Standard Bank Automates Everything
Overview of Use Case
Standard Bank is a large international brand operating in multiple business areas and jurisdictions. Their main strategy is to be an Africa-focused, client-centered and digitally-enabled financial services organization. On their journey to automation, they saved thousands of hours per year using Alteryx workflows to collect, format, analyze and deploy data. Learn in this use case why Alteryx makes Katrin Erb, Finance Automations Manager, feel confident to take on the toughest data challenges.
INSUFFICIENT VALUE ADD
As a team, we spend hours collecting data from various systems, standardizing downloads, blending, and performing calculations. By the time we are done there is not enough time for analysis and value add.
COMPLEX SYSTEM LANDSCAPE
- Vast number of systems that are difficult to integrate
- Limit reliance on IT
- Inability to change certain processes
KEY PERSON DEPENDENCIES
- Highly specialized skills
- Headcount restrictions
- Complex and continuously changing processes
Often times its best that the person with the problem build their own solution, as they know the requirements. They just need a tool and with Alteryx, the automation becomes much quicker.
Automate manual processes with Alteryx:
- Limit reliance on IT
- Quick delivery
- Significant time saving & risk reduction
- Value add
From Outlook to SQL
The process before Alteryx
- Receive a file via email
- Rename the file
- Save it onto a shared drive for a stored procedure to pull it into a database
- This needs to be done before a certain time every day
- Time consuming: 75 minutes/day
The process with Alteryx
The Outlook Input tool connects to my e-mail, and it downloads and saves the file. The Block Until Done tool makes sure we received only one attachment before it proceeds, otherwise it will notify the user that they need to verify the attachment manually. Then, the Run Command tool moves and renames the attachment to a specific final destination folder. This workflow takes seconds to run.
From SAP to Excel
The process before Alteryx
- Download data from system
- Reshape the data
- Perform calculations
- Zero value add
- Time consuming: 75 hours/month
The process with Alteryx
We used some tools to create filters and format the data coming from SAP. The macro tool gets the previous working day’s data. The SAP BW Query tool pulls the data from SAP exactly the same way that a user would have done. Then, we modify the data – a process that would be time consuming on Excel because it would require a lot of copy & paste. Finally, we output the results into Excel so the user can continue with the current process.
From SAP + Pershing to SQL
The process before Alteryx
- SAP pooled of banking accounts must always mirror the Pershing investment accounts
- Data retrieved from Pershing
- Compared to SAP pooled account
- Team notified of required adjustment
- Regulatory risk – exposure to fines
The process with Alteryx
The workflow gets the data from Pershing, and it aggregates by currency. This workflow helps us ensure that the dates from Pershing match the dates from SAP. After some parsing and modification, we write the data to our database.
Describe the benefits you have achieved
A short and simple workflow can have a huge impact on the organization. We scheduled it to run overnight, and it only takes seconds to run. In addition, the workflows help us comply with regulatory reporting procedures, enabling us to avoid fines. Having automated things with Alteryx, we cannot go back to the previous processes because it would be torture.
Some of the benefits on other use cases:
|
USE CASE |
KEY METRIC |
|
Updating internal static data |
8h/ month |
|
Analyzing client margins |
24 – 30h/ month |
|
Automating regulatory returns |
75h/ month + risk reduction |
|
RDARR reporting |
Improve accuracy – never manual |
|
FATCA/CRS reporting |
Risk reduction |
