SAP FieldGlass Deployed to Improve External Workforce

Banking, a traditionally ultra-conservative industry, is embracing new technologies to help it take profits and customer experience to new levels. In the US, MUFG Union Bank, part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), has been working with SAP Fieldglass to improve its external workforce management, attracted by the platform’s proven capabilities in financial services and track record for providing excellent user experiences.

The initial relationship began in 2010 when the bank selected SAP Fieldglass to help them get a better handle on their contingent labour, which includes business resources such as accountants, auditors, business analysts and consultants as well as IT resources.

In 2014, an affiliate bank heard positive feedback about the SAP Fieldglass program and decided to implement an external talent management program as well. The SAP team worked with the new bank for six months to set up their program and later that year the banks were integrated, although maintaining different financial systems and some processes, such as onboarding.

SAP Fieldglass benefits include both transparency and flexibility. Business unit CFOs depend on the platform’s reporting for their forecasting with executives. As external labour metrics are key to the business, reports are provided to the Executive Committee on a quarterly basis.

Business groups each manage differently and they have been able to tailor the platform to meet their specific needs. “The advantage to working with SAP Fieldglass is the flexibility. We have had to ask for a lot of things to meet our needs, and the account support has been fantastic. We really feel that Fieldglass puts customers first. It’s been a great experience,” said Sandra Buhler, director, Contingent Workforce Management, MUFG Union Bank.

In addition to account support excellence, the bank is discovering how efficiently integrations can occur with SAP Fieldglass. Current integrations with HR and finance systems went smoothly and as planned. The integration also supports mandatory compliance training requirements for all contingent workers that have access to bank systems.

“We have had ongoing positive feedback internally about the SAP Fieldglass platform. We have a solution that will carry us into the future and support our global needs as we evolve,” said Buhler.

That future is starting now, with the bank beginning to implement Worker Profile, to provide them with visibility into resources doing work under a Statement of Work. The objective is to have a single system of record for all non-employees who have system, badge or network access. Next, MUFG Union Bank plans to work with SAP Fieldglass to automate the onboarding and offboarding processes for contingent workers, explore the services procurement solution to actively manage that spend, and expand their program globally.

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UOB SmartBusiness helps SMEs to streamline and digitise their back office processes including accounting, payroll and business management simply, quickly, and securely, enabling both improved operational efficiency and reduced costs.

SMEs can link their UOB SmartBusiness account to their UOB current account, which enables automated bank reconciliations for improved speed and security.

UOB SmartBusiness features functionality from human resources software provider HReasily and mobile business software provider Enterpryze to enable use anywhere anytime.

Three package options are available, depending on the functionality required and the size of the organisation. Packages are Micro One, Micro One Plus, and Mobile One. Pricing ranges from free up to RM240 per month. Both paid packages allow a free 30-day trial.

UOB Malaysia executive director and country head of business banking Raymond Chui said the bank targets to sign up 4,000 customers for the new service by the end of next year.

“As SMEs progress through different growth stages, managing a larger and more complex business poses new challenges,” said Chui. “To help our SME customers improve their operational efficiency as they grow, UOB Malaysia is working with SAP to provide SMEs a scalable and affordable digital solution that will save time and money.”

SAP head of general business for Southeast Asia, Brad Gray, called SMEs the cornerstone of the Malaysian economy, accounting for more than 98 per cent of all the business establishments in the country.

“SMEs can up their game by further digitising their core business processes to help them achieve success with instant access to information and streamline everything from finance to talent management,” said Gray.

“UOB SmartBusiness can help SME business owners make the transition to digital and take away the hassle of managing complicated operational tasks manually, empowering them to focus on their core business models and drive business outcomes.”

This collaboration marks the first time SAP has offered SAP Business One, to Malaysian SMEs through a bank.

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“Digitalisation has turned financial services on its head,” said Matthias Goehler, SAP Hybris senior vice president and head of Industries.

While the financial services industry has traditionally been based on in-person service and personal relationships, it has now devolved into an online search for the lowest cost options. But Goehler said SAP can help the industry engage price-conscious consumers if they provide the services when and how customers want them. This means providing customers with convenient access to real-time, personalised services based on their preferences as well as their history with the institution.

“The enhancements to the financial services accelerator provide organisations with the latest tools to deliver a great customer experience from which they can build customer trust and loyalty as they expand the relationship by bundling and cross-selling products,” said Goehler.

The new version provides a more intuitive, self-service retail-like experience for customers. It allows bankers and insurers to see the same information as their customers during online transactions, enabling real-time, personalised assistance to increase customer satisfaction and reduce application abandonment. The accelerator also enables customers to easily compare features and benefits of various products and services.

Templated application forms will allow the industry to quickly adapt to regulatory, product or other changes and to ensure that their customers always have access to the most current forms.

