1. MashreqBank
Finance
Case Study
Committed to achieving excellence
by providing superior value financial products and
quality services to their customers using
a Unified Network Solution from Nortel Networks
2. “Our investment in
technology is our
competitive advantage.
We have not hesitated in
investing in the technology
because we believe it will give
us the business returns.”
Abdul-Aziz Al-Ghurair
Every investment that MashreqBank makes is based upon a well-
considered and fully justified business case. This ranges from investment
in shopping centres and commercial real estate in the United Arab Emirates,
all the way to their investment in information technology.
In 1993,when MashreqBank started their search for superior information
technology (IT) solutions to enable them to profitably execute their
business strategy,they searched the world over for the right solution.
They found one company with in-depth product knowledge and vision
of the future to become their networking partner — Nortel Networks.
Ever since Nortel Networks has been working hand in hand
with MashreqBank to deliver state-of-the-art banking in
the Middle East.
MashreqBank Case Study2
3. MashreqBank Case Study 3
M i s s i o n
E x c e l l e n c e
We are committed to
achieving excellence by
providing superior value
financial products and
quality services to our
customers within the target
segments in domestic and
select international markets.
We are determined to remain
among the most profitable
and financially strong banks
in the United Arab Emirates.
We are committed to
providing the most enriching
professional growth
opportunities for our
employees.
T h e C h a l l e n g e
Develop a cost-effective infrastructure
to remain flexible in changeable
market conditions and ensure
profitability.
M a s h r e q B a n k
The leading full-service bank in
the Middle East.
N e t w o r k C h a l l e n g e
Unify voice and data within the same
high quality,resilient,secure,
customer-focused network.
4. 4
MashreqBank —
Most profitable Bank in
the United Arab Emirates
From a modest beginning in Dubai,
UnitedArab Emirates (UAE) over 30 years
ago,MashreqBank has grown to 41
branches in the UAE and 14 international
branches in 11 countries,with over
1700 employees,providing the highest
quality customer service and innovative
financial products in the Middle East.
“Generally,when a bank doesn’t have
an integrated private network they will
do the voice first because it is simpler
and it is not so critical,”beganAbdul-Aziz
Al-Ghurair,Chief Executive Officer of
MashreqBank about his unconventional
approach. “But we took the difficult route
and put our data network first because
we felt there was a larger business
advantage for us.”
MashreqBank wanted to have greater
control over the management and
reliability of their network so that they
could quickly and confidently launch new
services in the market. They were also
looking for a solution and a networking
partner to help them deliver on their
vision for the future — to provide
superior value products by leveraging
infrastructure and technology.
MashreqBank Case Study
2 3 1
“Now with Nortel Networks powerful
Network Management System (NMS)
we can isolate and identify the
problems quickly and take immediate
action proactively rather than reactively
act on the problem.” - Hawas
“The only platform that we
could find at that time to meet our
requirements was Nortel Networks.
The overall total cost of ownership was
better with Nortel Networks.” - Fouz
1 Mohamed Fouz
Vice President,
and Head of Technology,
MashreqBank
2 Khaled Fawzi Hawas
Assistant Vice President,
Technology Services Division,
MashreqBank
3 O. K. Sudheer Nair
Network Architect,
MashreqBank
5. MashreqBank Case Study 5
There were other factors in the decision
as Fouz pointed out,“We were relying
on the local PTT — Etisalat,and we
wanted to have the network under our
control. We wanted to provide our
business what it needed — reliability,
flexibility and scalability.”
MashreqBank was able to integrate all
applications on to one X.25 switched
WideArea Network (WAN) without
changing mainframe applications. They
were able to prioritise traffic for critical
applications,and MashreqBank was eager
to implement a network management
system,to gain control over their
network”.
Network Management
for Increased Reliability
Assistant Vice President in the Techno-
logy Services Division of MashreqBank,
Khaled Fawzi Hawas said, “We did not
have a network management system
where we could monitor and detect
problems, taking corrective action to
reduce downtime.”
