From Legacy to Cutting-Edge: Krungsri Bank's Data Transformation

Krungsri Bank, established in 1945, is one of Thailand’s leading retail banks. The bank offers a wide range of products, including deposits, savings, loans, and credit, with a strong focus on applying a customer-first approach.

"Krungsri Bank implemented Cloudera to transform its data and AI strategy, achieving a 5x improvement in system performance, particularly in areas optimized with Cloudera's professional services. This enhancement has enabled better customization of product offerings. The Bank utilized Cloudera’s technologies and professional services to create a unified data lakehouse, enhanced analytics, and support extensive use cases, including self-service business intelligence and fraud detection."

Meeting modern banking demands with comprehensive data collection

Banking has evolved to become more performance-oriented and customer-centric. Modern customers demand tailored products and digital and real-time services and have little patience for traditional, paper-based processes. 

To meet these demands, banks need to respond swiftly, understand customer behavior, and manage vast amounts of data.

Krungsri Bank addressed this challenge by collecting more comprehensive data on its customers, including traditional data like customer profiles and transaction histories, as well as digital footprints from websites, search activities, and social media interactions. 

However, Krungsri Bank’s existing data architecture was difficult to scale, and the technology and support were becoming obsolete. According to Fred Roteseree, Head of Analytics and Data, the bank’s system hindered its ability to manage and analyze data efficiently.

“The rapid growth in our data volume exposed the limitations of our existing system. Managing and analyzing this data became increasingly cumbersome, impacting our ability to deliver a seamless, personalized customer experience,” explains Roteseree. 

With data volume increasing by 20% over two years, from 500TB to 600TB, the bank needed a flexible solution to create a comprehensive view of customers while supporting its growing strategy for Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Tailoring Cloudera to meet Krungsri Bank's unique needs

In response to their growing demand for a flexible and scalable data platform, Krungsri Bank chose to implement Cloudera. This journey began with migrating their applications and jobs to Cloudera, which would serve as a data lakehouse. 

Unlike traditional relational database management systems (RDBMS), Cloudera required different data architecture and design principles. Krungsri Bank had to adapt its applications and workflows to the new platform, making specific design changes rather than simply moving everything as-is.

Krungsri Bank relied on Cloudera’s Professional Services team to undertake this complex migration. 

“Working with Cloudera’s Professional Services team played a pivotal role in our data transformation journey. Their strategic guidance and hands-on support made the migration process smooth and efficient. The training sessions also equipped our employees with the skills needed to maximize the benefits of our new data environment,” shared Roteseree. 

With a unified data lakehouse, Krungsri Bank’s workflows increased drastically but soon hit a saturation point. To optimize its performance, Cloudera Professional Services analyzed the bank’s needs and created a tailored solution. 

This solution used Apache NiFi for data flow management, Hive, and Impala for data processing, and Cloudera Data Science Workbench (CDSW) for advanced analytics. CDSW integrated seamlessly with Cloudera, and the bank maintained the same integration methods for upstream and downstream systems to minimize impact.

Sustaining growth and innovation with advanced data capabilities

Implementing Cloudera, with support from their Professional Services team, has transformed Krungsri Bank’s data and AI strategy. The bank achieved a 500% improvement in system performance, enhanced service level agreements (SLAs), and lowered operating costs. These improvements enabled timely data provision to regulators and better customization of product offerings.

Cloudera has empowered Krungsri Bank to deploy several impactful use cases. They now have a 360-degree view of their commercial customers, allowing for more personalized and effective customer interactions. 

Using Tableau on top of Cloudera, the bank has enabled self-service business intelligence (BI), empowering users to generate their own reports and insights. Additionally, Cloudera’s advanced analytics capabilities have helped the bank detect mule accounts based on transactional behavior, enhancing their ability to prevent fraud.

The adoption of Cloudera has been extensive, with around 60 integrated applications and 700 direct users. Despite an initial learning curve, most users have become familiar with the new system.

“Cloudera has been a catalyst for innovation at Krungsri Bank. By leveraging Cloudera's advanced analytics and data management tools, we have been able to stay ahead of the competition and continuously improve our customer offerings. This has been crucial in maintaining our leadership in the market,” said Roteseree. 

Looking ahead, Krungsri Bank plans to continue optimizing its use of Cloudera. The bank is exploring new technologies, such as Cloudera Iceberg, for more efficient data management and is considering a hybrid cloud approach to further enhance its data strategy. These steps will ensure that Krungsri Bank remains at the forefront of innovation, leveraging Cloudera to drive continued success and growth.