The global banking industry has undergone a major overhaul recently. To recover ground lost during the financial crisis, banks have been ramping up their efforts to capture new customers and retain existing ones. As the environment got more competitive and aggressive, banks launched new services and made great efforts to improve the customer experience.

In Malaysia, banking standards are improving by leaps and bounds as foreign investments and trade activities increase. A mixture of established local banks, Islamic and foreign banks competes in various ways to outshine one another and to win customers. Besides recruiting the top professionals to do the job, banks have been assessing various technologies to improve business and operational efficiency, and most importantly increase customer satisfaction.

Consolsys Technologies Sdn. Bhd. has been working in the banking industry for many years and was awarded MSC status by the Malaysian government. They have more than 20 customers in Malaysia and Puerto Rico, some of whom are leading banks in the region.

Consolsys is an information technology solutions provider with proven banking automation solutions to assist customers with operational improvement in the areas of retail banking, business intelligence and cheque processing. They also provide consulting services for overall IT planning and strategy.

The management team is made up of domain experts who understand information systems and the banking business. Therefore they are able to understand the pain and limitations that banks face and are able to propose effective solutions to address these problems.

Consolsys’s customers want only the best of breed in banking solutions, hence they have spent a great deal of effort doing research and assessing multiple technologies. In developing automated banking solutions, the trend has always been for paperless workflows and Consolsys has to incorporate a way to capture signatures on electronic documents. When Consolsys was shown the Wacom STU-500 signature pad, they were impressed with the high performance specifications. For many people, what looks good on paper may not transfer accurately to real life. Consolsys was initially doubtful about the performance of the STU-500, but they were immediately convinced after trying it out. They later showed the STU-500 signature pad to the banks and it became an instant hit.  

After a series of in-depth evaluations, Consolsys was able to productize a solution for a leading, reputable Malaysian bank. In 2009 the bank was quickly sold on the concept and idea. The initial customized solution was focused on account opening and loan application services. It utilized a number of devices including the Wacom STU-500 signature pad, MyKad (smartcard) reader, pinpad and laser printer. In the setup, one STU-500 unit is attached to one terminal in every customer service counter. The bank has given the thumbs up to Consolsys for the use of the STU-500 after completing several successful trials.

The value proposition quickly turned into a unique banking service aggressively promoted by the bank in December 2009. The bank needed to distance themselves from competitors by avoiding me-too services and by carving out a niche for themselves. With the new, improved banking services, their customers were able to use various services in a much faster and simpler way as compared to other competing banks. More than a hundred STU-500 units are installed in 31 bank outlets and 17 new locations. Positive response from the market has prompted the bank to add the new services to even more branches and new locations in the coming months.

Apart from the ability to capture exceptionally high quality electronic signatures with the STU-500, Consolsys was able to reduce the bank’s operations costs with their optimized banking solution. In the new system, the bank has improved the customer experience dramatically by allowing interactions via the STU-500 signature pad when performing certain services. Another benefit is that the bank can sign up new customers in off-site locations by taking advantage of the portability of the STU-500. Furthermore, it provided easy integration with MyKad for their customers.

As the signature pads needed to be moved around constantly and were subject to heavy usage, the bank needed the pad to be extra durable. After assessing the STU-500, the bank discovered that it has a ruggedly-built and toughened LCD panel which suited the field deployment environment.

According to Consolsys, due to the high precision and performance of the STU-500, they were able to get the certification from Malaysia’s banking authority for regulatory compliance. The combination of the output quality of the electronic signatures captured with the STU-500, the total solution, banking approval and work processes enabled the certification to be obtained despite stringent standards.

When Consolsys started development with the STU-500, Wacom provided them with an SDK, which the development team found to be easy and straightforward to use. This is in contrast with other devices that they used in the past which caused frustration due to bugs and other errors.

The bank has enjoyed several benefits by using the Consolsys automated banking solution with Wacom’s STU-500 signature pad. First, the paperless workflow has helped to save paper storage space and has allowed easy access and archival of records. Second, the account opening process is 10 times more efficient than traditional pen & paper and can be completed in two minutes or less. Third, the interaction with customers is on the screen of the STU-500 when filling out forms and reading terms and conditions. This has helped to improve the customer experience with the bank.

Consolsys is determined to provide this leading solution to other banking customers. Zia Madani, the CTO of Consolsys says, “Wacom produces flawless products and I feel confident using their products as seen and proven by many users in other reputable industries.”

Maisie Wong, Sales & Marketing Director of Consolsys says, “To me the support and commitment from technology partners are of upmost importance. Wacom has always provided my team excellent support and is very committed to giving the best service regardless of requests.”

Richard Ou, Program Director of Consolsys says, “I am totally impressed with how solidly built the Wacom STU-500 is, plus the quality of the LCD panel and electronic signatures. The 5 inch LCD panel has given me the ability to include user-interfaces for my customers and that has given them the competitive advantage in business.”

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