MashreqBank has a 24-hour operations
centre where people monitor different
hardware and software platforms. O.K.
Sudheer Nair, Network Architect at
MashreqBank further explained,
Odyssey of
Transformation
The first step in this odyssey of
modernisation was the transformation
of their existing point-to-point data
network to a packet switched network.
After extensive research,MashreqBank
approached Nortel Networks to install
the first Magellan DPN-100 outside North
America to provide connectivity for their
diverse host applications.
“We understood and appreciated Nortel
Networks’in-depth assessment before
delivering a full solution,”said Mr. Al
Ghurair. “We liked their evaluation
process,we liked how they went about
selling their solution,and their concern
to make sure that this was the correct
solution with a true business advantage
for us.”
With the Magellan DPN-100,
MashreqBank could start with low-speed
lines and easily upgrade. They could
utilise a variety of protocols all on the
same lines,while gaining increased
availability with the built-in redundancy
and scalable growth.
Mohamed Fouz,Vice President and Head
ofTechnology at MashreqBank explained
the decision making process,“The
business justification was done on the
reduction of local leased line charges.
On a point to point network you need
to have dedicated lines for different
applications from every location to the
data centre. We had one line for the
AutomatedTeller Machines (ATMs),
another for back-office applications,and
so on. By moving to a packet switched
network we managed to consolidate
data traffic,provide diversity route for all
banking applications,reduce costs and
increase availability.”
“The nervous system in an IT
infrastructure is the network. We have
dedicated engineers who are trained on
Nortel Networks platforms and when a
problem occurs they look into it quickly
and efficiently. We even get quicker
service from Etisalat, because of the
details that we provide them, which
pinpoints the exact location and nature
of the fault.”
With the integration of their head-
quarters LAN, MashreqBank plans to
implement Optivity NMS 9.0 to provide
added control. Hawas explained,
“Optivity will give us the ability to
manage the voice, data and LAN
environment for our campus network.
We feel Optivity is the right direction
towards unified network management.
We are moving towards a unified
network and I think it is the right
solution.”
6. 6
(Customer Controlled Routing), CTI
(Computer Telephony Integration), and
IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
functionality. These are really key for us.”
ACD substantially increases call routing
efficiency and improves agent
productivity while IVR allows a high
proportion of customers to have their
enquires dealt with faster thus increasing
productivity.
MashreqBank selected the Meridian 1
PBX based on its features and the ability
to integrate voice services on to the data
network. “We wanted a unified platform
at that time as far as voice was
concerned,”stated Fouz. “We wanted to
provide call centre abilities with all the
state-of-the-art technical features of a call
centre, along with MIS tools that facilitate
the control of productivity and quality.”
A Conscious Decision
for Voice and
Data Convergence
“In 1995 we made a conscious decision
for convergence,”explains Nair. “We
saw that TCP/IP was going to be the
protocol for all the networking
platforms, and we found that we needed
to either install an additional, separate
router-based network, or integrate our
existing data network.”
After considerable study of the available
products MashreqBank selected the
Nortel Networks Passport with features
Lower Overall Cost
of Ownership with
Nortel Networks
With Nortel Networks MashreqBank
then went on to upgrade their voice
network. This visionary leadership
proved once again, that the bank could
successfully implement leading edge
technology by installing Meridian 1 PBXs
and integrating the voice traffic on to
their data network.
MashreqBank joined the over 36 million
users of Meridian 1 PBXs world-wide and
selected a Meridian 1 PBX Option 81C,
and two Option 61Cs for the three
headquarters buildings in Dubai. They
standardised on the Meridian 1 PBX
Option 11C for all their branches for
reliable integrated communications.
With the Meridian 1 PBX MashreqBank
can grow to up to 16,000 users on a
single platform. With built-in“Evergreen”
investment protection, Meridian 1 PBX
will cost effectively and efficiently
accommodate MashreqBank’s
requirements for growth and support
for future advances in communications
technology.
