500 percent, integrates 90 percent of banking operation on one server for greater efficiency, and saves on operating costs by contracting for processing power on an as-needed basis.
Leveling the playing field
Today’s on demand banking world is high pressure
and moving fast. Competitive banks must be able to react
instantly to changing customers’ needs. It means
having a flexible information technology (IT) infrastructure
that can grow and dynamically adapt to these demands.
Last year, PineBank N.A. felt the pressure. This Miami,
Florida-based wholesale commercial bank — which
focuses on providing financing services in Latin America
and the Caribbean — began to lose ground to more
progressive competitors, especially larger banks, because
of its slow response times to customers. Wireless transfers,
mortgage loans, customer e-mail, and even monthly banking
statements were not being processed in a timely manner.
To become more competitive, the bank, with 70 employees,
needed to upgrade its operating environment. Specifically,
PineBank needed to accelerate its processing capabilities
— or lose customers to more responsive competitors,
says Raul Camaliche, PineBank’s CIO.
On demand model
PineBank called on IBM to help it transform its banking
operations into an on demand business model, whereby
the bank could deliver services faster to customers
— and, at the same time, gain more control over
IT operating costs.
Working with IBM Premier Business Partner, Interamerica
Data Florida, PineBank acquired and implemented an IBM
^ iSeries-based solution running WebSphere Application
Server, the Java-based software that integrates enterprise
data and transactions into dynamic e-business on demand
applications. For core processing power, the solution
uses an iSeries 810 system, the flexible server with
IBM.
On/Off Capacity on Demand. During peak periods at the
end of each month, PineBank can turn on extra processing
power and later turn it off during non-peak periods.
“We no longer pay for what we don’t use —
a potential huge savings by year-end,” he says.
Integration drives productivity
The i810 server platform runs Datapro’s powerful
Integrated Banking System (IBS), which enables all bank
employees, including tellers, loan officers and mortgage
specialists, to perform day-to-day banking transactions.
“Now 90 percent of our banking operations is integrated
on one server — our core banking software, checks
and deposits, document imaging and e-mail run off the
i810 system. This integration has dramatically improved
employee productivity and response times to customers,”
Camaliche says. In fact, the bank has increased transactions
and customer traffic by 300 percent due to improved
response times and faster end-of-day data processing.
For example, wire transfers can be processed in just
30 minutes, instead of two hours. Data processing of
daily deposits and checks has been reduced from four
hours to 20 minutes. Plus, all daily banking information
for the emergency recovery system can now be backed
up in just one hour — five times faster than the
old system.
A better banking experience
To speed up its online banking operations, where customers
interact electronically with financial accounts and
services, PineBank consolidated five Compaq servers
into IBM xSeries and iSeries servers. In making that
transition, the bank improved systems availability,
performance and security. Additionally, the IBM Lotus
Notes and Domino software enabled the bank to improve
on demand communication with customers throughout its
15 multinational branches with access at all times.
Moving to Domino on an NT platform made a dramatic difference.
“No more downtime, no more viruses. We’re
giving customers a better, more reliable and faster
banking experience as a result,” Camaliche says.
In all, the combined benefits of the IBM solution are
helping PineBank to expand its customer base, without
adding staff. At the same time, it’s able to generate
more mortgages and process more letters of credit and
wire transfers, as well as other profitable services.
Camaliche forecasts that in the next 12-24 months the
bank should double in size, from 6,000 to as many as
12,000 customers. “Now we have the infrastructure
in place to scale quickly and cost effectively as demand
rises,” he says. “We’re ready for rapid
growth.” ”
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