Abbeyhas entered the final phase of
its programme to integrate the global banking platform of its
parent companySantanderinto its UK
operations.
The
Partenon banking platform, which replaces 30-year-old legacy
systems, provides the bank with a single view of its customers for
the first time.
When Santander bought Abbey in October 2004, it saw Partenon as
a key element in its plans to reduce costs at the UK bank by £300m.
Three years later, Abbey has completed 70% of the integration
programme. And despite a series of integration hurdles, which have
disrupted services to customers, Partenon is already making a
significant difference, the bank said.
"We are tapping into a global platform and achieving greater
efficiencies as we require less back-office support and
administration," said Abbey. "As we progress with these changes,
customers will benefit from a higher level of information, more
flexibility and easier and more secure ways of dealing with
us."
Partenon uses in-house middleware called Banksphere and is built
on an IBM database platform.
Abbey has consolidated all of its customer records on to a
single database. Eliminating duplication has allowed the bank to
reduce the number of customer records it stores from 52 million to
20 million.
This enables the bank to see all of a customer's details
regardless of whether they are at the counter, on the phone, or
have contacted Abbey over the internet. In addition, customers do
not have to repeat information when they sign up for new services,
as all their details are stored in one place.
"It moves us from silo-based product systems, where we do not
have a single view of the customer,
to a single customer view. We will be able to bundle more
specific information to them, reducing duplication and the number
of communications they receive," said Abbey.
The bank has migrated its 10 million savings accounts, four
million current accounts and eight million card accounts to the new
platform.
The project required an overhaul of Abbey's IT infrastructure.
This included the renewal of its entire branch communication
network, building more than 45 portals for 26,000 employees and
third-party organisations and creating back-up datacentre
infrastructure.
A key aspect of the programme has been staff training. Abbey
embarked on a major education programme before it rolled out the
Partenon infrastructure.
Nevertheless, as Computer Weekly reported last month, some staff
found it difficult to adjust to the system, leading to complaints
from customers about long queues in branches and disrupted
services.
"In the majority of instances it was not a systems problem, but
was more to do with the change to the processes and the logical
learning curve after a change of this magnitude," said Abbey.
Recognising this challenge, the bank provided face-to-face
training and e-learning to 25,000 staff before and during the
roll-out. Staff were supported in branches and through contact
centres, and there were comprehensive pilots before going live to
test user skills, it said.
"Ahead of every major change, staff members were fully informed
of the timing and actions they needed to take to prepare," said
Abbey. "We do not just focus on the 'how to' but also give staff
the opportunity to understand the logic behind the change, and we
continue to monitor and to revise training and guidance for
staff."
Abbey liaised with the Abbey National Group Union to ensure
staff were kept informed about the changes. General secretary Linda
Rolf said the union was working alongside management to smooth the
transition to the new system.
"We are ensuring that staff are trained and if they require help
they receive it, and if they stay late they are paid for doing so,"
she said.
Training cannot be one-size-fits-all because some staff adapt
easily to new ways of working, while for others it takes longer,
Rolf said.
Abbey said it would continue to monitor the project and
reinforce training where necessary, adding additional layers of
planning and testing as appropriate.
Before completing the project Abbey needs to move payments from
legacy systems to Partenon and integrate its back-office processing
engines with the global Partenon infrastructure. It expects to
complete the work in spring 2008.
Training and getting users to buy into projects is an important
competency which is often overlooked in the banking sector,
according to Ralph Silva, analyst at TowerGroup.
He said human error is responsible for 40% of the failures of
major IT projects in the European banking sector. Only 5% are
caused by problems with the technology.
"Almost every major failure of any significant IT project in the
European financial services sector can be attributed to human
error," said Silva. "The human element is always the last one to be
considered, and yet it is the highest cause of failure."
Abbey's training programme
● Face-to-face tuition and e-learning on tools and ways of
working delivered to 25,000 staff
● Support for staff in branches and contact centres
● Dedicated single point of contact helpline
● Comprehensive pilots before full roll-out
● Post implementation consolidation training
● Training includes "contingency" processes to minimise service
disruption
● Training is piloted with focus groups
● Senior Abbey management sent to Santander to meet colleagues
and see Partenon working.