i-Bank (Network of electronic offices of NBG bank)

2011: Start of the first department

In March, 2011 the oldest and at that time the largest commercial bank NBG of Greece opened in the Athenian shopping center the first department under the name of i-Bank. Specialization of the center – providing electronic services in the comfortable environment. Instead of 15-30 employees servicing traditional office at it only 5 people work: two managers and two-three operators. Other work was undertaken by technologies and remote workers of contact center.

2014: Plans of expansion of network

As of August, 2014 under the number of the signed contracts for banking services offices of electronic services of the National Bank of Greece (NBG) were 24 times more effective than the best traditional departments. Investments into technologies pay off due to significant reducing costs of personnel. CNews examined about the front and an i-Bank system back office^[1].

"Now early morning, therefore here only one manager and two operators, – Pericles Papaspiropulos, the head of contact center of NBG supervising the i-Bank direction tells CNews. – One more operator will get to work soon, and the second manager after 12 in the afternoon will appear. The most loaded working hours – from 11 in the morning to 5-6 in the evening".

In addition to small number of employees the model of departments i-Bank allows such offices to work on weekdays till 8 p.m. that much longer, than is accepted in the countries of Southern Europe. Traditional departments of NBG are closed already at two o'clock in the afternoon. It is possible to receive services in i-Bank from ten in the morning till five in the evening even on Saturday, and this really essential advantage in local market.

In i-Bank all banking activities, except for cash services are available to clients. Work with cash is conducted only via ATMs here.

"The last two-three years we observe the active growth of alternative methods of banking. It resulted us in the idea of creation of departments of i-Bank, – Pericles Papaspiropulos remembers. – Though from the very beginning we aimed to create conceptual, model department, it was clear that senselessly and it is economically unprofitable to build the similar environment only for improvement of image. Departments should render all range of services. We were not the first. The British bank Barclays began to start the centers of self-service since 2010, the French BNP opened similar office in Paris for several months before us. But we did not lag behind and together with them we take the leading positions in development of the technology bank environment today".

In the conditions of a difficult economic situation after the debt crisis which burst in the country in the 2010th the National Bank of Greece opened already four departments of i-Bank: two in Athens and two in Thessaloniki – the second in value city of the country. At the population of Greece 10.7 million people in 2013 passed through them about 800 thousand clients. Only one office i-Bank in the Athenian supermarket visited for this period 300 thousand people or slightly less than 1000 a day. The number of visitors is fixed automatically.

From January to May, 2014 through the i-Bank system in four new departments there passed 177 thousand operations on transaction service, 30 thousand queries, 11 thousand services of other types, such as opening of the account, contracts for Internet banking, claims, etc. The number of visitors during this time was 273 thousand human.

"Our experience of use of similar departments exclusively positive, – Pericles says. – The best traditional branch NBG signs 24 times less contracts for banking services, than office i-Bank".

The premises of i-Bank in a long line of shops of the Athenian shopping center are separated into three parts. The first – a usual zone of self-service. Here ATMs with a possibility of acceptance of cash are located. Further there is a video hall: the small fenced-off spaces equipped with technology of video conference. The terminal provides the protected environment for use of Internet banking and for communication with the call center operator. From here clients get access only to the website of bank, enter the login and the password, getting to a personal account. At the same time the user can make three types of a call: the normal call on traditional performance, video is ringing and Internet is ringing. It is possible to communicate both via the built-in microphone, and through phone tube. Soundproof barriers create additional comfort.

Departments of i-Bank are also expected full customer service in wheelchairs. In one of places the screen and columns are located below standard height more empty seat around. Some ATMs are lower than standard height for convenience of using from a sitting position too. By means of video calls is going to give the chance to hard of hearing people at communication with bank to use language of deaf-mutes.

The apostle Pafilis, the head of department of iBank, click on the screen of the terminal starts a video conference call:

"So, here the agent of contact center, he answers all questions on our services. Now you can see it, it is not simple somebody faceless, on that end of a wire. You can talk to it if you want".

Judging by statistics of bank, so far video conference with the operator enjoys not really wide popularity. For the first 5 months 2014 through the i-Bank system there passed slightly less than 3 thousand video calls.

"Many just do not want that they saw their person, – the Apostle says. – We are going to enter an option of video calls for mobile applications. Then, as we expect, their quantity will significantly increase".

