Digitalization is indispensable in today's world and is becoming even more important in the current situation. All industries are digitizing their processes and services in order to carry out activities faster, more efficiently and independent of location. The banking industry is no exception. The digitization of banking services, business processes and models allows banks to offer their customers services independent of location and time. This is because a large proportion of customers no longer want to go to the counter in person and only at certain times, but would rather be able to carry out their banking transactions online at any time and from anywhere. However, it is not only the customer business that benefits from the digital transformation, internal bank processes and methods can also be optimized.
Netcetera supported the Aargauische Kantonalbank (AKB), the leading financial services provider in the Canton of Aargau, in such a transformation. In this successful project, Netcetera played a central role in improving the development structures and had a significant influence on the transformation of the program management and architecture of the new solutions. Together, the companies have created a foundation that allows AKB to continue its transformation to a digital bank.
Agile basic structures accelerate transformation
In its advisory capacity, Netcetera has created agile basic structures based on the SAFe framework together with AKB to deliver continuous business value. This agile orientation of the various disciplines, such as architecture, requirements engineering or project management, enables AKB to develop its banking applications and systems more efficiently and to accelerate the development. Among other things, the automation of deployments, release planning or PI planning are among the central points on the path to digitizing banking processes. In the course of the project, all those involved in the process, as well as the management, developed an understanding of iterations, scope, and the sequence from planning to production.
Stefan Weber, Head of IT at Aargauische Kantonalbank, comments on the cooperation with Netcetera: "Over the past two years Netcetera has actively supported us in the agile transformation in the area of digitization. Netcetera's competent team has helped the AKB to progress in a focused way, especially in the area of agile program management and architecture. Today, AKB has a solid foundation, both technically and organizationally, and is ready for the future challenges in digitization. Netcetera has made an important contribution to this".
Martin Meier, Head of Innovation & Business Development Financial Technology at Netcetera, confirms: "With a pragmatic and goal-oriented approach we were able to help AKB take a significant step towards digitization."
Efficient Development even in times of home office
The project has already proven to be worthwhile. Thanks to the new direction and Netcetera's many years of experience with distributed teams, Netcetera and AKB were able to plan and implement a software development and collaboration infrastructure that makes work from home possible. Despite the restrictions imposed by Covid-19, this enabled the collaboration and planning of the next steps to be completed successfully – from different locations, completely online and without restrictions.