MKB is Hungary's third largest banking group and has a significant share of both the corporate and retail market. With fifty branches throughout Hungary, MKB provides universal banking services to corporate clients and 150,000 personal banking customers. The company recently underwent massive expansion and, despite the acquisition of another bank in 2004, achieved a rise in pre-tax profits of ten percent.

　　MKB realized that if they were to consolidate their dynamic business expansion program and facilitate new growth in their chosen markets, the technology in their core banking systems needed to be upgraded. Specifically, MKB wanted to improve the way documents were presented and create communications that enhanced their relationships with customers. Going further, they wanted to produce more complex and informative statements, improve their other literature for both retail and business customers, and ensure consistency in all their external communications.

　　Choosing a solution

　　"We knew that we needed to make changes and knew we had to make them quickly and without disruption to business processes," said Tamas Simardi, senior manager at MKB.

　　"We consulted with analysts and looked at a number of products that might suit our needs. We piloted Dialogue from Exstream Software and it was quickly successful. We saw acceptance from all sides: business, marketing and IT. Beyond this, Exstream had the local support we were looking for, something that other vendors couldn't offer."

　　Incorporating Dialogue with the existing IT infrastructure was a straightforward and efficient process. Exstream ensured that there was a strict quality control mechanism when integrating existing live applications with the new technology.

　　Working in every department

　　MKB applied its new Dialogue document production and personalization software across every department, using the technology for statements, advices, and invoices. The bank soon realized the benefits of working from a single infrastructure.

　　"Since we implemented Dialogue, the improvement in the presentation of our documents has been remarkable. Practically, it has made our operations simpler, cheaper and faster," said Simardi. "We can now retrieve and reprint documents from our archiving system without going along a complicated process chain. We now have the certainty and consistency that we needed."

　　MKB soon realized it could use this technology for complaints handling as well. The bank reengineered complaints handling processes so it was able to identify with certainty if, when and how documents were delivered. This has reduced the pressure on customer-facing staff and let MKB automatically control its document production mechanism. Barcodes were used, allowing large quantities of highly personalized communications to be handled more easily at the delivery stage.

　　Reducing the burden

　　“The results that MKB has seen in the few months following the installation of Dialogue have justified its purchase,” Simardi explained.

　　"Since we started using Exstream's product, we have seen far fewer missing document complaints and a much quicker reprint time for documents demanded by customers. Dialogue has also enabled us to deliver documents through other mediums, particularly electronic channels."

　　"The overall effect of implementing Dialogue has been improved communications with our customers. As we move out of the first phase of implementation, we hope to use Dialogue as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool and to capitalize on the improved personalization this technology offers to create smarter marketing messages. It's good to know that Exstream is as committed to customer success as we are."