Microsoft Dynamics
Customer Solution Case Study
Bank Deploys Finance and CRM Solution to
Improve Insight into Customers
Overview
Country or Region: Africa
Industry: Financial services
Customer Profile
BancABC—previously the African
Banking Corporation—has
operations in Botswana,
Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia,
and Zimbabwe. It specialises in
corporate and retail banking
services.
Business Situation
The company wanted to enhance
customer service and increase
revenue for stakeholders with an
integrated customer relationship
management (CRM) and financial
transactions solution.
Solution
BancABC deployed a solution based
on Microsoft Dynamics CRM that
integrates with the company’s
Oracle FlexCube and Tieto banking
systems. The solution helps manage
new business processes.
Benefits
 Internal processes are more
efficient
 Customer service delivery is
enhanced
 Business is more competitive
 Operations are improved
 Campaigns are more successful
“Microsoft Dynamics was user friendly and the only
solution flexible enough to help us realise our
BancABC CRM vision. We can easily customise it to
manage new business processes.”
Andrea Prazakova, Group Head, Retail and SME Banking Division, BancABC
BancABC is a multinational Africa-based bank committed to
providing high-quality financial services to retail and corporate
customers in the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) region. By integrating its CRM solution with its core
banking systems—Oracle FlexCube and Tieto—the bank
wanted to speed up its product applications and approval
processes. It customised Microsoft Dynamics CRM to provide
its employees with a rich single view of customer data,
including personal details, service request history, and financial
information. Customer relationship management, which has a
direct impact on overall revenue opportunity, is a key focus for
the bank. And, with its new system, it has made processes
more efficient and enhanced customer service.
“Our main goal was to
implement a seamless
Customer-on-Board
solution that managed
all product applications
and the electronic
document and workflow
management tasks that
are required to sign up a
new customer.”
Andrea Prazakova, Group Head, Retail
and SME Banking Division, BancABC
Situation
Established in 1956, BancABC—
previously known as the African Banking
Corporation (ABC)—has built its business
around a reputation for fast, responsive
service, and the ability to meet the needs
of its corporate customers in the
Southern African Development
Community (SADC) region.
around five differentiators it defines as
critical in generating success. These are:

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Intuitive, user-friendly branch design
CRM
Service quality management
Electronic document and workflow
management
Partnerships
The group’s slogan is “Fresh Thinking,
Smart Banking,” and its vision is to offer
world-class financial solutions. In the first
half of 2009—during the height of the
global recession—BancABC not only
increased its balance sheet, but it also
successfully managed to rebrand itself
from the African Banking Corporation to
BancABC, while expanding operations
into the retail banking market.
In 2009, the infrastructure team worked
closely with business teams to align
BancABC business processes with
customer needs, and evaluate the
technology required to achieve
differentiation goals. This entailed a
review of the entire credit management
process—from initial application to the
authorisation and disbursement of funds
for retail and corporate customers.
Andrea Prazakova, Group Head, Retail
and SME Banking Division, BancABC,
says: “We saw an opportunity to increase
profitability for stakeholders, and were
confident that we could capitalise on our
experience and expertise to create a
competitive retail banking model.”
Prazakova says: “We considered every
stage of our interaction with customers,
from initial enquiries to obtaining the
information needed to create relevant,
successful products. Our goal was to
implement a seamless solution—called
Customer on Board—to manage product
applications and the electronic
document and workflow tasks that are
required to sign up new customers.”
IT is a crucial driver of the company’s
growth strategy. As part of its expansion
into retail banking, BancABC was
required to revitalise and automate many
of its manual processes, achieving faster
turnaround times and lowering financial
risks for stakeholders and customers.
Neal MacIntyre, Regional Specialist,
Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) at BancABC, says: “We were
particularly interested in automating the
time-consuming manual processes
involved in evaluating a customer’s credit
information and viewing the customer’s
risk rating.” In fact, the business saw its
expansion as an opportunity to enhance
customer service, and create a fresh
approach to service delivery and risk
assessment. The management team was
determined to build its operations
Solution
Microsoft Dynamics CRM was chosen
over strong competition, including
Siebel, for its ease of integration with the
company’s Oracle FlexCube transactional
banking and Tieto systems. Rishi Pillay,
Regional Manager, CRM, BancABC, says:
“Although the solution is feature rich and
unique to BancABC, we didn’t have to
spend a lot of time coding—we simply
added rules within Microsoft Dynamics
CRM to support our requirements.” This
integration delivers critical functionality
that supports the Customer-on-Board
credit scoring and application processes,
including:

Customer scorecard—this calculates a
customer’s retail credit allowance and
“With Microsoft
Dynamics CRM, we have
realised our vision of
differentiation through
service excellence and
innovation.”
Andrea Prazakova, Group Head, Retail
and SME Banking Division, BancABC

suitability, along with appropriate
interest rates.
New customer concept—this process
is triggered with an initial application.
It automatically sets up reminders
about document completion and data
accuracy, while linking the customer to
cross-selling and up-selling campaign
lists.
With the help of Microsoft Gold Certified
Partner The i5 Group—a specialist
systems integrator based in South
Africa—BancABC assessed the flexibility
and integration of several solutions. It
then deployed a unique financial and
CRM system based on Microsoft
Dynamics CRM. Prazakova says:
“Microsoft Dynamics was user friendly
and the only solution flexible enough to
help us realise our BancABC CRM vision.
We can easily customise it to manage
new business processes, contain risk, and
provide excellent service to customers.”
Paul Mare, Sales Director at The i5
Group, and his team used their CRM
expertise to add several business
capability features, including:


