Banco de Oro (BDO)

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Banco de Oro implements CRM solution for its call center with Fujitsu Philippines

With the financial services and banking industry players aligning business strategies brought about by the industry deregulation, Banco de Oro (BDO) chose to put renewed and aggressive emphasis on its customers. The 26-year old bank, with assets currently over PHP 63 billion, aims to efficiently manage customer interaction to gain more competitive advantage in the local banking industry.

Banco de Oro was focused. It went ahead on thinking of solutions that fit its requirements and thus, implementing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution for its Call Center operation. The universal bank has chosen Fujitsu Philippines, Inc. (FPI) as its trusted partner to execute its CRM strategy by customizing and implementing Applix iCRM, a leading Customer Relationship Management software solution.

New Partnership Forged

During the FPI-Banco de Oro contract-signing ceremony, Mr. Nestor Tan, the Bank's President, said, "I appreciate FPI's cooperation in trying to make the CRM project a success. We clearly think that we've chosen the best solution for our needs that offers the best value for money."

He stressed that as the bank continues to expand, its needs for applications and technology will also grow. "And clearly, people who look at relationships grow with one another. I look at this partnership as a long-term relationship so that as we grow, FPI grows with us. I look forward to a very smooth implementation of this application, which means no problems, on time and as expected, and of course, within budget."

For his part, Mr. Felipe R. Manalang, FPI president, pointed out, "Conventional wisdom says a company like Banco de Oro is in the business of trust, while a company like FPI is in the business of technology. With projects like these, we take a look at banks now and they are being driven by technology. This project is a very good example on how to use technology as a competitive advantage. For FPI, I think we are beginning to be a business of trust in terms of capability to do the job for our customers. And I thank Banco de Oro for giving us that trust and certainly, the trust is properly received."

Alternative Customer Channel

"Knowing what the customers want and how they want to be treated are important factors to gaining competitive advantage in a very tough banking market," Lydia King, First Vice President for IT Operations, said. "With our CRM solution in place, I believe we can get ahead of competition in truly making our customers satisfied in every business transaction that they engage in with Banco de Oro."

She added that the Applix CRM solution, along with FPI's support services during implementation, has offered a new dimension in customer service. Banco de Oro is now banking on this solution to push for new services out to the market.

Mercedes "Ditas" Tioseco, AVP - Call Center Head, offered a broad overview on the Bank's CRM strategy. "We wanted to set-up an alternative service channel for customers to reach us. This came into fore when we built the Call Center. The CRM system enabled us to provide efficient and effective customer service support for BDO's eBanking and Phonebanking and market other Bank products and services and by doing so, we made our customer's banking experience with us extra convenient." She continued, "The roadmap is to have the Call Center evolve into a virtual Banco de Oro branch."

"Currently, we have implemented the basic functions, the accounts query, and the management of customer requests or complaints," said Eduardo 'Ewad' Pascual, VP- IT Development. He continued, "we plan to evolve the Call Center's current ability to provide customer support reactively into a tool that can provide a virtual channel for selling Bank products and services."

Ismael "Jun" Estela, BDO's Senior Vice-President, added, "The Applix-equipped call center will support the different financial services products of the bank, the current ones and the ones that we will create. Like just now, we plan to have the call center support our service for SM Cash Card." He continued, "The telemarketing capability of the solution is also of business importance. We already have converted an impressive number of inquirers to become our customers."

Estela also said that the call center would get busier by December 2002 once BDO launches its new business - the credit cards.

Implementation Team

When asked how was it working with FPI engineers, Ms. Tioseco said, "What I personally like about FPI's implementation team is their openness. Although we were experiencing the usual and expected problems that come with adjusting to each other's working habits early on, we were able to implement on time. They are very flexible and humble. Their support has always been there."

Pascual added, "In my opinion, our combined ability to plan properly and to think through possible problems were key to implementing on-time. But more importantly, it was our ability to think and act as the project implementation team, void of corporate identities. I like to think we did not have a BDO implementation team or an FPI implementation team but just one implementation team!"

Highly Customizable Solution

"It is one of the most developer-friendly CRM package I have encountered!" quipped Mr. Rolino "Jun" Bucao, Jr., Senior Manager - Applications Unit IT Development, on Applix. "It is highly customizable. I have seen others already but after the five-day training that FPI gave us, I already have a good grasp of what we could do. It is easy to understand the architecture of the software. And because of this, we were able to appreciate the software much better."

Applix iCRM developed by US-based Applix, Inc., the leading global provider of adaptable software that empowers companies with flexible CRM systems, is a suite of collaborative CRM solutions automating web-based marketing, sales, customer service, partner service, quality assurance, and helpdesks.

Applix iCRM owes its adaptability to the robust Applix iEnterprise technology platform that powers it. Applix iEnterprise provides a multi-tier, highly scalable architecture featuring an object-oriented, XML-compliant "Developer's Studio" development environment, a central data schema for all Applix iCRM modules, a powerful, wizard-driven business rule generator, and a rapid deployment feature via Applix Weblink.

The Applix iCRM offers BDO the ability to manage and analyze customer data, as well as provide a collaborative solution that extends access of data to authorized users within the bank. This approach will soon be implemented. Currently, the system is accessible to the call center.

For BDO, the Applix iCRM solution includes the Applix iSales and Applix iService modules. Applix iSales is used by BDO's Customer Service Team as a tele-marketing and sales tool in cross-selling their various products & services. Applix iService, on the other hand, primarily handles the recording and tracking of service requests and problems of BDO's customers, displays relevant history that provides BDO's Customer Service Officers (CSO) relevant information, and directs customers' feedback on BDO's products and services to the Bank's fulfillment units and product owners.

The Applix iEnterprise CRM solution allowed BDO to execute its services more efficiently, more personalized but above all, more convenient for its customers.

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