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Punjab State Co-op Bank has selected Flexcube, Oracle Database and Oracle Financial Services OnDemand to replace manual processes and enhance efficiency by maintaining customer intimacy created over the years.
By Faiz Askari, NWC, Aug. 18 2008, 1500 hrs
Punjab State Co-operative Bank (PSCB) and 19 District Central Co-operative Banks have selected Oracle and Flexcel International as their IT partners to deploy Flexcube in the largest core banking rollout in the Indian co-operative banking sector. Flexcube, powered by Oracle Database and Oracle Real Application Clusters, had enhanced the efficiency with which Punjab State Co-operative Bank can deploy people, processes and products in 800 bank branches spread across Punjab.
Commenting on the expectations of PSCB from this deployment, P S Sidhu, MD, PSCB, said, “We expect the market to be increasingly demanding. This kind of deployment will enable us to gear up.”
Training of the staff members and making them embrace the new technology where manual processes still existed and technology adoption rate was much lower, was a major challenge that the bank faced.
In addition to this, sufficient customer data was not available in the manual /old systems. Sidhu also added, “Enriching the data and cleaning it to upload to CBS took a lot of effort. Lack of sufficient technical resources to manage a project of this size was also a challenge for us.”
Having CBS at PSCB
PSCB found that this CBS has improved the value, speed and flexibility of their product offering to customers. With this, the bank would now be in a position to offer many technology-driven channels to customers such as ATMs, Internet Banking and SMS Banking and reduce the stress on branch banking. “It also enabled us to adapt to the changing scenario and maintain our customer information system to track relevant information on an online real time basis,” added Sidhu.
Above all, the PSCB management also believes that this deployment will enable them to compete with private and public sector banks while offering improved customer service thereby retaining the existing clientele while wooing new customers.
Flexcel International, a subsidiary of i-flex solutions, offers Oracle Financial Services OnDemand. It has taken care of the entire deployment, hosting and managing of the core banking solution which will seamlessly integrate with all institutional delivery channels and enterprise-wide systems.
The bank has already built a robust data centre that is sufficient to manage the 800 plus branch roll out. Deployment of the solution in about 40 plus branches across 18 banks has been completed. The second phase of the solution implementation across 200 branches will commence shortly. The roll out across the remaining branches will be completed as part of the third phase.
With the deployment of Flexcube and Oracle Real Application Clusters, one of the building blocks for grid computing, PSCB will be able to enhance the efficiency of its transaction processing and provide on-line, real-time banking to accounts from any of the 800 bank branches in the network. It will also enable standardization of products and services to customers.
Commenting on the roll out process, Sidhu further explained, “The deployment went according to plan without any major problem but for some delay in rolling out due to shortage of technical man power and clean data for migration.”
The RoI Effect
Although the bank is confident that this core banking implementation will benefit them not only to increase productivity but also control manpower and enable re-deployment of manpower for functions that are critical to the bank's business. While adding to this, Sidhu quoted, “RoI of CBS would be felt in increased customer base and thus increasing the overall business and profitability of the bank. We are already experiencing the benefits by increased productivity and customer satisfaction which is increasing the customer base. With the planned migration of additional branches in phases 2 and 3, the full benefits would be reaped.”
Future Plans
In the next phase, with increase in branches and transaction volumes under CBS, enhanced Oracle Solutions would be required for the Bank’s growing needs. “We are working very closely with our implementation partners Flexcel on this, which is now part of Oracle organization,” added Sidhu.
PSCB has only completed the first phase of the roll-out. In the second phase, the bank plans to migrate 200 more branches and the remaining 550 plus branches in the third phase. Sidhu also informed, “We are very closely interacting with our technology and implementation partners to help migrate to the next phase which is very crucial in our technology upgrade plans.”
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