Spořka has decided to transform into an institution that primarily focuses on financial health. The project brings with it a great challenge, similar to those we know from strategic computer games. Spořka is at the beginning of the map and is gradually revealing its possibilities and potential. It has chosen Enehano as its implementation partner. In an interview between Enehano CEO Jirka Macha and Lukáš Rais, Product Owner at Spořka, we learned who the change will affect, where he sees the biggest technological challenges and what kind of competence team is being built at Spořka.
Lukáš, you are preparing changes at Spořka that will affect every employee.
Can you tell us more about that?
We have launched the largest CRM implementation project of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe for some time. We started with a small feasibility study that confirmed that we were heading in the right direction. This is the path that will transform Spořka into an institution that is not only client-friendly, but also fulfills the vision of a financially healthy nation.
I would personally compare it to the good old Age of chinese overseas asia database Empires or Civilization (strategy computer games, author’s note), which start with one peasant and a map that is 10×10 squares and 90% uncovered. Our position is somewhere in the corner and we are preparing for a challenge in the form of building one of the monuments that was specific to the selected nation in the game.
Last year, we at Spořka started to uncover the “map” and found out that it is not 10×10 squares, but there are probably many more. We do not know the final number, but we do know that it will be crucial how much we expand Spořka’s “game plan” and how far we want to go.
I’m guessing that in Spořka this uncovering will be more difficult because you don’t start on a blank map.
Exactly. Gradual disclosure has its downsides and impacts the overall “landscape”, which has changed a few times since the beginning, and the beginning is really fresh. From the perspective of the implementation plan, it is an unpleasant situation. As a former analyst and architect, I do not really like these situations. However, from a long-term strategy, or rather vision, it is an incredible challenge that I enjoy more and more.
The biggest advantage of Salesforce is the ability to quickly increase the scope, which allows us to cover various areas in the bank.
Where do you see the greatest strength of the platform in the context of Spořka?
I could list countless advantages. For example, the complexity something on google and click on your blog if it matches their inquiry of the Salesforce ecosystem. At Spořka, we use Tableau, and two years ago we implemented Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Interaction Studio. We are currently working on Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, but we are already looking into using Salesforce Experience Cloud and the Work.com module.
The biggest advantage of Salesforce is the ability to quickly expand the scope of our work, covering different areas in the bank. We started by changing the current CRM system, which is outdated and does not cover all our needs. The IT world is very fast and we want to keep up with the times.
Do the changes only affect Spořka, or the entire Erste Group?
At the moment, the SAFIR project, which includes the implementation of Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, is only for Spořka. However, we have great support from our colleagues at Erste Group and they are very interested in the details of the project. We showed ourselves in a very good light when we successfully implemented Salesforce MarketingCloud, and for this reason we are trying to show that we can also do much larger transformations. We have a great example of how not all solutions that are used for the entire group have to be managed and implemented only in Vienna. This example is the voicebot / chatbot solution and Spořka owns it
Where do you see of the platform in the context of Spořka?
There will be a lot of them, as in any other implementation thailand data transformation project. But that is what attracts us from my point of view from the technological side of the project. If I were to focus purely on the technical topics, I would mention integrations in particular. However, it is not the only key point. From Spořka’s point of view, it will be interesting to observe a change in mindset in the context of the approach “I have it by default within the out-of-the-box” solution vs. “I’m going to write it myself from scratch”. Within the SAFIR team, we want to maintain the line with those out-of-the-box functionalities, and thus show Spořka that it is possible.
Would you like to add anything else from your perspective?
I would say that our ambitions are not small. We want to build a strong internal Salesforce team at Spořka, which will, from a certain point of view, function like a typical