To deliver this fintech solution, SAP entered into a joint venture called msgNETCONOMY, with msg global solutions, a financial service product and solutions integrator and with NETCONOMY, an e-commerce specialist.

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At a recent roundtable with SAP and IBM, YES BANK connected with key finance and business leaders to identify industry specific solutions in key sectors. The bank shared how API banking can mitigate risks, enhance business productivity and help businesses gain more from their IT/ERP infrastructure.

YES BANK, the first bank in India to launch API banking services, currently has 200 API clients, with a forecast for 500 more expected during fiscal year 2018.

The roundtable helped the bank to identify pain-points and gaps in the financial supply chain, for which the bank in collaboration with fintech start-ups will seek innovative solutions through the bank’s fintech accelerator program, YES FINTECH.

“Through this design thinking workshop, YES BANK with SAP and IBM is assisting our corporate clientele to digitally transform and leverage the power of banking from their IT and ERP systems,” said Rana Kapoor, managing director and CEO, YES BANK.

Stating that in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape it is critical to use both banking and technology as strategic enablers, Kapoor said that the bank has been actively collaborating with fintech start-ups through their Alliances, Relationships and Technology (ART) model and currently has more than 100 such partners.

The bank is now looking to organise similar roundtables in key regions across the country.

“Today’s API-powered digital ecosystem presents an unparalleled opportunity for banks to co-create innovative solutions and new business models along with their ecosystem partners,” said Karan Bajwa, managing director, IBM India.

“IBM is excited to collaborate with YES BANK, powering the underlying technology that facilitates the delivery of an agile, secure and best-in-class open banking API infrastructure.”

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The multichannel banking platform, built on open standards, enables banks to offer an array of more than 500 microservices for a superior digital customer experience using responsive mobile, tablet and desktop applications. SAP Omnichannel Banking’s modular architecture enables banks to introduce new products and services incrementally and to develop bank-specific extensions. The solution, which provides components to centralise critical, operational tasks, also provides optional integration with SAP’s core banking solution.

SAP Omnichannel Banking works in conjunction with the SAP Hybris solutions for customer engagement and commerce to form an all-in-one solution for banks to manage all aspects of interaction with their customers across multiple touchpoints. Combined, SAP Omnichannel Banking and SAP Hybris enable banks to create intelligent digital sales and service processes, delivering personalised customer interaction across multiple channels and helping banks get a 360-degree view of their customers.

“With SAP Omnichannel Banking and SAP Hybris solutions, we are providing a holistic offering to manage all types of digital customer engagement – mobile and online, and across multiple lines of business. This is nothing short of a game changer, one that empowers banks to differentiate from each other and allows them to provide a tailored, digital customer experience,” said Falk Rieker, global head of the banking business unit at SAP.

A recent IDC study commissioned by SAP discovered that although banks want to collaborate with FinTech start-ups, bank IT architectures makes that collaboration challenging. The API framework built into SAP Omnichannel Banking helps overcome those challenges to enable banks sufficient flexibility to partner with fintech companies and engage with established partners and industry leaders.

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Using a network built on the SAP HANA Cloud Platform, SAP Payment Engine and Ripple’s enterprise blockchain solutions, ATB transferred CA$1000 (EUR667) to ReiseBank. SAP also provided a mobile user interface for demonstration purposes.

The transaction, which typically would have taken between two and six business days to process because of requirements such as settling with the counterparty bank and reconciling accounts, was completed in around 20 seconds.

The blockchain was originally created as the foundation for trading digital currency bitcoin, and is a distributed ledger that allows a network of computers to settle transactions securely and almost instantly.

SAP and Ripple worked with a team at ATB Financial to design and build a proof-of-concept prototype based on the technology in nine working days.

“Although we are very much still in the early stages of blockchain adoption, it was highly encouraging to see in a true demonstration the potential it has in transforming cross-border payments, making them almost instantaneous and reducing potential errors,” said Curtis Stange, chief strategy and operations officer, ATB Financial.

“Using SAP HANA Cloud Platform, we’re able to experiment and be nimble with emerging innovations like blockchain. The next stage for us, working with SAP and Ripple, will be to understand how the front-end experience should work for the benefit of our customers,” Stange added.

The test transaction demonstrated how banks can improve the efficiency of cross-border payments to enhance their global networks.

“Banks like ATB that take a positive and proactive approach to blockchain now can position themselves advantageously for when the technology enters the mainstream,” said Bernd Leukert, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, Products and Innovation. “ATB’s blockchain transaction underscores the value of running a business on a full-fledged digital core so it can react quickly to emerging possibilities and avoid the threat of disruption.”

In 2011, ATB Financial successfully migrated its entire legacy banking system to a major new core system built using SAP solutions.

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