Explaining their decision, Nair lists the
features that were important in deciding
in favour of Nortel Networks,“Apart
from general PBX features like Telecon-
ferencing, and Calling Party Name
Display, the key features which makes
Meridian 1 PBX stand out of the crowd
are Electronic Switching Network,
Special Prefixed Networking, Centralised
Voice mail over the Network, ACD
(Automatic Call Distribution), CCR
such as speech activation detection,
voice switching, and network
management. “In general the Passport
had more features than anyone else,
states Nair. “Important in the cost
justification of the project was Nortel
Networks’ ability to provide the
necessary technology that supports 8K
compression, which helps utilise
bandwidth more efficiently and therefore
reduce costs.”
The Passport family of products gave
MashreqBank everything they needed
to further reduce their communications
costs, while increasing reliability and
flexibility for scalable growth. The
branches could route their Local Area
Network (LAN) IP and voice traffic on to
the WAN, using the Passport 4400 con-
nected to regional Passport 6400’s, and
to the headquarters with Passport 6480s.
MashreqBank is committed to a policy of
continuous improvement and innovation
to stay ahead of the competition, and so
just recently, the bank took the steps to
upgrade the Local Area Network at the
headquarters location to incorporate it
into the unified networking concept.
MashreqBank Case Study
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum
delivering Dubai Quality Award
in 1998 to Mr. Abdullah Al Ghurair,
MashreqBank Chairman.
7. MashreqBank Case Study 7
Operational Efficiencies
— Pay Back in
Under Three Years
Even though MashreqBank has over
40 branches world-wide, they are able
to support them all remotely from Dubai
with a professional team of six
engineers. They can remotely launch
new applications, and trouble shoot from
a central location with the resulting
savings in time, and increased
productivity and increased security.
Nair elaborates, “Today if I want to give
a branch a new service, I can easily do so
without changing any of the hardware
and without sending an engineer out to
the remote location. It is very important
to us to feel confident in our network,
to deploy products as fast as the market
demands. With Nortel Networks we have
that confidence.”
MashreqBank has also centralised many
processing operations such as the
processing and printing of account and
credit card statements, and printing of
cheques, thus eliminating the back office
in the branches with uncounted savings
in equipment and maintenance costs.
All credit card inquiries are processed in
Dubai through the bank’s integrated
Meridian 1 PBX network thus delivering
operational efficiencies while also
improving customer service.
They have also been able to reduce the
downtime, achieving 99.99% availability,
representing less than one hour of
downtime per year. And with network
traffic increasing at an astounding 200%
per year, the cost containment benefits
are adding up quickly.
The return on investment for the
network is impressive. MashreqBank
estimates that they will overachieve
their initial estimate, and achieve a
payback of under 3 years.
Competitive Advantage
with Technology
Innovation
Customer focus is a top priority at
MashreqBank. Mr. Al-Ghurair elaborates,
“At the end of the day, we are putting all
this infrastructure in place to give our
customers an advantage. Hopefully
the customer will feel that there is a big
differentiation between getting service
from MashreqBank vis-à-vis, service from
other banks. Already customers have
realised this and they have started
coming back, giving us positive feedback
about our improved services they receive
at MashreqBank. The service we give is
of excellent quality because of our
people and because of the
infrastructure.”
In addition to improved customer service,
the business flexibility is important in the
highly competitive banking market. Mr.
Al-Ghurair shares his view of the regional
competition, “What will differentiate us is
that we are now able to cut costs so that
we can be a low cost provider of high
quality service. So now I have the
flexibility to offer new services and
applications which no one is able to
immediately duplicate.”
“Our strategy is to keep challenging
ourselves,how we can continue to
provide a superior service to our
customers,and how we can still provide
a service which no other bank can
match. The technology is ready and we
are capable to roll out new services
when there is a business case,and a
market to justify it.”
It would be hard to top the technical
innovation already in place at
MashreqBank. They already have 24x7
banking,a state-of-the-art call centre
with InteractiveVoice Response (IVR)
in 3 languages —Arabic,English,
Urdu/Hindi. But with a culture of
continual improvement,the bank is
forever searching for the newest business-
justified project of improvement.
