“How can we, in a very short time, provide our consultants with a tool that allows them to work more freely and flexibly than has been possible so far?” Denmark’s second largest listed bank approached us with this problem two years ago. Since state-of-the-art software solutions are one of our specialties and we already knew Jyske Bank well from almost a decade of cooperation, it was obvious what we would do: develop a consultant cockpit for investment consulting in an agile process with the help of modular software architecture. We call the result Impact Pro.
MVP: Fast, valid results with an agile process
Agile processes are crucial today: if you are not fast enough in design and development, you will end up implementing a product that has long since become obsolete. With Jyske Bank, we have therefore pursued the “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP) strategy: we have worked with a functional prototype right from the start and incorporated the feedback of the consultants, who will actually use the software, during development. This working method requires trust in the process, regular workshops and jours fixes – because only then can you determine which factors are relevant for the final implementation – and which are not. However, the intensive cooperation is always worthwhile: in the case of Jyske Bank, we were able to implement a tailor-made consulting software in little more than half a year.
More freedom in consulting thanks to a flexible software architecture
This project approach also helped to ensure that Impact Pro was immediately accepted by Jyske Bank’s consultants – after all, their feedback was directly incorporated into the development of the software platform. With just a few clicks, the consultant can, for example, display the status quo, forecasts, historical progress and scenario analyses. Or call up risk/return analyses that we have visually prepared in the UI in such a way that the private customer intuitively understands them. And – perhaps most importantly – the architecture of the application allows it to be extended at any time with new functional modules in an economical manner. This flexibility keeps the tool fit for future requirements.
Automatic updates and built-in compliance
Impact Pro is based on the calculation cores and service modules of the “tetralog financial backend”. The orchestration of calculation core functions, database comparisons and automated data imports in intelligent software-controlled processes enables not only the availability of the latest bank-specific investment instruments, quality indicators and qualitative as well as quantitative market research – but also the monitoring of compliance-relevant aspects in investment valuation and recommendation. This gives the advisor the assurance at all times that the information he accesses is up-to-date, correct and matches the risk profile of the respective client.