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Upload and display facility for legal
entity risk rating model
Electronic customer product
applications
Individual risk scoring of credit
applications
Electronic storage and tracking of
customer and credit documents
Customer service request logging,
allocation, tracking, and resolution
workflows with service level agreement
(SLA) task monitoring
The financial CRM solution holds all of
the bank’s customer data, and seamlessly
integrates with its transactional systems.
Benefits
The financial CRM solution deployed by
the bank provides multiple benefits.
Employees have the tools to provide fast,
personalised financial services to their
customers. The business now has the
information it needs to create high-end
products that meet the requirements of
retail and corporate customers.
Prazakova says: “With Microsoft
Dynamics CRM, we have realised our
vision of differentiation through service
excellence and innovation. Since rolling
out our retail branch outlets and
implementing the financial CRM solution,
we anticipate significantly increasing the
number of new customers we attract—
and, subsequently, our profits.”
Process Efficiency Enhances
Productivity and Reduces Errors
Customer-facing employees now have
more time for important client
interactions. Most of the tasks previously
managed manually—such as securing
approvals and researching credit
information—are either fully or partially
automated. With data quality rules built
into the financial CRM application, input
errors are reduced, and customer details
are less likely to be overlooked.
Deadlines and SLAs are monitored, while
specific customer requests are flagged
electronically, alerting employees in time
to follow up and complete related tasks
promptly. Employees are more efficient,
which creates time for one-to-one
customer interaction. In addition, the use
of paper is decreasing and the solution is
helping employees improve the
processes for managing:
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Accurate data quality
Customer portfolios and collections
Sales campaigns
Customer communications and
feedback
Intranet content
Key performance indicators and
performance dashboards
“Although the solution is
feature rich and unique
to BancABC, we didn’t
have to spend a lot of
time coding—we simply
added rules within
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
that support our
requirements.”
Rishi Pillay, Regional Manager, CRM,
BancABC
Figure 1: Data quality across the bank’s
customer base made visible with a
dynamic Microsoft Office Excel
spreadsheet dashboard
Single View of Customer Enhances
Service
Pillay says: “When it comes to making
decisions about the right products to
offer customers, or the best way to
communicate sensitive financial
information, it is imperative to
understand the person to whom you’re
talking.” Employees can now view all the
customer banking information they
need—including past transactions and
credit history—to provide personalised
service delivery and manage sensitive
conversations around finance and credit.
“Having this information to hand means
that BancABC can offer customers a very
attractive service,” says Pillay.
Consistent Customer-on-Board
Approach Provides Competitive Edge
According to a recent report by the
research firm Forrester, many companies
disappoint their potential clients by not
managing new applications consistently
or efficiently. Customers often abandon
the application process after becoming
frustrated when their details are lost,
communication is inconsistent, or
employees’ knowledge of their financial
situation is poor. Mare explains that the
BancABC solution addresses all of these
issues by automating the customer’s
application life cycle and providing
employees with the tools to monitor
customers, and follow up with them
when necessary. He says: “Features such
as the customer appraisal credit template
promote timely and effective facility
approvals, which inspires confidence and
loyalty.”
Data Quality Validation Reduces Loss
and Improves Operations
It’s crucial that the data captured by
BancABC is accurate. With poor quality
data, such as incorrectly entered phone
numbers, the business can lose
thousands of dollars. Prazakova says:
“For example, the difference between 40
per cent and 60 per cent data quality in a
single marketing campaign can make a
lot of difference financially—hundreds of
thousands of dollars are at stake. The
solution guides employees to enter
customer details correctly, and prompts
them to capture vital information needed
for future customer interactions. In
addition, we added data quality as a
measure by which employees are
assessed—this has given employees an
incentive to focus on the accuracy of the
data they enter into the system.”
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft
products and services, call the
Microsoft Sales Information Center at
(800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the
Microsoft Canada Information Centre
at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are
deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach
Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD)
services at (800) 892-5234 in the
United States or (905) 568-9641 in
Canada. Outside the 50 United States
and Canada, please contact your local
Microsoft subsidiary. To access
information using the World Wide
Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com
Microsoft Dynamics
Sales and Marketing Campaigns Are
more Successful
The consolidation of CRM and financial
data is a valuable combination, providing
sales and marketing teams with both
transactional and demographic
information. Prazakova says: “The bank
can not only predict its performance
more accurately, but it can also create
financial packages and products based
on the way its customers spend, save,
and manage their money.” With
Microsoft Dynamics CRM tools, such as
the sales activity and campaign planning
feature, employees can create highly
targeted campaigns.
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of
integrated, adaptable business
management solutions that enables you
and your people to make business
decisions with greater confidence.
Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar
Microsoft software such as Microsoft
Office, which means less of a learning
curve for your people, so they can get up
and running quickly and focus on what’s
most important. And because it is from
Microsoft, it easily works with the
systems that your company already has
implemented. By automating and
streamlining financial, customer
relationship, and supply chain processes,
Microsoft Dynamics brings together
people, processes, and technologies,
increasing the productivity and
effectiveness of your business, and
helping you drive business success.
For more information about The i5
Group products and services visit the
Web site at:
www.i5.co.za
For more information about BancABC
products and services visit the Web
site at:
www.bancabc.com
For more information about Microsoft
Dynamics, go to:
www.microsoft.com/dynamics
Software and Services

This case study is for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published April 2010
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