As well as the self-service zone, the video hall works in mode 24х7. On border between the video hall and the following hall after the termination of the working day lower blinds.

It is necessary to protect a set of the mobile devices and desktop computers placed in free access. On smartphones and tablets of clients train in work with mobile applications at three platforms: iOS, Android and Windows Phone. For connection to service of Internet banking the iMac desktop computers and traditional PCs on Windows are right there installed. On them, unlike the video conference terminal, clients can use the Internet without restrictions and is absolutely free. The same treats also local Wi-Fi-network.

Having independently selected the necessary product, in a small office of the manager it is possible to sign the agreement and, in case of need, to append the personal signature on other papers. If you came with children, they can be borrowed with a game the big interactive screen.

Considerable part in department of the Athenian i-Bank, small on the area, is selected under the "theatre" equipped with a projector and the screen. It is the zone Open Mind in which the bank several times a week holds seminars for youth. Students are told how the banking system is arranged, or give lectures on popular scientific subjects, for example, "Physical experiments in CERN". The companies like Microsoft, Oracle or Sony represent the technologies and devices. Demand for similar actions high. About 20-25 listeners among whom there can be not only clients of bank, but also the persons who received invitations always gather for each of them.

Of course, NBG uses this zone and for own presentations. Also train at internal trainings of clients how to avoid "sad incidents the" (sad incidence) connected with Internet fraud. The bank not just accustoms consumers to use electronic networks as a working environment, but also imparts them bases of safety of such activity.

In some days right there train in new technologies of banking of people of advanced age.

"It is kind of strange sounded, in Greece there are people who still do not use even ATMs though outside 2014! – Pericles exclaims. – As a rule, it is elderly clients who come every month to cash desk with the savings book to make recalculation and to receive the pension. We give them an opportunity to approach the ATM and to receive the pension".

The management of National Bank of Greece is inspired by success and opening of new "electronic" departments in other cities of the country plans. Also it is going to install in each traditional department (531 in the territory of Greece) the terminals for electronic banking (i-Bank corner) offering the services similar to what can be received in i-Bank network.

"Besides, we want to make use of experience and fine performance indicators of these four new departments, for start of several electronic bank departments for other category of clients, – Pericles tells. – Between clients who store at us millions and receive the personified service, and ordinary investors, there are clients on whose accounts there are from 60 to 300 thousand euros. They receive the status "well-founded". We would like to offer them other service level. Interactive departments are already open for normal clients, their main objective – to offer all types of electronic services. Departments for "wealthy" clients will resemble, but with higher level of service".

Drinking coffee in the client hall of department i-Bank with modern design and a wall from fresh flowers from a floor to a ceiling, of course, you understand that the main efforts of the NBG IT command in this project were concentrated on more difficult technologies, than those that are visible to visitors. These solutions are found off-screen, namely in the contact center (CC).

Integration of departments of i-Bank with contact center took place in two directions: at the level of personnel and technologies. In new departments NGB uses the normal staff of CC as to prepare and keep special staff would be very expensive to these departments, especially in view of the fact that they should work overtime, but not with 9 to 6 as to other employees of the bank. Employees who work in i-Bank within a week also work several changes in contact center. For work at "electronic offices" the best specialists that internal communication between clients and employees happened at the highest level are selected.

In integration of technologies the question of the choice of the platform was the main thing. For routing and a call recording, including video, for message handling of e-mail and from social network "National Banks of Greece" uses the Genesys platform. The system of contact center is integrated with the CRM solution created also based on solutions of Genesys on Microsoft.net technology by specialists of the Greek Intracom (in 2014 for 48% belongs to Russian Sitronics).

The new technology environment is capable to make the bigger number of transactions, allows to control all happening processes better: for example, so many accounts, such type were open, so many contracts are signed, so many credit cards are sold, so many questions with customer accounts are settled. But this part of the project – only an iceberg top. For access to new technological capabilities to developers it was necessary to spend many forces for upgrade of contact center.

