Information Technologies & Joint Service Center

In 2011 İşbank once again continued to invest in technology and productivity projects in order to improve every aspect of the customer experience.

Innovations that improve the customer experience
In 2011 İşbank added many new features to its alternative distribution channels (ADC) that both enhanced their functionality and improved the customer experience. The Retail Internet Branch was renovated and Bankamatik menus with functions (“My Bankamatik” and “Easy Fund Transfer”) that allow their menus to be personalized in line with customers’ preferences. Recognizing the rapid growth in mobile banking numbers recently, importance was also given to expanding mobile channel diversity in order to satisfy these users’ particular needs. In 2011, İşTV and İşPad were launched in addition to the existing İşCep channel.

In the area of commercial banking, comprehensive improvements were made in the performing and non-performing loan infrastructures while investments were also made to give commercial customers a richer online banking experience.

Expanding the scope of process-based applications
Under a retail loan management project being carried out to automate retail loan allocation processes and to make use of a centralized scoring tool throughout İşbank, work has been completed on issues pertaining to cash-disbursed consumer loans. Retail loan application and allocation processes create a substantial workload at İşbank branches. It is expected that these new process-based task flows will reduce the average time it takes to deal with such matters to just 5 minutes.

Proliferating opportunities to make sales and cross-sales
Because selling insurance products at branches is quite labor-intensive, a bancassurance project is being carried out that will simplify the sale of such products at branches while also allowing them to be sold through all other channels. Under this project, integration with the Bank’s insurance subsidiaries has been achieved and a multichannel bancassurance platform has been constructed. Personal accident, traffic and automobile insurance products are now being sold via the Bank’s ADC.

In the area of customer relationship management at the Bank, customer-specific offers are now being coordinated through the Internet Branch, Bankamatik and Call Center channels along with branches.

Operational efficiencies are becoming a part of everyday life.
A new human resources program (İKON) has been introduced at İşbank and the processes of the foreign trade package (Küre) have been expanded. Improvements in the financial reporting and control infrastructure were also made in 2011 and commission pricing is now being managed centrally.

Paralleling the activities just outlined, we are also involved in a multidimensional profitability project which will be completed in 2012 and thanks to which there will be significant improvements in the areas of both management accounting and of financial management throughout İşbank.

İşbank’s communication infrastructure has been renewed.
One of the most important activities carried out in the area of information technologies at İşbank in 2011 was the renewal of the Bank’s communication infrastructure.

This renewal involved a changeover to an IP-based structure, which not only makes in-house communication more efficient but also supports the development of ways in which to engage in low-cost, high-added-value communication with customers. The changeover has been completed at the Bank’s headquarters units and in 728 of its branches, with all branches scheduled to be brought into the network before the end of 2012.

The Joint Service Center continues to work.
The Joint Service Center, which has been awarded ISO 9001 quality certification, provides quality-focused services aimed at increasing the satisfaction of İşbank customers and at reducing the operational workloads of the Bank’s branches.

A comprehensive operational infrastructure has been created at the Joint Service Center in order to fulfill the Bank’s high productivity objectives. The center makes it possible for İşbank to provide its services through a structure which is not just productive and low-cost but which also makes the Bank a sectoral pioneer and innovator in the area of operational centralization.

The Joint Service Center is responsible for the conduct of the following operations and activities:

• EFT and transfer orders, social security premium and contractor staff salary payments,
• Improving customer information and document quality,
• TL, FC and foreign bank cheque processing,
• Promissory notes registrations and collections,
• FC transactions,
• Commercial lending and mortgaging,
• Credit card allocation and card printing,
• Lien and deposit investigations,
• Tax and accounting-related operations,
• Monitoring overdue retail loans,
• Bancassurance-related operational processes.

Such operational efficiency oriented activities are important for İşbank branches to work more efficiently.