Cloud-based services have become integral to driving innovation across the banking landscape, dialling up efficiencies while driving down operational and compliance costs. They have transformed the financial playing field, ushering in the world of fintech and agile banking which have evolved the status quo.
Dutch bank – de Volksbank – was looking for a way to remove the complexities and legacy systems involved in fund investments. As such, the fourth largest bank in the Netherlands partnered with Ohpen to minimise its operational costs and complexities by outsourcing its non-core activities. Little did de Volksbank know, the cloud would play a major part in allowing them to focus solely on providing a top-tier customer experience.
Aligning values
As a self-sufficient bank, de Volksbank had been successful in curating a standardised banking platform. However, the company was keen to outsource its IT and operational processes for investments so that it could dedicate the team’s time to customer service. This decision followed a redesign and simplification of its investment proposition and aligned with Ohpen’s ethos of “less is more”.
Finding harmony in these values was a strong starting point for de Volksbank and Ohpen’s relationship. De Volksbank had ten key attributes they were looking for in a fund investments provider. This included knowledge of the Dutch market, an understanding of the people, a quality platform and the ability to manage processes and own the technical back-end. Ranking highly was also the ability to provide 100% uptime.
Ohpen was bold and confident in its ability to deliver.
Putting the platform into practice
After a formal tender process, Ohpen’s track record and ability to meet de Volksbank’s criteria initiated the implementation and resulting partnership. The deliberately simple processes and focus, guaranteed uptime and high performance consolidated into one solid Software-as-a Service (SaaS) solution which was packaged to meet de Volksbank’s needs.
“The team Ohpen provided for the project were not only experts in the Dutch market, but also had decades of experience in the field of fund investments. This meant that both the sophistication of the software and knowledge of the team matched the products we provide to our customers.”
Marc Clarijs, Head of Savings and Investments at de Volksbank
With de Volksbank keen to tap into new technologies to remain agile, Ohpen assured them that cloud-first was imperative. The bank needed a system that could adapt quickly, scale as needed but also take on the responsibility of the back-end. One of the biggest reassurances of Ohpen’s platform was the agile nature in which the project was implemented. The platform was continually tested throughout to ensure it was working as planned.
Not only was Ohpen well positioned to provide an adaptable solution, but it did so in record timing. The migration from beginning to end took about 9 months, a great achievement for a bank of its size. This was in part because the Ohpen platform was already built and highly effective, requiring only small adaptations to create a solid cloud platform tailored to de Volksbank’s needs.
Reaping the benefits
Partnering with Ohpen 4 years ago represented a new, more technical approach to back-end operations for de Volksbank, but the decision paid dividends.
“Delivering 100% uptime is a bold claim, but it has remained true of Ohpen throughout our partnership.”
Marc Clarijs, Head of Savings and Investments at de Volksbank
Since working together, de Volksbank has continued to see the benefits of Ohpen’s solution. Its operations are sustainable and trustworthy, and its platform successfully manages the technical operations. It has allowed de Volksbank to focus its efforts on customer interactions which was the primary driver in outsourcing the back-end processing of investments.
The correct processing of orders, high uptime, early fault detection and great aftercare have all also been reasons for developing a strong partnership. Despite de Volksbank deciding early on that its next supplier relationship would be transactional in nature, its relationship with Ohpen has evolved into a trusted partnership as Ohpen continues to deliver on its promises with reliable and innovative technologies and an expert team.
In addition, legislations and regulations have a major impact on the financial sector and any financial institution wants the burden of this to be taken on by a trusted partner. Ohpen’s platform was already future proofed to live up to this challenge. For example, the emergence of legislative framework MiFID II in recent years has required more transparency, but Ohpen already meets this criterion by allowing de Volksbank to provide information clearly to its customers.
“Finding a collaborator that enabled us to redirect our focus to front-end customer service to innovate, expand and support new areas, is invaluable. A solid back-end is intrinsic to our operations.”
Marc Clarijs, Head of Savings and Investments at de Volksbank
The Ohpen and de Volksbank partnership has laid strong foundations for the future. As the bank looks to replicate outsourcing back-end solutions across different products, ranging from loans to pensions, Ohpen’s strong and dedicated team and software has shown the expertise required to support implementation in all of these environments.