Standard Bank is a large international brand operating in multiple business areas and jurisdictions.
Their strategy is to be the Africa-focused, client-centered and digitally-enabled financial services organization.
On their journey to automation, they saved thousands of hours per year using Alteryx workflows to collect, format, analyze and deploy data. Learn in this use case why Alteryx makes Katrin Erb, Finance Automations Manager, feel confident to take on the toughest data challenges.
Most corporate functions face the same problem – an overwhelming number of manual processes, which do not make good use of their employees’ skills.
Insufficient Value Add
As a team, we spend hours collecting data from various systems, standardizing downloads, blending, and performing calculations. By the time we are done there is not enough time for analysis and value add.
Complex System Landscape
Vast number of systems that are difficult to integrate
Limit reliance on IT
Inability to change certain processes
Key Person Dependencies
Highly specialized skills
Headcount restrictions
Complex and continuously changing processes
Often times it’s best that the person with the problem build their own solution, as they know the requirements. They just need a tool and with Alteryx, the automation becomes much quicker.
Automate manual processes with Alteryx:
Limit reliance on IT
Quick delivery
Significant time saving & risk reduction
Value add
From Outlook to SQL
Before Alteryx
Receive a file via email
Rename the file
Save it onto a shared drive for a stored procedure to pull it into a database
This needs to be done before a certain time every day
Time consuming: 75 minutes/day
After Alteryx
The Outlook Input tool connects to my email, and it downloads and saves the file. The Block Until Done tool makes sure we received only one attachment before it proceeds, otherwise it will notify the user that they need to verify the attachment manually. Then, the Run Command tool moves and renames the attachment to a specific final destination folder. This workflow takes seconds to run.
From SAP to Excel
Before Alteryx
Download data from system
Reshape the data
Perform calculations
Zero value add
Time consuming: 75 hours/month
After Alteryx
We used some tools to create filters and format the data coming from SAP. The macro tool gets the previous working day’s data. The SAP BW Query tool pulls the data from SAP exactly the same way that a user would have done. Then, we modify the data – a process that would be time consuming on Excel because it would require a lot of copy & paste. Finally, we output the results into Excel so the user can continue with the current process.
From SAP and Pershing to SQL
Before Alteryx
SAP pooled of banking accounts must always mirror the Pershing investment accounts
Data retrieved from Pershing
Compared to SAP pooled account
Team notified of required adjustment
Regulatory risk – exposure to fines
After Alteryx
The workflow gets the data from Pershing, and it aggregates by currency. This workflow helps us ensure that the dates from Pershing match the dates from SAP. After some parsing and modification, we write the data to our database.
A short and simple workflow can have a huge impact on the organization. We scheduled it to run overnight, and it only takes seconds to run. In addition, the workflows help us comply with regulatory reporting procedures, enabling us to avoid fines. Having automated things with Alteryx, we cannot go back to the previous processes because “it would be torture”.
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