Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait implements advanced banking solution with Microsoft BizTalk middleware technology

The solution links together all of ABK's banking applications, into a single virtual system, giving bank staff a much simpler and more efficient way of accessing customer data, helping them improve service to all of the bank's customers.

The solution was jointly developed by a consortium of Microsoft partners that included APAK, a leading provider of core financial systems and services worldwide, LINKdotNET, one of the largest IT and solutions providers in the Middle East, and Kuwait Danish Computer Company, Kuwait's leading system integrator. Previously, ABK had a number of different banking applications running various functions such as credit cards, retail banking, wholesale banking, foreign exchange and back end systems. By introducing a Middleware platform based on Microsoft's BizTalk Server 2004, with software adapters from APAK, the bank has been able to integrate all of its systems into the ABK's Intranet for the staff to use, without impacting the existing systems.

Sami Al Ali, General Manager of the Information Technology Division of ABK explained: "Efficient and reliable service is the key to customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction is paramount to ABK. By integrating all our internal applications, we have created a unified look and feel within our systems, enabling our employees to access them through our intranet with a single sign-on. The new system is robust and seamless, and enables us to respond to our customer's needs more promptly and accurately, thus helping us keep them satisfied. Also the new system does not involve replacing our existing systems but runs parallel during the set up process. This reduces time and cost."

The new solution transitions the Bank's point-to-point operation system into a single sign-on system, eliminating the need for ABK employees to remember different user names and passwords while providing them with a single point of access to their back-end systems. This solution will not only reduce maintenance costs and increase scalability but will in turn also enhance the efficiency of the employees.

"By leveraging the advanced application integration capabilities that Microsoft BizTalk Server provides, ABK has established a major building block within its banking systems which will not only integrate its existing systems, but will also allow the bank to develop new solutions much more easily and cost effectively as they introduce new products and customer services in the future. This will enable them to roll out new services for customers as and when they require it with a higher return on their investment in information technology. The new features available in Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 also mean that the banking applications ABK implements are secure, reliable and more efficient. We are very pleased that ABK and its partners chose Microsoft technology to build this solution on, and we look forward to working with them in future," said Omar Dragmeh, Finance Sector Manager for Microsoft North Gulf.