Degussa Bank Is Entering the World of Process Mining with Celonis Snap

Digitalization and digital transformation are ubiquitous in the finance sector. The driving forces in these developments are, first and foremost, global competition, low interest rates, and growing customer expectations: Nowadays, nobody wants to wait an entire week to have their application to open a bank account confirmed. However, in contrast to other sectors, there are many legal regulations in the finance sector, so appropriate solutions for business processes digitization need to be created. It is even more important that all processes are optimized as much as possible in order to be able to offer the best customer experience. Process Mining technology from Celonis can help tackle this challenge.

Degussa Bank has been using this software for about a year to optimize various processes, including the opening of free checking accounts and the provisioning of loans. The bank initially started with Celonis Snap, the free software version. Positive results were achieved within a short amount of time, justifying the switch to the Celonis Execution Management System (EMS), which offers an even wider range of functionalities.

Celonis Snap in Comparison to other Process Mining Solutions

But before deciding on the EMS, Degussa bank explored various Process Mining solution providers. There was a phase in which Celonis Snap was tested alongside a solution from another provider, both with the goal of optimizing the application process for free checking accounts. The focus was on two KPIs: In terms of the conversion rate, the bank measured at where in the process journey potential customers abandoned their application. The second point concerned the length of the application process and the identification of measures to speed it up. The team presented the results to the board, and Celonis emerged on top in the following areas:

• Ease of use during implementation by the analyst and later by the user

• Diverse visualization capacities: for example, the direct comparison of actual/target process paths

• Flexibility in terms of the desired KPIs: Nearly every key figure can be programmed and queried via PQL.

• Low personnel expenditure: operative implementation can be handled by a single person

The bank was also duly impressed by the many functions provided in the free Celonis Snap solution: It made the introduction to Process Mining quick and easy, and, at the same time, delivered impressive results. These quick successes provided Degussa Bank with the motivation to continue to expand their Process Mining capabilities with Celonis.

Fact-Based Foundation for Process Improvements

The knowledge that the team gained with Celonis Snap about the application process proved very helpful: It made it possible for the team to corroborate with solid figures what the specialist department had already known intuitively. For example, it was shown that the application process works fine as long as the simplest and most common process path is followed. But whenever loops or variants are added to the process, it becomes time and labor intensive for both employees and customers. Current process optimization efforts aim to continue to increase the proportion of automated steps on the basis of these insights. In this sense, Degussa Bank is on the right path. Already, they have reduced the time it takes to process applications by 32%. The team is also constantly working to scrutinize and improve other processes.

Degussa Bank AG

Degussa Bank AG is the holding company of a group of companies that provide financial services for workers. The group is strategically focused on smart worksite financial services. The range of services are aligned with the needs of customers of the corresponding partner company. The group employs approx. 900 staff and has over 1 million customers. It reaches over 5 million people with its digital contacts.

Information about Celonis Snap:

Snap is a free offering from Celonis. Snap allows users to load event log files of up to 500 MB from a CSV/XLSV/XES flat file or use the integrated links to common systems to familiarize themselves with the technology and achieve initial success. Did this pique your interest? More information can be found here.

Mara Adermann

Data Scientist