ING Bank was looking for a single infrastructure that would enable both communication with different companies/institutions and collection of bills and thus decided on i-Collect. ING Bank can now process different companies’ and institutions’ bills in an easy and secure way with a single system.
One of the major players in global finance, ING Bank, started its operations in Turkey in 2008 after acquiring OyakBank. Targeting a larger share in Turkish market and utilizing the knowledge and vision of ING Group, ING Bank is one of the seven largest banks in Turkey with its 367 branch offices, 279 authorized collection centers, 825 ATMs and 24/7 Internet and phone banking services.
ING Bank collects bills belonging to 180 different companies and institutions each month. ING Bank IT Software Development Manager Ragıp Gürkan said the following regarding their cooperation with iNNOVA: “We have collection agreements with 180 companies/institutions. We are working online with 30 of them. Prior to working with iNNOVA, we first utilized an online system in 1999 with Türk Telekom. We decided to move on to an i-Collect system due to the developments taking place in the banking sector. With iNNOVA’s continuous development support of our institution’s projects, we were able to complete them in short periods of time. We implemented bill collection projects with Türk Telekom, Turkcell, Vodafone and Avea, all in very short periods of time.”
Easy management
Software Development Director Özgür Armağan said communication with institutions which issued the bills became easier and the collection process became much smoother thanks to the i-Collect Channel application. He said: “iNNOVA’s Collection systems enable us to speak asynchronously with institutions. We began using an intermediary system which communicates with i-Collect instead of us, sending messages directly to the institutions. Advantages of this system to us have been asynchronous; because we have access to the i-Collect system, we have been able to process transactions and monitor and verify transactions with iNNOVA.”
Problem-free infrastructure
ING Bank collects payments of bills issued by Avea, Telekom, Turkcell, Vodafone and Bilyoner through the iNNOVA i-Collect Channel application. Ragıp Gürkan highlighted that collection systems must have a reliable infrastructure; further commenting on the value and benefit that iNNOVA provides to the company, Gürkan said: “The i-Collect solution provides us with a problem-free infrastructure. iNNOVA has extensive knowledge which stems from its close relations with telecommunication companies and other institutions. This system helped us tap into their accumulated knowledge.”
Speed and security
Software Development Director Şükrü Bal talked about the advantages offered by iNNOVA’s collection system: “i-Collect communicates with the company with which we would be making the bill collection with in our place. We do not intervene in the communication and possible problems between the company and the system. All of i-Collect’s messages are stored on a single unit now, which helps us with maintenance. This system also helped us with reporting. And now we can do all the monitoring on the web.”
In addition to being problem-free, all transactions must be completed rapidly in banking systems in order to ensure customer satisfaction. Bal also pointed out the time saving feature offered by i-Collect: “Of course i-Collect saved us time. It saved us time not only in customer transactions, but also in application development. Now all we have to do is integrate our messages to the familiar i-Collect messaging structure rather than messaging with the institution or company. And a single database means easier repair and maintenance for us.”
Gürkan said they had plans of working with iNNOVA in future projects and added: “We are happy to be working with iNNOVA and we have no hesitations about speaking up on our satisfaction of iNNOVA’s high quality work”