Microsoft`s solution is an asset for BOE

Johannesburg, 23 Nov 1999

The Board of Executors` (BOE) Private Bank has implemented a R300 000 Microsoft-based IT solution that it predicts will be paid back within eight months, due to the resulting cost savings. The generation of 8 000 pages of paper a week and door-to-door delivery of printed out reports is now a thing of the past for BOE, thanks to the Web-based business intelligence solution.

As a financial services company, BOE`s primary business is the management of assets and portfolios of high net-worth clients.

Administration-intensive reports are time-consuming, but a fundamental part of its business. Running on the new Web-based Cognos framework supplied by PQ Business Intelligence (PQBI), BOE is able to create all its work on spreadsheets, minimising erratic results and freeing up employees time for non-administrative tasks.

The system allows BOE to publish all its reports on the Web - providing the network users with access to relevant information as and when required. Reports can be updated virtually in real-time as events happen, allowing BOE employees to constantly have the most relevant information at hand.

Previously, reporting took a long time to complete. "We were not capitalising on our business opportunities and were giving our competitors a critical advantage by being slow to respond to market changes," said Lonn Potgieter, general manager - systems at BOE. The slow reaction time was aggravated by the lack of consistent information being centrally accessible by the relevant employees. "The result: a drop in profitability, frustrated staff and unsatisfied customers - luckily we have seen a dramatic turn-around here."

Less quantifiable benefits include lower WAN bandwidth since data is being accessed over the Web rather than centrally, virtually painless month-end and quarter-end activities since all information is electronically stored, as well as usage of a reporting model to effortlessly determine employee and management needs.

"The solution is good news for our customers too since they can access their information from the Web, leading to better satisfaction as they can always be up-to-date with the latest developments on their portfolio, without requiring assistance from BOE personnel," said Potgieter. Additionally, JSE prices are fed automatically into the system, allowing for the delivery of better customer service with the latest figures.

"We were really impressed with the speed with which the Cognos tools were implemented by PQBI- two weeks to go live and get the first Web-based reports out, which has meant that we could experience the benefits so much faster," commented Potgieter.

Cognos PowerPlay, the business intelligence tool implemented by PQBI, allows BOE to discover trends and opportunities, identify resource requirements, as well as problem areas that impact business performance.

"BOE is now able to identify unprofitable operations and make the necessary changes easily," said Gunnar Bijker, principal consultant at PQBI. "An example of a business analysis model application is that BOE can identify clients who are less profitable due to the costs resulting from their high service requirements. Based on this, BOE has been able to adapt its fee structures, making it more equitable for clients with lower or higher service needs."

Add-ons to the Cognos tools were developed with Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0, tailored to the banking environment requirements. The user enquiry screens are distributed across the network through Microsoft Internet Information Server 3.0 and Microsoft Active Server Pages. The Microsoft SQL Server 6.4 datamarts allowed for enhanced reporting while taking the strain off the rest of the system, freeing up bandwidth for other applications.

"Moving business processes to the Internet frees up a company`s resources and time which can be spent on other critical activities," said Vanessa Edwards, partner development manager at Microsoft South Africa. "As the solution at BOE demonstrates, streamlining business operations and providing information to knowledge workers increases productivity, profitability and both employee and customer satisfaction."