"In the beginning it was necessary to us quite difficult as this type of integration means certain difficulties, first of all, in the field of architectural and IT solutions, – Pericles Papaspiropulos tells CNews. – We had to integrate the TDM platform of contact center on IP Wednesday that at the scales of our business was difficult. The staff of the NBG group totals more than 35 thousand employees. We had to go to considerable costs and to overcome a large number of obstacles, for example, such as recognition of a voice in the IP environment (Speech Recognition over IP). Year was required completely to complete all works on upgrade of contact center, including integration of the solutions Genesys, IVR and the PBX (PBX) from Avaya, speech recognition from Nuance, technologies of record of calls from Nice and the PBX for insurance company from Alcatel. Implementation of outgoing calls also needed to be configured under functionality of Genesys Dialer Platform that the possibility of switching of calls appeared. 1.5 more years were required to settle all these questions with telephone provider. Some platforms, such as Aspect, in fact, are limited by the number of settings, and the solution Genesys belongs to open platforms and allows to perform different smart functions".

Imagine: operators perform outgoing call-down, and connect their every time to the fax machine or to service of voice mail on the mobile phone. It leads to extremely irrational use of time and human resources. Thanks to the Genesys platform such connections come to light and stopped from first second. But for implementation of all these opportunities it was necessary to carry out setup of the corresponding parameters and codes.

"Except that Genesys is an open platform, its difference from others is that it gives the chance to make changes by means of programming and does not depend on physical media, – the Apostle Pafilis says. – For its operation certain skills and the trained personnel are necessary, but if they are – you are almost not limited in the opportunities, and it will be reflected in charges of CC at once. In the beginning it is necessary to make certain investments in setup of a system and training of employees, but then costs are significantly reduced. Besides, the difference of the Genesys platform from other systems of computer-integrated telephony and other solutions applied in contact centers that Genesys has a business logic it "knows" what to do. Other systems as, for example, Aspect, stay idle before obtaining instructions on setup. Genesys does everything on the contrary. Yes, the Genesys platform gives the amplest opportunities for setup and parametrization, but at the same time she "prompts" as as it is necessary to do. A clear understanding of general strategy and processing of calls, works with multimedia, monitoring of social networks and so on is its cornerstone".

"Technically we created very difficult infrastructure, perhaps, one of the most difficult among contact centers of Greece, maybe, even the most difficult, – Pericles Papaspiropulos says. – We considered correct to purchase products of different producers. It entailed additional costs on integration and setup, but as a result in each segment, in each area we set the best solution. We adjusted operational support and now we use all our opportunities to the maximum".

As a result the bank managed to achieve considerable cutting of costs for the maintenance of contact center in which 250 people service bank, 50 people – the insurer National Insurance, largest in Greece, and 10–12 – brokerage firm. In other organizations, by estimates of NBG, on comparable amount of works the state 30% more is required.

For 2013 the contact center of National Bank of Greece processed 4.2 million incoming calls, 74 thousand broker transactions, 300 thousand SMS, 140 thousand transactions for a back office. New technologies work ideally, speak in NBG. In 7 years of operation at CC a zero downtime. There were malfunctions because of interruptions in a power supply and other factors, but a system continued to work. Its reliability even not 99.9%, but full-fledged 100% as on all processes the solutions duplicating them are set. A system basis, its rod – the products Genesys.

"It seems to me, we have no Genesys platform, we would not manage to adhere to the selected strategy and to perform business thus as now, – Pericles Papaspiropulos says. – And, of course, in modern economic conditions decrease in current expenses is extremely important. Now in NBG the active policy on cost reduction, both because of a difficult general economic situation, and owing to special provision of our bank is pursued. The management demands cost minimization at increase in the service level. And if we did not know about solutions of Genesys, then, perhaps, in the 2011th when the bank experienced serious financial difficulties, our direction could be liquidated, the contact center would be given on outsourcing that, in my opinion, would become accident for our business. In contact center the large volume of information, including confidential is concentrated. Besides, outsourcing is very doubtful method of cost reduction".

Unfortunately, in bank did not agree to sound CNews the extent of costs for upgrade of contact center. NBG reported that primary investments into the project were big, but in the first year of use of a system they managed to achieve considerable expense reduction.

Expenses on deployment of network of offices i-Bank are also not disclosed.

"Yes, it demanded certain investments, but we got invaluable experience, – Pericles says. – i-Bank is very good concept for many reasons, and we, certainly, believe that it is economic. We consider that costs will shortly pay off".

Notes