For 68-year-old Ratnakar Bank, sitting on laurels isn’t enough -- the bank is now reinventing itself as a force to reckon with.
It all started with a patriotic spirit when a group of eminent personalities from all walks of life came together to launch Ratnakar Bank in Kolhapur, Maharashtra in 1943. Today, more than six decades later, the bank is looking at ramping up its operations in a number of ways – by increasing the number of branches and through investments by doubling its turnover to 8,000 crores by the end of the financial year. So where does IT and cloud feature in the bank’s scheme of things? Anup Purohit, Head, IT, Ratnakar Bank, is upbeat about the challenge and feels lean, agile & resilient. IT can make a difference to consumer experience in more ways than one ways. Edited excerpts from an interview:
What are some of the IT challenges for a bank such as yours?
The bank is going through business transformation to increase its geographic reach and product range for all its existing and new customers. IT has this opportunity disguised in transformation challenges to act as a catalyst for the business growth.
On one hand we need to keep the expenses thin on balance sheet to maximize profitability and on the other hand, focus on transformation and innovation enhancing ability of IT.
You mentioned a transformation. Could you reveal a little more?
Traditionally bank was established with the objective of meeting the needs of the low and middle income segment of the society engaged in trade and commerce
While continuing to have focus in this, bank management has aim to expand its horizon in following space-
1. Commercial Banking – Expansion into new industry and trade segments. Launching schematic and SME products
2. Consumer / Retail Banking – Densify and Expand branch network. Revamp product suite and customer experience
3. Agri & Financial Inclusion – Focus on semi urban and rural underserved; MSME’e & Agri
4. Corporate & Institutional Banking – Business which forms part of the eco system of large MNC’s/ India Corporates
How and where does cloud come into the picture here?
We are aggressively evaluating the “differentiating” technology for bank. Whatever can be hosted on a cloud will be done. For now, we are mulling over what would work best – private, public or a hybrid model.
At present, bank is availing Infrastructure –as-a-service (IAAS) and Platform-as-a-service (PAAS) on private cloud hosted by service provider. This includes bank’s infrastructure services like file & print, storage; email solutions, disaster recovery solutions etc... Business applications for HR and credit rating are hosted on the private cloud with service provider.
The bank is also evaluating Desktop-as-a-service (DAAS) on the private cloud hosted with service provider. DAAS can help bank to increase the rollout of no. of branches in days as compared to months taken in the past.
Cloud gives us a lot of advantages in terms of costs, flexibility and deliverability.
The next step is to assess what can be put on hybrid / public cloud – CRM and so on.
Our top management is very focused on product and service differentiation and very much engaged and supportive of technology innovations. Our board of directors comprises of experts from technology domain.
Yes, there are risks associated with cloud. Especially bank’s needs to be very cautious in choosing what can be hosted on private cloud vs. hybrid/public cloud.
Employees in our bank are being trained on new technology we are bringing in. The HR at the bank is playing a key role in training employees about how to improve penetration to remote and newer areas.
What are the problems with cloud that you wish were addressed by cloud service providers?
Portability needs to be improved and be seamless, just like we have mobile portability. Then there is the question on security as we need to be cognizant about customer data and compliance to regulator guidelines.
