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10 May 2022 – Articles

Danske Bank strengthening its IT platform to accelerate the development of tomorrow’s innovative solutions

First, we transformed our approach to development – from hierarchical departments to dynamic units with a mandate to decide how we deliver the best customer solutions. Now, we want to ensure our IT platform is fully up to speed. Greater use of APIs, cloud technology and better use of data are among the methods employed.




Less complexity and greater speed and dynamism.

That was the essence of the ‘palace coup’ that swept through Danske Bank’s development organisation in 2021. And these are also the elements behind the transformation ‘Turn to New Tech’, which aims to make the bank faster to adopt and exploit new technology and also strengthen the bank’s IT platform.  
 
“Turn to New Tech and our agile way of working should speed up our production of innovative customer solutions. Moreover, we expect our solutions will be even easier to use and that we will have happier employees, as they will enjoy a level of autonomy that makes going to work more fun,” says Bo Svejstrup, CTO and transformation lead.

  

Turn to New Tech and our agile way of working should speed up our production of innovative customer solutions. Moreover, we expect our solutions will be even easier to use and that we will have happier employees.

Bo Svejstrup

CTO, Danske Bank



More time to solutions that benefit the customer
Over the past many years, our development departments have been very focused on maintaining systems and complying with a multitude of security and legal requirements. However, by strengthening our platform, this important aspect of the work should become less time-consuming. The time saved will be spent on increasing the bank’s commercial focus and letting developers dedicate more of their time to solutions that benefit our customers and create a better bank.

The principles underpinning Turn to New Tech are thus an element in our goal of becoming a ‘better bank’ for customers, investors, employees and society generally going forward to 2023.
 

Previously, we spent around 25 per cent of our time on working strategically – in other words, developing better solutions for colleagues, but developers are now spending as much as 62 per cent of their time on this.

Anders Mikkelsen

IT lead for the finance tribe, Danske Bank



Significant results among internal frontrunners 
Over the past couple of years, the bank has been working with the various principles in selected units, and the results have been significant. One such unit has been the bank’s ‘Finance Tribe’, which is responsible for the internal systems that manage and control the bank’s finances.

“We have saved a great deal of time by working according to the principles behind Turn to New Tech. Previously, we spent around 25 per cent of our time on working strategically – in other words, developing better solutions for colleagues, but developers are now spending as much as 62 per cent of their time on this. Furthermore, we are now faster at getting the new systems up and running,” says IT lead in the Finance Tribe, Anders Mikkelsen. 

He explains further: “We have automated a great many manual steps in the development process, so developers can focus on writing code and the rest they need only do once. Move code, implement code, carry out checks and controls, handover – all these steps run automatically. Developers have also been given a number of new tools – so we can now do things faster too.”

This means the bank has been able to say goodbye to several old systems and hello to new technology. 

“One of the results of all this is that we can control the bank’s liquidity and risks more precisely, as we can now make better and faster calculations and produce reports in real time, not a week later. Previously, our systems were like looking in the rear-view mirror. Because of Turn to new Tech, we now look out the front windscreen instead,” says Anders Mikkelsen.

The plan is for all the Group’s 4,500 software engineers, analysts and business developers to work in accordance with the new principles going forward.


The four principles behind Turn to New Tech  

  1. Use APIs  
    API (application programming interface) is a form of software that can facilitate communication and the exchange of information between different  IT systems and programmes. APIs could perhaps be compared to a solution that allows you to link Brio and Lego trains. APIs enable us to build up our IT architecture in modules and so construct a platform that is easier to alter and with fewer dependencies. 

  2. Choose cloud technology 
    Going forward, we at Danske Bank will use more public cloud, i.e. cloud technology where we use solutions from major providers, such as AWS (Amazon Web Services). This grants us access to the latest innovations – without having to reinvent the wheel ourselves each time.  

  3. Use data better  
     ‘Use data better’ is about accessibility and quality. Data should be accessible, you should be able to find it, and it should be correct and comprehensive. Those who sit with the right knowledge should be the natural owners and have the opportunity to make it available to others. And the others should know where it can be found.  

  4. Incorporate security as part of the design 
    By incorporating security early on, you minimise the need for subsequent controls and follow up, and so save a lot of time. Having one wall around the bank is not enough – everything should have security embedded in it.