TMB-Thanachart Bank with Comarch’s Award-Winning Solution Transforms Banking in Thailand
Comarch Corporate Banking at TTB has won the prize of Best Digital Transformation Implementation at this year’s The Asian Banker Thailand Awards. It is a new, ever-expanding platform, built to efficiently give customers quick access to multiple products and functionalities without the need to log into more than one service.
The winning system is built with the use of the most recent industrial trends and a seamless User Experience design. Its mission is to reduce traditional branch banking costs and fraud risk, thanks to built-in advanced security mechanisms and approval workflows, and ensure an easy and intuitive around-the-clock access of TTB customers to the full scope of their financial services.
Competitive advantage
Many of Thailand’s banking solutions are based on fragmented back-end systems. The objective of Comarch Corporate Banking (CCB) was to aggregate all products and services in one place and allow the clients to manage them through all channels including mobile, desktop, and host to host. “TTB needed a solution that would allow them to gain competitive advantage on the market. With a solid set of products as a base, augmenting the bank’s internet offering was the logical next step towards achieving that goal”, says Parida Leelaniramol, the Sales Director at Comarch Thailand.
The introduction of a system as innovative as Comarch Corporate Banking fortified TMB Thanachart Bank’s position as one of the most forward-thinking financial institutions in Thailand. Thanks to the new platform, the merger between TMB and Thanachart was set to run smoothly. “To stay competitive, you need to move forward. Over the years, TTB commissioned multiple changes and extensions to the system, all of which were aimed at delivering more value to their customers”, points out Maciej Sałata, the Consulting Director at Comarch SA.
Ease of use
There were a few meaningful challenges during the realization of this project, and one of them was to create an intricate, multi-faceted platform that was simple enough for an everyday user. TTB expected Comarch Corporate Banking to follow the customer focus idea. What came into existence was a system whose clarity is based on the division between a number of seamlessly accessible yet independent modules.
“When talking about internet banking, ease of use is always one of the top requirements. If the application is not user friendly, it can’t be a success. We knew that we had a great product in terms of usability, but we had to make sure that it was perfectly adapted to the Thai market.”, says Krzysztof Maurer, the Managing Director at Comarch Thailand.
Agile approach
Another challenge was the project being undercut at its inception by the pandemic outbreak. Despite that, the new system has been adapted, implemented and put into customer use in under 9 months. It substituted the hitherto platform which had been in constant development for the past 10 years. The implementation time of CCB was limited and unnegotiable due to TMB’s merger with Thanachart. Comarch representatives chose to use the Agile methodology.
“Without an agile approach, we would not have been able to launch the system in such a short time. As Comarch we know Agile well, we can utilize it not only for manufacturing but also during implementation. From the very beginning, we were convinced that this approach would let us achieve our goal. Thanks to our knowledge and experience in using agile methodologies, we have been able to introduce Agile into the whole process, also on the side of the Bank, which has joint us in this”, says Roman Bobrowski, the CCB Project Manager at Comarch.
Prospects for growth
Comarch’s role in the project expanded from a basic improvement of the existing platform to its total replacement. Currently, the new system is compatible with expansions and external solutions. It is also open to further enhancements, brand new modules, and AI.
ADVT.
