Client Background

• Client: Privately owned bank in the UAE
• Industry type: Banking & Financial Services
• Products/Services: Retail banking, Asset management, Investment banking
• Geography or Areas of operations: Middle East

Challenge

Rapid global expansion led to substantial growth for a pioneering Middle Eastern bank, which planned to expand its industry presence even further. The business growth brought about an increase in the company’s workforce, and the bank saw an opportunity to establish a unified HR system that would streamline processes, improve employee experiences, and increase productivity. Developing a uniform system would not only enhance internal HR processes and avoid siloed, customized systems, but provide the needed scalability as the enterprise grew and effective support for its workforce across the Middle East. 

Solution

To standardize the system, Wipro collaborated with the bank to harmonize, unify, and streamline various HR responsibilities, including benefits administration, global employee transfers, absence management, and reimbursements. The customized legacy systems were replaced with Oracle HCM Cloud modules, delivering greater efficiencies to HR staff. The combined teams developed a project roadmap using Wipro’s Digital Navigator Advisory framework to create an effective path forward and define business KPIs, such as improved employee experiences, faster process turnaround times, and reduced IT costs. The bank gained end-to-end visibility of its data and could generate payslips faster and more accurately by integrating Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) Cloud with the bank’s on-premises Oracle E-Business Suite HCM Payroll application.

Replacing the legacy HR landscape with a flexible, scalable system empowered the bank to unify its processes, develop a pool of candidates for managerial positions in its new locations, and help drive seamless employee transfers to those branches. Wipro also supported the bank’s establishment of legal entity structures within each new location.

In addition to these operational transformations, the bank transformed its digital experiences for its 5,000 team members. It rolled out new mobility options for the bank’s employees and users, resulting in enhanced experiences and faster turnaround times. The company also adopted experience-led design principles and modern mobility best practices to enable mobile user interfaces, navigations, and security authorizations.

Wipro also led the bank’s organizational change management (OCM) efforts, starting by blending change methodologies into the business blueprint stage as expansions took place. The bank also conducted training workshops to ensure all employees derived value from the transformation.

Business Impact

Completed in a six-month timeframe, the standardization of the bank’s HR systems established a single source of truth for the entire organization’s HR data and eliminated customized systems used in different locations. The unified system reduced cycle times by more than 35% and decreased HR’s IT support expenses by 26%. Using an updated architecture, employee transfer processes were streamlined, and new mobile-compatible platforms gave employees the ability to access data anywhere at any time. The modernization and standardization of the bank’s HR capabilities provided a scalable system that would handle expanding business growth. These enhancements would also ensure employees would receive quality support on a personal and professional level, enabling the enterprise to maintain and attract top industry talent.