Introduction
The Chinese technology giant Huawei has announced a partnership with Absa Bank Kenya to advance digital services in the country. The partnership involves establishing a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), hailed as the next generation of technology and service for the bank’s branches.
The Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has announced a partnership with Absa Bank Kenya to advance digital services in the nation and ensure financial services align with the changing needs of a young consumer base.
According to a statement from the Chinese technology company, Huawei will make it possible for the bank to build a cutting-edge platform that will drive the company’s digital transformation.
The partnership involves establishing a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), hailed as the next generation of technology and service designed to connect the bank’s branches and promote smart branch upgrades by constructing a powerful network based on cost-effectiveness, agility, flexibility, scalability, security, and compliance. “The statement” includes setting up a cloud-based network between its headquarters and branches to enable service expansion.
Absa Bank Kenya’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), Moses Okundi, stated that in a financial services environment that is fast changing, providing high-quality services will depend on a solid digital infrastructure.
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“We strive to offer our customers a real-time, seamless digital experience to enable them to bank and transact seamlessly at the convenience of wherever they are,” said Okundi.
To make sure the launch of the bank’s digital transformation strategy went off without a hitch, technical teams from Huawei and Absa Bank Kenya have already held in-depth conversations and surveys.
By transitioning to digital and intelligent customer care services, the bank will sustain the momentum that peaked at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when cashless transactions became the norm, said Okundi.
A critical mass of tech-savvy youth and supportive infrastructure, rules, and regulations, he continued, are helping Kenya’s adoption of digital banking pick up speed.
Huawei says that Absa’s 212 ATMs, 83 locations around the country, and online and mobile banking will all benefit from the digital platform.
What An SD-WAN-based Branch Cloud Network Will Bring To Absa Kenya
“We’ve gotten to a point where we can manage traffic and distribute traffic evenly across various technology options or various connectivity options from various connectivity providers.” The value of this is that it gives us robust resilience in managing that connectivity, “adds Okundi.
Absa Bank Kenya’s branch network may be able to direct traffic in the future intelligently. So that high-quality links are used for important services, the network could choose between MPLS links and internet links based on the application’s quality and the MPLS link’s quality.
Also, Huawei’s support for its own algorithm means that communication quality can be guaranteed even with slow internet connections, making MPLS a cheaper alternative.
Additionally, Huawei offers Absa Kenya the iMaster NCE-Campus O&M platform, which can show the important O&M characteristics of devices, apps, and traffic. Because it can see all of the branches’ application traffic, this platform lets the IT team keep an eye on changing data and quickly change the bandwidth for each branch.
This brings efficient and intelligent operations; as Okundi explains, ” For my tech team, we now have connectivity.”
Absa Bank will be able to become an intelligent customer experience center with the help of this strong branch network. It will do this by supporting the bank’s intelligent upgrade. This digital foundation will help Absa Bank Kenya grow its business and come up with new ideas so that it can offer its customers and businesses the best and most up-to-date financial services.
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About Absa Bank
The financial services companies United Bank (South Africa), Allied Bank (South of the Sage Group), and Absa were combined to form the company in 1991. The next year, Absa bought the Bankorp Group, which is made up of Trustbank, Senbank, and Bankfin. Prior to this amalgamation, each bank conducted business under its own name. They were combined into a single brand in 1998. After a year, Absa changed its name to Absa Group Limited and made a new logo for its business.
Barclays Africa stated in March 2018 that the group’s name would change to Absa Group Limited as of May 30, 2018. In 2018, the business went through a rebranding process that included a new logo and taglines.
Conclusion
Absa Bank Kenya and Huawei new partnership could turn out to be a huge success especially to the people of Kenya. Knowing what the Chinese brand could bring to the table, one can easily conclude that it’s a win-win especially to the citizens of Kenya.