Professional outsourcing of IT services for lower costs
Customer‘s profile
Third largest Slovak bank with over 700,000 clients.
Management summary
A change of End User Services provider led to a higher standard of services. At the same time, it also cut the price that the bank pays at present for caring for its IT end devices and their users. This was thanks chiefly to the professionalism and extensive experience of PosAm’s experts in the provision of services to large clients and the banking sector.
Initial status
For many years, the bank was outsourcing its operations services to a renowned foreign company. Even so, it decided to make a call for tenders for the provision of IT operations services so as to cut costs for operation and support for several thousand IT end devices and users, not just at its head office, but also at all branches and other members of the group.
Goals and requirements
The perfectly prepared in-depth specification and tender declared clearly that the customer knew exactly what it wanted. One condition was to ensure outsourcing of the same or higher quality, but it was also crucial to respect compliance with the security rules of its multinational owner and guidelines of the National Bank of Slovakia.
Thanks to our experience, strong internal effectiveness and optimised processes, confirmed also by ISO 20000 certification, PosAm managed to offer the best possible price while preserving quality and its own profitability. The impressive references from similarly demanding clients also proved to be decisive, such as projects for Slovenské elektrárne, Allianz Slovenská poisťovňa, Uniqa or ZUNO bank.
Solution
The operation and support of IT end devices includes care of computers, notebooks, tablets, printers and smartphones. The services encompass installation, repair and even the download of updates for both hardware and software components. The services are provided either remotely or on site for the head office, all branches and at all other members of the group. In total, there are 3 500 active users at 4 major localities and 174 branches throughout Slovakia that require the same service level across-the-board.
Smooth transition
The winner of the tender kick-started the demanding process of taking over the services from the previous provider. Work started in November 2014 and involved numerous organisational, procedural and technical issues. Even though the transition began during the fairly demanding period at the end of the year, PosAm still managed to deal with everything in record time by the end of February 2015. The transition went so smoothly that neither employees nor clients felt the change in any way. This was also made possible by taking on the experienced team of technicians who dealt with the IT requirements for Tatra banka under the previous contractor. An interesting point is how the current team is achieving a greater quality of services with fewer people, which highlights the internal efficiency of PosAm. This was not affected even by the large number of bank branches all over the country.
Well managed audit and documentation
The key to providing quality services is to set them up properly. Experts at PosAm conducted a detailed audit and mapped the situation not only at head office, but at the bank’s branches throughout the country. This led them to compiling a Management and Operations Manual, which maps and describes the offered services in line with ITIL Best Practices and enables their effective management and operation. It also gives the customer a clear and transparent definition of the scope and quality of provided services. In terms of security, compliance was achieved with the internal bank rules and those of the National Bank of Slovakia.
Connecting service desk tools of the bank and PosAm
The bank uses the IBM Tivoli Service Request Manager system for its own purposes, and PosAm employs its own system PosAm Servio for request management. The connection of these two systems enabled the transparent automation of processes.
Paperless contact
As part of the provided operations services, in November 2015 PosAm implemented the solution for handwritten digital signatures PosAm bSign. Technicians are equipped with tablets that facilitate the signing of documents. This means the whole process from submission of a request to its resolution takes place without any printing and all documents are archived automatically in electronic form.
Results and benefits
Cost reduction
PosAm is the second largest provider of IT operations services in Slovakia. Thanks to many years of experience and precisely set processes, the company enjoys a high level of internal effectiveness. This allows it to provide quality services at highly competitive terms. After switching to PosAm, these factors led to significant cost savings for the customer for its outsourcing.
Maintaining and raising quality
The perfectly prepared transition was why the service quality was on the maximum level from the very beginning and the agreed qualitative parameters were met in 99.5% of cases. What’s more, the provision of services across-the-board was managed by a smaller team than at the original provider.
Main benefits of the solution
- Cost savings for outsourced IT services
- Detailed documentation of services and processes
- Compliance with the standards of the multinational group and the NBS
- Paperless processes