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FöreningsSparbanken (Swedbank) is Sweden’s biggest retail bank, with four million customers, 550 branches and a market share of 30 percent. Swedbank’s offerings are complemented by Internet and telephone services together with instore banks and post offices. Consequently, FöreningsSparbanken styles itself as ‘Sweden's most accessible bank’: a key aspect of its market proposition and one that’s highly dependent on effective IT services. In this environment, SAS® are enabling the bank to track and report on its various IT systems, in particular to underpin service level agreements (SLAs) valued at US$120 million (_10.5 million).
“Technology is very important to us, not least because it represents 17- 22 percent of our running costs,” explains Fredrik Runnquist, Senior Vice President and Head of IT at Swedbank. “And if our systems aren’t running, the bank is effectively closed. Our IT is focused on the retail side, with ‘addons’ in other areas; in fact, we have around 500 applications, mostly developed in-house. Our biggest platform is the mainframe, while we also have an extensive UNIX environment, particularly for Internet banking and Web solutions. Roughly 85 percent of our volume is on these two platforms, so it’s a mixed environment, with other smaller elements such as NT servers and HP. IT governance is therefore a challenge for us.
“Our operations have three main areas. First, we have Corporate Management, which is responsible for IT strategy and for planning. Second, there are Business Units such as retail banking, mortgages, payment, savings and soon. And third, you have the IT department.” Business plans support the relationships between management and the business units, and management and the IT department. At the same time, project agreements and SLAs provide the link between IT services and the business units — and therefore end customers — who depend on them. In this area, SAS is actively supporting IT governance. “Our critical success factors in the IT department are twofold: doing a good job, and communicating this — telling people we’re doing a good job,” says Runnquist.
The importance of IT governance
“IT governance is vitally important to us — let’s use availability as an example. If our central systems aren’t working, branches couldn’t function effectively and ATMs would be closed. If the Internet banking service went down, even for a few minutes, there’d be a minor uproar from customers. At the busiest times, during the last week of each month, 300,000 customers can pass through the Internet bank in a single day. Something like 17,000 people will can be making payments at the same time. And of course, there are cost issues to consider. With IT-related activities accounting for a fifth of our running costs, we must be very efficient. Therefore efficiency and economy, interms of revenues/costs, are essential elements of our business plans.
Another important aspect is quality of service. In recent years, we’ve changed from mainly back-office¨operations, where you’d run transactions overnight, to a more upfront, online, direct approach with customers.” This requires a different approach to systems managementand IT governance, and SAS are used to track, monitor and report on the various systems that support the business.
Tracking service levels
“SAS helps to smooth relationships between the business units and the IT department in terms of the production and maintenance of the IT services we provide,” continues Runnquist. “We have over 50 SLAs with the business units, which represent USD120 million in value (_10.5 million). For example, we have a large SLA with the business manager of the Internet bank that covers the central IBM mainframe and all its databases and the UNIX platform.” Using SAS to monitor service levels assists the IT department in reaching set targets and to focus on areas of concern.
“We can look at issues like systems availability, transaction volumes, response times, and so on,” says Runnquist. “As Head of IT, I can follow up on any issues that arise on all our main systems. In a worst case scenario, if a system in our ten most important environments reaches a standstill, or if there’s a stop or excessive queuing that forces Internet users to wait, I’m informed directly and can take action.” Tracking and monitoring continues 24 hours a day.
“If we don’t reach the goals set by the SLAs, we can see this and create a taskforce to focus on stabilizing and improving the situation. This can include people from the business and IT sides, and I receive daily follow-ups on actions taken. The results also feed into a steering committee that meets once a week. It’s a very focused approach — our CEO knows that direct action will be taken immediately if any problems arise.” In short, if anything isn’t happening the way it should be, the organizational intelligence provided by SAS allows the situation to be escalated and dealt with rapidly.
As an element of the drive for improved IT governance, SAS is helping FöreningsSparbanken achieve it’s goal of being the banking provider of choice for private individuals, companies and public sector organizations - by supporting the smooth running of the bank’s operations, and helping ensure the provision of highly accessible and easy-to-use financial services.
About FöreningsSparbanken AB
FöreningsSparbanken (Swedbank) is one of the largest banking groups in the Nordic region, with operations in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and the Baltic States. With around 16,000 employees (9,500 in Sweden alone), the group has almost six million private and 350,000 corporate customers. Founded in 1997 by the merger of Föreningsbanken and Sparbanken Sverige, the bank dates back to 1820 with the establishment of Sweden'sfirst savings bank.
SUMMARY
Customer: FöreningsSparbanken AB (Swedbank)
Industry: Banking and financial services
Business Issue: Supporting improved IT governance and meeting the goals set by multiple SLAs for IT service delivery
Solution: SAS®
Benefits: Service level targets are met more effectively and areas of concern are quickly focused on, resulting in improved IT governance
