Bringing a community bank into the future with ARIS 
            

Şekerbank is a traditional bank focused on accommodating the needs of local communities. Founded by a group of sugar beet farmers in Anatolia, Turkey in 1953, its customer focus draws strength from this deep-rooted past. Now based in Istanbul, Şekerbank has over 3200 employees, and 238 branches of which 72% are located in rural areas. Şekerbank supports the financial needs of its large customer base in Anatolia with much faster solutions with the “Transformation Program,” which was launched in 2018 to digitalize the bank's infrastructure by renewing it end-to-end.

Şekerbank has a thriving tradition of banking with a deep-rooted history. But with an increasingly competitive market and digital banks threatening to steal away their happy customers, the bank found itself facing a crucial choice: standardize and digitalize or lose market share. Despite 72% of its branches being in rural areas, Şekerbank thinks both forward and big: so it knew it needed to modernize and offer new products and services to better serve a long-standing customer base. And there was a certain amount of national pride involved: awarded first prize for sustainability by the UN for "Family Farming Banking"—it had its reputation as a role model in Turkey to protect.

The situation within the bank itself also called for significant change—and here Şekerbank was ahead of the curve. Şekerbank wanted to plot a strategic “to be” architecture that would promote a seamless customer experience. So in 2019—within the scope of its ambitious Digital Transformation Program—the bank set out to renew all processes and technological infrastructure end-to-end, introduce sustainable banking practices and develop digital applications—the first in Turkey for the financing of rural areas.

“Previously we visualized our processes in Visio−but we were unable to connect all the aspects of them like roles, libraries and versions. All processes were compatible with ARIS. We wasted a lot of time on demand and compliance and struggled to grasp our process channels,” says process manager.

This couldn’t go on.

A tool for the people

So the search for the perfect solution started. One thing was of vital importance, Şekerbank didn’t just want to transform its processes at the core and control the results. It also wanted to be able to optimize. And align its processes to business KPIs for strategic change. In fact, this was one of the major reasons why they turned to Software AG—with a legacy in technology for operational excellence and an impressive portfolio in the banking industry.

One holistic view: With a focus on business process design, Şekerbank began using ARIS Enterprise in March 2020 and had already modelled 2414 processes in the first year alone. Benefits could be seen right away: “A lot of departments were surprised to discover how many processes they actually owned−and almost immediately got a wakeup call regarding their importance in the context of the rest of the organization” says process manager. “What is more, ARIS’s intuitive UI makes it easy for internal customers to design their processes even with no previous experience in process architecture.” The impact was outstandingly positive: ARIS boosted enthusiasm for process collaboration within the organization—and ownership and adoption went up by users delighted to have a clear view of their process landscape.

Operational efficiency: As processes dependent on individuals were replaced by automated, system-based processes, things started to get done faster. Architecting processes from scratch went from eight weeks to four and a previously 70+ page documentation could be visualized in three pages of interactive workflows.

“Internal customers are very happy that they no longer have to rummage through pages of instructions anymore. It’s so simple to design a clear workflow in ARIS. It frees people up to be productive elsewhere.” says process manager.

Strategic agility: And that’s not all. With ARIS, assigning KPIs to each individual process is easy. This has enabled the bank to undergo a strategic and measurable digital transformation. And responsiveness has also been given a huge boost. Process manager goes on to say that: “By using ARIS, the bank has gained the flexibility and agility to submit data when requested by in-house or third parties like official regulators, auditors and internal customers.”

Customer Experience: And naturally, with a number of the core internal processes established and working well, Şekerbank has turned its attentions to mapping the customer journey. Which has proven to be a breeze with new customer processes being mapped in just ten minutes. When previously a minimum of 40 would have been needed. And with existing processes running more smoothly there are now far fewer incident cases—meaning far fewer customers impacted by process-related errors.

As the bank scales: with each new staff member, new ARIS users join the fold. Indeed, things are running so well that it could be time to extend the partnership with Software AG. Şekerbank is planning to use API Management from the webMethods product family in 2022—for a fluid flow of data visualized in handy applications across the organization. For now, though, the focus is right where it belongs: on continuing to delight customers with a unique blend of traditional values with proven pioneering spirit.