Future-focused thinking for a future-focused bank

Hume Bank, one of Ultradata's largest clients, with 1.8bn in assets, is undergoing a digital transformation underpinned by an upgrade of its core banking system. The focus is to improve customer experiences and future-proof the organisation.

Earlier this year, Ultradata and Hume Bank embarked on an Ultracs 5.1 core banking upgrade that would serve as the cornerstone to unlock the latest digital capabilities in My Viewpoint 3 and Ultracs App 2.

Midway through the project, it became apparent that Hume Bank should consider moving their planned My Viewpoint 3 project forward as it provided an opportunity to increase cost efficiencies and deliver an improved digital experience to the banks’ customers and staff earlier.

After much discussion and consideration between both organisations and, it was decided to fast-track the My Viewpoint 3 initiative by Hume Bank, with both teams understanding that this new project scope was breaking new ground for both companies.

As part of the work, Hume Bank made a conscious decision to remove 1200+ customisations, eliminating many maintenance tasks, reducing inherent risks, and eliminating legacy technical debt.

My Viewpoint 3 simultaneous migration

Migrating from My Viewpoint Next Generation to the latest release meant that Hume Bank was also in a position to;

• Decrease the 'unknown risks' of customisation.
• Link to the ongoing rebranding process of the Bank.
• Personalise UX for their customer base and scale up at the same time.
• Derive cost and resourcing synergies by implementing both the Ultracs 5.1 and My Viewpoint 3 projects Concurrently.

From an operational perspective bringing the My Viewpoint 3 upgrade inside the Ultracs 5.1 project scope meant that some changes to the status quo in implementation were required such as;

• Concurrent testing of both the Core Banking solution and MVP
• A staggered implementation over the same cutover weekend involved Installing MVP3 into the production environment after Ultracs 5.1 was installed and verified
  but before the end of the upgrade outage.

Ultradata and Hume Bank worked together to support each other to achieve a successful outcome in a display of great collaboration and camaraderie, and within a quick 10-week timeframe (a much shorter delivery time frame than the norm), the two teams had the My Viewpoint 3 platform ready and in sync to go live with the Ultracs 5.1 upgrade.

The implementation process worked incredibly well with minimal post go-live customer impacting incidents. The bank generally experienced a fast turnaround on items raised.

“The consolidated project was successfully completed on schedule, in roughly an 8-month window. To walk into the office the day of the launch, and hear no noise is what we want to see on the first day post-launch." - Hume Bank stated

Breaking new grounds through strong collaboration

We are delighted to share that Hume Bank has successfully reached a major milestone in their digital transformation plan, and for the very first time, Ultradata has simultaneously installed two major system upgrades for a single organisation in the one project scope. This milestone marks a ground-breaking moment in both companies partnership and sets a new standard for seamless and efficient digital advancements in the banking sector.

Hume Bank is now in its desired position and equipped to unlock new digital banking UX and UI capabilities for its 55,000+ strong member base;

• Digital card issuance.
• Digital customer onboarding.
• Mobile responsiveness - a seamless banking transition across all devices.
• New UI look and feel.
• Greater self-service options.
• Customer-centric personal finance management tools.

Congratulations to Hume Bank on this success story. It has been a pleasure working with you on this efficacious project.