Nations Trust Bank (NTB) is a leading private sector bank in Sri Lanka with 90+ Branches and 100+ ATM machines in Sri Lanka. NTB is known for adapting into innovating technologies and explore new ways to enhance Customer Banking experience. However, rapid expansion has resulted bank to have a too many different vendor technologies / dependencies and less room for future expansion.
Challenge:
NTB has primary locations in Colombo and rest of the branches island wide. Main locations had 3 separate PABX systems, with limited interconnection in between them and branches had their own analog PABX systems, PSTN Service provider’s solutions (Dialog) and some hosted Call center features. A unified IP Voice solution throughout the organization should be deployed, minimizing yearly costs while providing a manageable, robust, uninterrupted service. Their Data network also required more structured deployment, higher visibility over bandwidth usage / outages, High availability and use of a single network for all Data/voice/video traffic.
Solution:
After analyzing the requirements from the customer organization, Cisco Unified Communication Solution for Telephony Services, Cisco switches and routers for branch network deployment, Cisco ISE for identity services and Cisco Meraki eco system for Wireless access though out the organization were selected. With new deployment a Centralized Telephony system for main locations and branches with sophisticated audio / video features was deployed.
Technologies deployed:
- Cisco UC architecture for Telephony services, Verba for Call Recording.
- Cisco Routers and switches for Main Locations / Branches
- Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) for secure user access.
- Cisco Meraki eco system for WiFi access.
- Cisco Webex for video conferencing
Success
After Complete Migration, NTB employees were delivered an enhanced user experience in daily operations. Following grid compares few areas that showed great improvements.
| NTB Task | Before | After | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telephony Services | Architecture, administration. | A mix of IP / Analog phones from a several PABX systems. | A Unified Telephony system with Cisco Call Manager at center. |
| Provisioning a New phone to user | Takes days to complete structure cabling, patching analog codes or Manual provisioning. | Instant provisioning, plug a phone to PoE switch and provision it in minutes. | |
| Advanced Telephony services | Basic telephony services were available | Advanced telephony services, Voice & Video Conferencing, IM&Presence enabled Softphone Clients, Mobile Remote Access to extension via internet. Availability of Voice mail for users. | |
| Managing End User Devices | Several Interfaces / Consoles. (Physical access required sometime) | Single GUI for any end user device management. | |
| Failover / Redundancy | Limited failover in main locations, no redundancy for branch telephony services. | All phones, despite of location will be served by a Call Manager Cluster, multiple SIP trunks for redundancy. | |
| Call Recording | Recording is available only in head office | With Verba platform, organization wide call recording, recorded calls archived for future use. | |
| Troubleshooting | Mostly required physical access to end device. | Can troubleshoot remotely, sophisticated troubleshooting tools available. | |
| Video Conferencing | Conducting Video Meetings | Isolated video end points limited to board rooms. | Can conduct video calls from the desk and join Webex video conferences right from the desk phone. A Webex meeting supports up to 75 parties, multiple device types. |
| Data Networks | Redundancy | The faulty device / link had to be repaired to restore network | Redundant links and devices for high availability of services. |
| Bandwidth Utilization | No control over content and bandwidth | QoS technology to maximize bandwidth utilization so critical data traffic given more priority. | |
| Security | Secure Access for BYOD | Cooperate users were not able to access internal resources from their devices. | User devices are postured by Cisco ISE and based on two-factor authentication grant access. |
| WiFi Network | Employees Access | Only Head Office employees were given WiFi access (internet only) | Secured organization wide WiFi for internet as well as internal services. |
| Visibility and Manageability of Wifi | Limited or no visibility over WiFi usage or Access points | Meraki Cloud controller delivers indepth usage reports, Device Performance data. Troubleshooting time is down to minutes for most cases. |