Case Study Automating Direct Banking Customer Service Processes with Service Oriented Architecture

The direct banking business is characterized by integrated distribution channel politics and holisticsales approaches combined with multi-channel-management. Direct banks in Europe and especially inGermany are currently facing increasing market competition. The crucial factors for growth are productinnovation, cost control and the flexibility to react individually to each customer in a rapidly changingbusiness environment. In order to compete, direct banks are forced to undergo a drastic transformation ofbusiness processes as well as organizational and managerial structures. The application of new concepts inbuilding information systems is therefore necessary in order to further support business needs and allow forthe management and adaptation of systems that are dependent on the fast changing market requirements. Thispaper shows how the information technology (IT) landscape of one of the five leading direct banks inGermany could be optimized by means of a service-based orientation. The case outlined in this paper focuseson the customer service domain. The main goal is to concurrently reduce costs by automating businessprocesses and to increase the quality of customer services. A reference model for these customer serviceprocesses is then introduced. Based on this model, this paper describes a business component-oriented systemarchitecture according to identified business components, and their corresponding services.