Project SOAR: Transforming Retail Banking Deposit Services Through Process Simplification and Automation

Overview

As part of its Retail Banking transformation agenda, a retail bank embarked on Project SOAR, a strategic process automation initiative designed to simplify, standardize and digitize the way deposit products and their associated lifecycle services are managed.

The initiative addressed a highly complex operating environment in which approximately 35 deposit products and more than 60 lifecycle events created significant process variation and manual effort across client facing and operational teams.

Project SOAR introduced a single Employee Service Portal and redesigned the un derlying service model around a simplified set of deposit products and lifecycle journeys. Through a combination of process rationalization, journey redesign, workflow automation and technology enablement, the initiative consolidated the deposit portfolio to seven core products and streamlined more than 60 lifecycle events into three principal service journeys: Opening, Modification and Closure.

The transformation created a more intuitive operating model for employees while establishing a scalable foundatio n for extending automation across additional products, client segments and service journeys.

Business Challenge

Retail Banking operations were managing a broad and increasingly complex range of deposit products and lifecycle events.

With approximately 35 deposit products and more than 60 lifecycle events associated with these products, teams were required to navigate multiple processes, hand-offs and service variations. This created operational complexity for both client-facing employees and back-office teams.

Key challenges included:

• A fragmented deposit product landscape with significant process variation.
• Multiple lifecycle events requiring different operational procedures.
• High levels of manual intervention and administrative effort.
• Process hand offs between client facing and operational teams.
• Limited standardization across deposit servicing journeys.
• Opportunities to improve data capture, workflow visibility and process control.
• A need to provide employees with a simpler and more intuitive way to ini tiate and manage deposit services.

The challenge was therefore not simply to automate existing processes, but to simplify the operating model first and then use technology to enable the redesigned experience.

Project Objective

Project SOAR was established to transform the end-to-end deposit servicing experience by combining process rationalization, standardization, user-journey redesign and automation.

The key objectives were to:

• Simplify the deposit product landscape by rationalizing products into a manageable set of core offerings.
• Standardize lifecycle services around three primary journeys:
  • Deposit Opening
  • Deposit Modification
  • Deposit Closure
• Digitize and automate key deposit journeys through a centralized Employee Service Portal.
• Reduce manual effort and operational hand-offs, enabling employees to focus more time on client service and strategic priorities.
• Improve the employee experience through simpler, more intuitive service journeys.
• Strengthen data quality and workflow management through structured digital processes.
• Create a scalable transformation platform that could subsequently be extended to additional products, client segments and service journeys.

Project Management Approach

Project SOAR was managed as a business led transfor mation initiative, bringing together business stakeholders, operational teams, technology teams and project delivery resources around a common transformation objective.
The project management approach focused on five core principles:

1. Business-led transformation

The initiative began with an assessment of the existing product and service landscape rather than immediately automating individual processes.

This enabled the project team to distinguish between processes that required automation and processes that first required simplification or standardization.

2. Process rationalization before automation

A key principle was to simplify before digitizing.

The original portfolio of approximately 35 deposit products was rationalized into seven core products, while the extensive lifecycle-event landscape was streamlined into three principal service journeys.

This ensured that technology was applied to a cleaner and more sustainable operating model.

3. Cross-functional collaboration

The project required close collaboration between:

• Retail Banking
• Client-facing teams
• Operations
• Technology
• Product and process stakeholders
• Risk and compliance stakeholders
• Project and delivery teams

Regular stakeholder engagement and iterative reviews helped align business requirements, user journeys and technology implementation.

4. User-centric design

The Employee Portal was designed around the needs of the employees who would use it.

The project team reviewed user journeys, identified unnecessary process complexity and translated business requirements into simplified digital workflows.

This approach helped ensure that automation addressed the real operational experience rather than simply digitizing existing manual steps.

5. Structured governance and change management

The transform ation was supported by structured requirements gathering, stakeholder reviews, validation of redesigned journeys, training for identified user groups and post-go-live feedback.

This helped create organizational readiness alongside the technology implementation.

Delivery Methodology

Project SOAR followed an iterative, Agile oriented delivery approach, enabling the team to progressively refine business requirements, user journeys and automation capabilities.

