SCB standardises technology base, accelerates digital transformation

SCB standardises the basic technology, accelerates digital transformation

The banking sector is proactively building out ICT infrastructure to improve customer experience, promoting diverse products and services such as QR code payments, online savings, online lending, electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC), and “beautiful” account numbers. Digitalisation has made it easier for banks to access and expand their suit of products and services at reasonable prices for unbanked locals.

In the race for the latest technologies, only banks who understand their customers and roll out relevant, tech-enhanced services will get ahead. Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) soon realised this and has stepped on the path of optimising customer experience and operations, improving governance capacity and workforce productivity. It has also invested heavily in its IT system, with a strong focus on data management to access, process and exploit data in the safest and most effective way. These reinforced capabilities have allowed it to help the bank tailor its services to customers’ needs. Right from the early days, SCB has chosen the solutions of Oracle, the world’s leading database management company, for the comprehensive overhaul of its data management system.

Currently, all important business applications of the entire SCB system are centrally managed on the Oracle Exadata Database Machine platform, integrated with Oracle Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance (ZDLRA) to protect against data loss with private cloud backups.

This system of solutions enables SCB to improve customer experience by minimising the end-of-day processing, keeping the trading system utterly equable and unflappable by unexpectedly skyrocketing transaction volumes. The system encompasses digital banking applications, online transaction systems, and mobile banking, with boosted uptime to make processes appreciatively faster.

Thanks to the high performance of the Exadata platform and its most affordable price in the industry, together with the integration of ZDLRA, SCB has witnessed improvements in technology, data security, user experience, as well as efficiency in investment, total cost of ownership, and returns on investment compared to other servers. Moreover, the bank can now save costs on labour, operation, and management.

Exadata has brought to SCB a system with strong stability and high security with consistent backup on-premises or in the cloud center, running the bank’s transactional workloads more smoothly.

With the goal of accelerating digital transformation, finding competitive advantages to expand market share, and providing customers with optimal payment services, SCB also announced a tie-up with BPC, which will be the bank’s solution partner in switching and card management system.

The SmartVista system is an outstanding user experience design, configuring products to suit both the bank and its customers’ specific needs, without the need for coding or additional investment.

This system is expected to improve SCB’s payment methods including processing card transactions at ATMs, POS, and e-commerce sites. It as well shortens the issuance process for card registrations. Combining many features like internet banking and mobile banking, the system allows customers to proactively perform card management activities and enjoy digital banking experiences at SCB.

In addition to convenient services, SCB will also introduce advanced self-service equipment, for instance the Video Teller Machines that help customers to receive their registered cards more quickly and perform card transactions with a few simple steps. SCB is projected to expand business lines that accept card payments by cooperating with Visa and Mastercard on the SmartVista platform.

Commenting on the partnership with BPC, Nguyen Ngoc Nha Nam, deputy CEO of Operation and IT Division, shared: “SCB invests strongly in new-generation technology to spearhead digital adoption among our retail and business clients. With BPC, we are having a partner with deep understanding of the market, as well as a comprehensive and scalable platform that will help us accelerate our digital transformation to deliver superior customer experience.”

Phong Pham, managing director of Oracle Vietnam, said: “The banking industry is transforming at a rapid pace to keep up with changing regulations, heightened focus on security, and increasing customer demand. To help meet these needs, many banks are turning to Exadata to help them boost reliability, scalability, and performance, as well as process an ever-increasing amount of data. All of these help banks like SCB increase business value delivered to customers and maintain stringent levels of control and governance.”