Using the MEGA Suite, establishes business improvements, increases revenues, reduces costs
LONDON, July 18, 2011 – MEGA, an early leader in business architecture (BA) and noted industry expert in enterprise architecture (EA), said the leading UK banking institution Co-operative Banking Group is using the MEGA Suite to improve business processes, reduce costs, and increase revenues.
The Co-operative Banking Group provides financial products and services, from everyday banking to large corporate investments for eight million customers. The bank has always provided the highest level of customer service and satisfaction. When the member-owned bank wanted to further improve its business, it concentrated on process analysis and improvement. The company adopted a business and process architecture strategy supported by senior executives and using the MEGA Suite.
“Our process architecture provides us with a multi-dimensional view of our business and its processes. The new architectural approach, supported by the MEGA Suite, is being used as part of end to end process reviews and has been adopted by some major The Co-operative Banking Group change programmes as a means to help improve the business and service to customers,” explained Christine Spencer, function leader, co-operative connect.
The company originally tried a number of different strategies, such as functional process mapping. However, they didn’t provide end-to-end process understanding and the maps were largely paper-based …difficult to access, share, and maintain. Lean Six Sigma was deployed but applied to functional maps and therefore failed to connect independent processes to provide cross-organisation understanding.
The Co-operative Banking Group recognized the need for a strategic modeling tool and the capability to implement strong standards, as well as governance, throughout the organisation. The company assessed solutions in the marketplace and selected MEGA as the best option to support the new strategy.
MEGA was founded 20 years ago with an emphasis on business process analysis (BPA) and improvement. The MEGA Suite was designed to help companies develop and deploy a methodology and standards so that every group can communicate using the same information.
In addition to BPA, the MEGA Suite today also provides a range of capabilities to assist companies in business architecture, enterprise architecture, IT planning, identification and control of risks, and corporate governance. It is recognized within the industry as a comprehensive solution for business optimization.
When The Co-operative Banking Group selected the MEGA Suite, the company began building the architecture at the top, without organisational constraints. They created a process pyramid, forming a framework to align components of the operating model to the business strategy. Within this framework, process architecture fits as a core element of the operating model and overall business architecture.
The Co-operative Banking Group has linked business and IT by aligning process and solution modeling standards. With the programme well underway, The Co-operative Banking Group has made great strides. The company has achieved several key business improvements, resulting in a better customer experience, increased revenues, and reduced costs. For example, through the programme, The Co-operative Banking Group increased online payments by 11%, resulting in a 20 FTE savings. The Co-operative Banking Group also reduced the average time to switch accounts by 42%, leading to a 50% reduction in cancellations.
These results are due to the new bespoke methodology underpinned by a process architecture in a central MEGA Suite repository. More than 150 models have already been created, conforming to the new co-operative connect standard. This number is growing rapidly increasing the understanding of the organisation.
In addition, support for the risk and control teams is enabling them to complete regulatory self-assessments using the MEGA Suite. Risks and controls will soon be aligned to the new process architecture, enabling better management of risk.