Optimizing data validation: Banco Carrefour’s success story

 

Can processes that are seemingly impossible because of their great demand be optimized? The answer is yes, as long as you have the right tool.

That is what Banco Carrefour found out when it struck up a partnership with :hiperstream. It all began in a scenario where the bank’s data validation process for its billing system was very costly and not very accurate. The company chose to optimize this validation procedure, with successful results. As a bonus, it improved its relationship with end customers.

Sampling and inconsistencies: a difficult starting point

In order to understand how Banco Carrefour built up the strong validation system it currently has with :hiperstream, let’s go back and take a look at the early stages of this partnership.

As a bank, Carrefour has a catalog of products – its credit cards – that require data validation, a complex process that includes due dates, promotions, interest rates and tax regulations.

This system can be very challenging to manage given the business volume and number of regulations involved, as it requires the accurate input of data. Banco Carrefour was facing a situation that did not help make this process any easier. The bank used a sampling methodology for credit card bill validations, making them flawed and unreliable.

In addition, validation was performed by two people using a time-consuming and very demanding process. Over time, the number of products and credit card bills started to increase, as it usually does with successful companies. The mistakes were compounded by large growth, ultimately making the operation so impractical that it became impossible to keep processing data so inaccurately.

At this point, Banco Carrefour decided to look for a smarter process that would be able to optimize the data validation process. In talks with :hiperstream, it paired up to devise the HiperCheck / DVA tool that was streamlined to meet the needs of the company. The process changed drastically for the better.

:hiperstream and the game-changing optimization

“Without any doubt, this is an amazing tool that offers the automation we did not have before.”
- Celso Soares, Coordinator of Operations, Production and Tangible Assets at Banco Carrefour

Betting on the digital world, :hiperstream provided full automation to Banco Carrefour’s data validation process. Using automation, the bank can validate each individual credit card bill, and not just samples. HiperCheck / DVA allowed Banco Carrefour to take a macro-level perspective of the process, quickly and accurately. In addition, the tool helps find critical points and possible process flaws.

The report shows credit card bills by product, organized by payments made on time or overdue, outstanding balance, etc. Regulations can also be checked at any time. If there are any inconsistencies, the system points them out, thus providing greater accuracy.

However, speeding up the process was not the only benefit of this turnaround. The process also became much more cost-effective. After all, there is no longer any need for handling paper, reprinting documents or spending money on overtime. As a matter of fact, only one staff member is responsible for performing this validation today, in an operation that takes less than two hours to be completed, with utmost reliability.

Even audit routines have benefited from this practice. After all, the tool enables information from previous days to be retrieved in a fully secure manner. All in all, the partnership between Banco Carrefour and :hiperstream has enabled the financial institution to achieve very high efficiency levels.

Changing for the better with :hiperstream

Whereas in the past the process had to be carried out by two people, who often worked overtime and at a stressful pace, today only one employee is needed. We must also consider that the number of credit card bills to be validated has more than doubled, involving over three and a half million bank payment slips a month. However, the data automation solution provided by :hiperstream allows Banco Carrefour to process all these credit card bills faster and much more reliably.

An example of how the :hiperstream tool works is represented by Resolution 4655, enacted by the Brazilian Central Bank. This resolution made some changes to the existing compulsory payment process, by requiring banks to spread payments on the outstanding balance due on credit card bill charges left unpaid after 30 calendar days. In addition to the challenge of using a sampling system to validate the new procedure, the bank also had to make this information palatable to its end customers.

Thanks to the :hiperstream tool and its level of complexity and rule validation, two major mistakes were identified in the early stages of the implementation. These errors were reported as soon as they were found, and were corrected before the credit card bills were printed – that is, well before they were delivered to the end customers. This early detection prevented ahuge amount of bills with errors from being sent, and averted a substancial loss. Everything was checked and corrected quickly and safely before the final step was taken, ensuring a good experience for end customers.

Examples like these show that the data automation solution provided by :hiperstream enabled Banco Carrefour to save time and improve the quality of work and life for its employees, since it allowed the bank to cut down on both overtime and emergency work on weekends and holidays.

From a management perspective, this data automation solution represents improvements to work processes, since employees can now devote more of their efforts to innovation, leaving the tool in charge of operational aspects. This has made the credit card bill validation process, which used to be purely operational, much more strategic.

Challenges for the future

HiperCheck / DVA has raised data validation at Banco Carrefour to another level. Now with a reduced margin of error, the process is in constant evolution, and is updated daily to comply with any new rules. In other words, it is constantly updated and fine-tuned.

“HiperCheck / DVA is a living thing. New features give staff members the autonomy to customize rules, leading to proactive gains and optimized time.”
- Daniel Carvalho, Banco Carrefour Operations Manager

The tool implemented by :hiperstream is constantly enhanced to meet use demands, and is already drawing the attention of other departments at Carrefour, because its unified concept integrates different areas. For example, departments that deal with offers and acquisition of Personal Credit products have already expressed their intention to adopt HiperCheck / DVA. This shows that the company, as a whole, can already see how powerful this tool is in mitigating process errors.

The successful partnership between :hiperstream and Banco Carrefour is a perfect example of how data automation can change the operational landscape within a company.

By betting on process optimization, businesses can build a much more efficient work routine. The relationship with end customers also benefits, since cutting down on billing errors also reduces the number of complaints made to the customer service hotline and customer protection agencies.

Did you enjoy this story? Stay tuned for more success stories!