With Faster, More Flexible Infrastructure, ČSOB Cuts App Creation Time by 50%

Banks are thought to be one of the most traditional and staid industries, but they are under immense pressure to modernize their IT infrastructure and deliver innovative digital services to customers. Doing so requires embracing technologies like cloud computing while navigating the complexities of legacy systems and strict regulatory requirements, and we found ourselves needing a partner to guide us through the maze.

We are Československá Obchodní Banka (ČSOB), the second-largest bank in the Czech Republic. As a universal bank, ČSOB caters to many clients who rely on us for retail banking, corporate financing, investing, or insurance products. Each of these verticals places new demands on the bank’s IT infrastructure to improve our services and deliver them faster while maintaining our strong security posture. The IT team at ČSOB has embarked on a business transformation to achieve these goals.

I’m the IT systems analyst and team lead at ČSOB and was responsible for one of the key initial parts of this transformation. It started with ČSOB recognizing the limitations of our existing legacy systems. We sought a solution that would:

• accelerate application development
• increase automation
• reduce errors
• improve time to market

We were also looking to the future, anticipating a need for containerized software to easily transfer applications between the cloud and our data center.

This desire led us to explore containerization technology. We decided to adopt OpenShift, which is built on top of Kubernetes. We were confident OpenShift would be a crucial step toward our modernization—if we could get through the implementation.

Finding help for a daunting implementation

ČSOB had to migrate from our existing infrastructure to an entirely new containerized environment, which meant overcoming technical and cultural obstacles. The technical challenges were obvious; we had to learn the fundamentals of containerization, along with OpenShift-specific architecture and services.

The cultural challenges were subtler but still significant. I was responsible for all OpenShift administrators, and we needed to prepare operational staff for this new way of working. Our infrastructure change couldn’t translate to business transformation without a smooth transition.

Navigating these shifts was a tall order, and we decided to look outside the organization for help.

We put out an RFP for this project, and of the eight companies that offered proposals, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) was the best-suited to the project. We were impressed by their mentoring and project management capabilities and thought they could best fill in our existing gaps to get our new system off the ground.

Making the project manageable

Working with HPE was a continuation of an existing relationship, as ČSOB has long relied on the company for hardware, storage strategies, and other solutions. This time, the HPE Services team would guide us through the complexities of our OpenShift implementation.

HPE provided comprehensive support through the entire project lifecycle, including:

• Deep technical knowledge. From our HPE project manager to the architecture team to their specialized technical consultants, everyone knew the technology inside and out and could impart that wisdom to our team.
• Guidance and expertise in project planning. HPE created and executed the project plan and mentored us on project management along the way.
• Proactive troubleshooting and sharing of best practices. With their platform-specific knowledge, the HPE Services team steered us away from common mistakes. Their tailored advice also allowed us to skip steps not applicable to our use case. We didn’t have to fail to learn, which accelerated the process.
• Ongoing support and training. There is always more to learn, and HPE created the documentation and the lab environment for us to teach our team new operations and procedures. HPE Services is also committed to ongoing support to ČSOB as we become increasingly familiar with OpenShift and explore more of its possibilities.

Turning IT modernization into business transformation

Since implementation, ČSOB has seen several notable benefits. We have automated more of the application deployment process, which has contributed to the biggest change: our ability to develop apps much faster.

We have cut end-to-end application creation time by as much as 50%, and the significantly reduced development cycles enable us to create applications 3x faster than before.

These results have several major downstream effects for ČSOB’s business:

• Greater agility and adaptability to new business demands. Standardizing our CI/CD model enables consistent and repeatable processes for building, testing, and deploying software, and as a result, we have a more dynamic and responsive attitude to development.
• Increased our competitive edge. A faster time to market translates to a more cost-effective development process, which helps us stay competitive while boosting customer satisfaction. 
• Improved security posture. Batch changes are now simpler, so we can apply patches weekly instead of a few times annually.

Yet another benefit of our implementation is that it makes us more attractive to new hires. Containerization is becoming a new standard in software development and deployment, and getting an opportunity to work in that environment is exciting for prospective employees just graduating from school. By helping us transition to a more modern container-based environment, the HPE Services team helped ČSOB become a more attractive proposition for younger IT professionals who don’t want to work with legacy systems.

Without HPE Services, our OpenShift implementation would have taken ČSOB much longer. Instead, we leveraged their skills to accelerate application development, enhance operational efficiency, and improve the customer experience. By embracing this and other technologies, ČSOB proves that modern, containerized environments aren’t out of reach for any enterprise—even large banks. All we need is the right partner.