Rabobank streamlines complex process from three weeks to three minutes using Microsoft Power Platform
In this blog series, we are sharing examples of customers who have been able to Do More With Less by utilizing Microsoft Power Platform in their organization to build applications, automate processes, determine insights and more. This week, we are highlighting how Rabobank has been using Power Platform.
Rabobank is a multinational banking institution headquartered in the Netherlands, with more than 40,000 employees in 38 countries. It has a long history of cooperation, innovation, and people-centered solutions.
As part of a broad digitization strategy, Rabobank adopted Power Platform to streamline internal processes. Rabobank currently uses more than 2,500 Power Apps and Power Automate solutions. One of their solutions to support their company re-org process reduced processing time from three weeks to three minutes. Additionally, they use Power Virtual Agents for a personalized customer support experience, automating 40-50% of customer calls – equivalent to 60,000 to 80,000 calls per month.
Streamlined company re-org process from 3 weeks to 3 minutes
As Rabobank moved to a new, digital model, the bank has been reorganizing its workforce to better align to that model. But the process was time-consuming. Previously, HR professionals would spend weeks pouring over Excel spreadsheets matching employees with new job roles.
The new solution used Power Apps and Power Automate to compile relevant HR data, and enabled the BAPPS (Business Applications) team at Rabobank to provide controlled access to the process by managers and employees. Previously, the process was open to only the HR team. Now, employees can review and, if needed, update their personnel data and managers can review new roles recommended by the system—all contributing to better placements overall.
“With our reorganization app (“R@pp”) built with Power Platform, analysis that used to take three weeks can now be done in three minutes. Better yet, we have achieved a placement accuracy of 99.1%, which is far higher than what we could manage previously.”
Read more about how Rabobank developed their solution with Power Platform
Automating up to 50% of customer calls
To help manage customer inquiries, Rabobank had initially adopted an on-premises virtual agent solution, building a conversational platform that had proved functional for routing customer calls to the right service team, but it wasn’t efficient as the system for virtual chat bots, and virtual call agent were independent – resulting in a need to maintain both systems separately.
Within four months, Rabobank reconstructed its virtual agent solution using Microsoft Power Virtual Agents. This allowed the team to simplify operations, reduce costs and create a more cohesive experience for customers. Within four months, the first virtual agent was deployed to production in April 2022.
Before Rabobank moved to Power Virtual Agents, only about 20 percent of Rabobank’s customers were using the online chat option as their first point of contact. With the new solution, usage of the chatbot has increased by 25% and 40-50% of customer calls now do not require escalation to a human agent. This adds up to 60,000 to 80,000 calls per month being handed entirely through automation built using the Power Platform.
“Doing conversational AI right can lead to cost savings. Becoming more cost effective allows us to stay competitive and retain our investment capabilities. At the same time, labor market conditions increase the need for efficient operations through automation.”
Read more about how Rabobank streamlines and personalizes customer support with Power Virtual Agents
Scaling low code throughout the organization
Above are two of several examples where low-code solutions have proven to be highly valuable for Rabobank. To scale adoption across the organization, they’ve established a robust Center of Excellence. They have over 2,500 Power Apps and Power Automate solutions in use with over 55% of the organization using Power Platform solutions each month.
As with any financial organization, Rabobank puts a high priority on security and compliance. So, while the efficiency of Power Platform was appealing, it was equally important that development on the platform be controlled and secure.
To meet that objective, Rabobank rolled out a Center of Excellence strategy before making Power Platform available to employees. This included a distinct set of environments, policies, and controls aligned to different types of users. The governance model at Rabobank has enabled citizen developers across the organization to build solutions in a secure and compliant manner.
Read more about how Rabobank selected Power Platform as its default development platform
Find other “Do More With Less” stories
 | Equinor Equinor, a forward thinking energy company based in Norway, delivered a solution by their DigTEAM and citizen developers with an estimated annual value of over 500 million NOK (approximately $49M USD) |
 | VITAS Healthcare VITAS Healthcare is nation’s largest single-source provider of end-of-life care delivering meaningful hospice and palliative care to its patients and their families across 14 states and the District of Columbia. VITAS has used a Power Platform solution called “Emmy” to process 2 million patient visits – equivalent to 92% of all patient visits. |
