We all know how frustrating it can be to watch customers struggle. It’s even harder when you know there’s a solution for enhancing digital banking channels out there, but it feels out of reach.
Every business wants to provide smooth, reliable service. But when systems fail, things can quickly go wrong.
ZB Financial Holdings faced this challenge
Their digital banking services, like mobile apps and ATMs, couldn’t keep up with the growing number of users. These systems were costly and slow. Transactions took too long. The systems didn’t work well together, making it hard to keep data accurate. Without backup plans, services could go down when customers needed them most.
ZB realized they needed a better solution to improve service and customer satisfaction.
About ZB Financial Holdings
ZB Financial Holdings is a leading financial institution in Zimbabwe. The bank has been providing several services, such as commercial and merchant banking, hire purchase and leasing for over four decades.
The bank is also listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. This adds to its solid position in the country’s financial services industry.
Our Solution
Our solution, dubbed Terafin, was created to simplify and bring together all of a bank’s digital services into one easy-to-manage platform. It was intended to help ZB handle more customers and transactions without slowing down. Precisely, to cut down on maintenance costs, and ensure new services could be added quickly.
Most importantly, Terafin was to ensure that the bank’s services were always available. Customers needed to access their accounts and do their banking anytime without interruptions.
Our Process
Our involvement began after we understood the bank’s existing digital systems and identified key challenges. We also learned how the bank’s services were set up and identified the challenges in making everything work smoothly together.
Our team then worked to bring all these services into one unified platform. This meant connecting everything so the channels could communicate with each other easily. This helped reduce errors and speed up transactions.
Next, we focused on making sure the platform could grow with the bank. This way, the bank could add new services whenever needed without issues.
We also ensured the platform would be always available, 24/7. Customers wouldn’t experience any disruptions or downtime anymore.
Finally, Terafin was set up, and ZB was now ready to continue offering the best digital experience for its customers, both now and in the future.
The Challenges We Overcame
1. Systems that couldn’t keep up
The bank’s digital services were struggling to keep up as more and more people used them, like a car trying to drive on a road that’s too narrow. The systems couldn’t handle the increasing demand, which led to a slow and frustrating experience for customers, especially during busy times.
2. Too much time and money spent on fixing problems
The bank’s systems were not working well together, which meant they needed constant fixing and updating.
For example:
- The mobile app, ATMs, and other services had trouble connecting with the main banking system, especially when there was a lot of activity. This slowed down updates and caused errors.
- Every time the bank needed to update something or add a new feature, it had to be done manually for each system, which caused delays and confusion.
- The systems couldn’t easily work together, making it hard for the bank to track transactions or fix issues in real-time.
3. Transactions took too long
The bank’s systems were too slow at processing transactions, which meant customers had to wait longer than expected. In banking, speed is critical, and this delay created frustration.
4. Hard to Add New Services
Whenever the bank wanted to offer new services or make updates, it took a lot of time. The main banking system was not flexible enough to quickly adopt new solutions, leaving ZB behind while competitors were moving ahead with new features.
5. Digital Services were not always available
The bank’s setup wasn’t built to ensure that the digital services were always available. If the system went down, customers could be locked out of their accounts, which is a big problem, especially as more people rely on digital banking.
These challenges were preventing ZB from providing the level of service their customers expected. They realized they needed a solution that would help them improve performance, handle growth, and keep up with the digital banking trend.
The Solution
1. Handling Growth (Scalability)
As more customers use ZB’s digital services, the system can grow with them. It can easily handle more transactions and more users without slowing down, so ZB can keep up as its business expands.
2. Cutting Down on Maintenance Costs
Before Terafin, ZB had to manage different systems for each service. This was time-consuming and costly. But now, everything is brought together into one place. It has become easier to update and maintain, and the cost of keeping everything running smoothly lowered.
3. Faster Transactions
Transactions that used to take a long time to process are now completed in just milliseconds. This means that customers experience faster service. Waiting times have been reduced and satisfaction has improved.
4. Quick Implementation of New Services
Terafin is known to be flexible, meaning ZB can now quickly add new services or update existing ones without going through the previously long, complicated processes. This helps them stay competitive and meet customer demands faster.
5. Always Available Services
Our engineers designed Terafin to be reliable. If something goes wrong, there are built-in backup systems to ensure services are always available. So, customers can always access their accounts when needed.
ZB is now equipped with a solution that solves its current issues. Moreover, ZB is now more than ever prepared for future growth. They will always stay ahead in the digital banking world.
Three Major Outcomes
The implementation of Terafin brought relief and confidence in service delivery to ZB, including:
(i). 99.9% Uptime
Near-perfect uptime for its digital banking channels is what our client, ZB, has achieved. The bank is now confident all channels are continuously available for customers. The risk of service disruptions has been greatly reduced.
(ii). Transaction Processing Time Under a Millisecond
When we talk of optimized transaction processing capabilities, we mean the bank has reduced the time it takes to process individual transactions to under a millisecond. Transactions can now be performed faster by every customer.
(iii). 24/7 Availability
Digital banking channels need to be available around the clock. And our solution has ensured that, providing customers with constant access to banking services, regardless of time or location.
Summing up
After the successful implementation of our digital channel manager at ZB, the real impact of the system began to unfold.
Lloyd Tafadzwa Dumba, Executive Head of Digital Channels at ZB Financial Holdings, shared his sentiments on how the solution has positively impacted the bank’s operations and customer experience:
There has been a lot of improvement. The implementation of the system has improved the channels’ uptime from an average of 85% to above 99%. Due to its scalability and flexibility, the system is also solving other business pain points such as loan management and charges management, which has resolved revenue leakages.
These words are not our own, but based entirely on what our clients, like ZB Financial Holdings, have experienced.
We deeply appreciate having ZB as one of our clients. Their success is our success. And we are excited to see one of our very own solution enhancing digital banking beyond borders.
