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But once this wealth of disparate information is gathered, they need an appropriate information technology (IT) solution to organize, track and administer the data to streamline the lending process and better serve their customers. Consumer credit firms must know not only their customers, but also technology, to enhance decision-making and profitability in today’s data-driven environment.
BRD Finance, a leading Romanian consumer credit company, is one such institution. The consumer credit unit of BRD-Groupe Société Générale, BRD Finance is dedicated to knowing its customers better so that it can fully address client needs, make smarter business decisions, and boost its bottom line. At the same time, BRD Finance is dedicated to technological innovation.
Innovative Credit at PoS
In making its initial market entry in 2004, the company embarked on an unprecedented, consumer-focused campaign of bringing the lending process to various points of sale (PoS) throughout Romania. BRD Finance became the first consumer credit company to provide Romanian retail outlets with a Web-based interface connected to its core banking systems. And as a result, the company was able to quickly process applications online at all times of the day, and deliver a decision to applicants within minutes. In fact, customers who applied for credit upon entering a store could receive credit by the time they checked out.
Over a year after launching its business, with the busy Christmas retail season on the horizon, BRD Finance recognized the need to install a solution that could improve its administration over the consumer credit process. Toward that end, BRD Finance turned to Ness Technologies.
“Ness personnel get along with us extremely well, strongly identifying with our company and acting to meet our needs.”
“Ness demonstrated it could implement a cost-effective, high-quality tracking and reporting system that would help us streamline our complex, data-rich lending process,” says George Olteanu, IT Project Development Manager of BRD Finance. “From making adjustments to the loan process workflow to customizing the system according to specific needs, Ness clearly showed its technological capabilities.”
The Right Stuff
And while Ness convinced BRD Finance it had the right stuff technologically, the IT solutions and services provider also demonstrated its own customer skills to help ensure a successful partnership with the credit firm. “Ness personnel get along with us extremely well, strongly identifying with our company and acting to meet our needs,” Olteanu says. “Ever since Ness made its initial presentation to the company, there’s been good chemistry between the two sides.”
Using WorkflowGen business process management (BPM) software provided by Advantys, Ness developed and implemented in just two months a system that tracked the loan process flow from retail outlets throughout Romania to BRD Finance’s back office. “With the system in place, we know everything about each loan application file – its opening date, status and location, as well as who’s been involved in the process,” Olteanu says. “As a result, we can keep much closer track of our files, eliminate their misplacement, and add key performance indicators that help us improve our ability to process requests.”
“With the system in place, we know everything about each loan application file – its opening date, status and location, and who’s been involved.”
And the results speak for themselves: With a presence in over 4,000 stores, including several major retailers, BRD Finance not only enjoyed a return on investment within one year of the system’s deployment, but also was able to handle more than 35% additional loan requests each day. And after recording, during the course of a year, an over one-third increase in its client base, which today stands at over 340,000, BRD Finance has quickly become Romania’s second-leading consumer credit company, “just behind the leader,” Olteanu adds.
Satisfied with the initial deployment, which included the creation of an archival site that enables fast execution of processes, BRD Finance turned to Ness to help expand the BPM system beyond the back-office workflow. “Based on our success with the core workflow, we created another workflow that follows up on customer claims, as well as one that tracks marketing campaigns such as offering loans for the purchase of goods and services to preferred clients,” Olteanu says. “While Ness took full responsibility for the development of the back-office workflow due to its complexity, we decided to have our team implement the expanded solutions, with support from Ness when needed. Whether Ness led the implementation or helped us carry it out internally, the company has always been there for us.”
Immediate Productivity Gains
The flexible, user-friendly tracking solution has benefited BRD Finance in several ways. Most importantly, by significantly reducing the average processing time of a credit request, the system delivered immediate productivity gains to the company. In addition, the solution increased the company’s overall efficiency, cut down paper flow, and gave it the ability to generate clear, focused reports in just minutes for enhanced decision-making.
“I recommended that our BPM system serve as a model for other Société Générale group members.”
BRD Finance is so pleased with the BPM system that the company presented it at a recent forum held by Société Générale Finance Group, which operates in 21 countries worldwide. “I recommended that our BPM system serve as a model for other Société Générale group members, and they are now considering it,” Olteanu says. “And given the successful relationship we’ve had with Ness, I warmly recommended the company to the group as well.”
About BRD-Groupe Société Générale
BRD Finance is a member of BRD-Groupe Société Générale, Romania’s second-largest bank with assets exceeding 8 billion euro. With over two million customers, 600 branches and 7,000 employees, BRD maintains the second-highest market capitalization on the Bucharest Stock Exchange – 4.3 billion euro as of March 2, 2007.
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