The delivery model can be summarized as:

Discover → Rationalize → Standardize → Redesign → Automate → Validate → Launch → Enhance

Discover

The existing deposit products, services and lifecycle events were assessed to identify operational complexity, duplication, manual effort and opportunities for improvement.

Rationalize

The deposit product landscape was consolidated from approximately 35 products to seven core products, creating a more manageable portfolio for both employees and operations.

Standardize

More than 60 lifecycle events were reviewed and consolidated into three principal service journeys:
Opening | Modification | Closure

Redesign

Simplified user journeys were created to provide employees with a more intuitive way to initiate and manage deposit services.

The redesigned experience established a single portal-based entry point rather than requiring employees to navigate multiple service processes.

Automate

Key term-deposit journeys were automated through the Employee Portal, reducing reliance on manual processing and enabling more structured workflow management.

Validate

The redesigned journeys were reviewed iteratively with business and operational stakeholders to validate usability, data requirements, process controls and business rules.

Launch

The Employee Portal and automated term-deposit journeys were introduced as a significant
milestone within a leading retail bank’s broader Retail Banking transformation agenda.

Training was provided to identified user groups, with post-launch feedback incorporated into subsequent iterations.

Enhance

The architecture and operating model established through Project SOAR provide a foundation for extending automation to additional client segments, products and service journeys.

Outcomes and Impact

Project SOAR delivered a fundamental shift in how deposit services are structured and managed within Retail Banking.

Simplified product landscape

The deposit portfolio was rationalized from approximately 35 products to seven core products, significantly reducing product complexity for employees and operational teams.

Streamlined service journeys

More than 60 lifecycle events were consolidated into three primary journeys – Opening, Modification and Closure.

This created a clearer and more consistent service model across deposit servicing.

Digital employee experience

The introduction of a single Employee Service Portal provided employees with a centralized and more intuitive mechanism for accessing deposit services.

Reduced manual effort

Automation of key term-deposit journeys reduced dependency on manual processing and repetitive operational activities, creating opportunities for teams to redirect capacity toward higher-value activities and strategic priorities.

Improved client journey

By simplifying the internal servicing model, Project SOAR created the foundation for a more consistent and efficient experience for clients interacting with Retail Banking teams.

Stronger operational foundation

Standardized workflows and structured data capture provide a stronger foundation for workflow visibility, analytics, process governance and continuous improvement.

Strategic alignment

The initiative directly supports the bank’s broader strategic priorities across:

• Growth
• Client Experience
• Employee Experience
• Operational Excellence
• Technology
• Data & Analytics
• Risk Management

Scalable transformation platform

Perhaps most importantly, Project SOAR established a repeatable model for transformation beyond the initial deposit journeys.

The approach can be extended to additional products, client segments and service journeys, allowing the organization to build on the capabilities established through the initial implementation.

Key Enablers

Several factors were critical to the success of Project SOAR.

Executive sponsorship

Strong leadership support provided clear strategic direction and reinforced the importance of the transformation across the organization.

Business and technology partnership

Close collaboration between business and technology teams ensured that the solution addressed both operational requirements and user needs.

Process simplification

The decision to rationalize and standardize processes before automating them was a critical enabler. This prevented the digitization of unnecessary complexity and created a cleaner foundation for automation.

Employee-centric design

Designing the solution around employee journeys helped translate complex operational requirements into simpler and more intuitive workflows.

Agile and iterative delivery

Iterative reviews enabled requirements, journeys and automation capabilities to evolve based on stakeholder feedback and emerging insights.

Change management and training

Training identified user groups and gathering feedback following launch helped support adoption and establish a continuous-improvement mindset.

Data and workflow enablement

Structured digital workflows created opportunities to improve data capture, process transparency, workflow management and future analytics capabilities.

Conclusion

Project SOAR demonstrates how process transformation, technology and people can come together to deliver meaningful operational change.

Rather than simply automating existing processes, the leading retail bank first challenged the complexity of its deposit operating model – rationalizing products, standardizing lifecycle journeys and redesigning the employee experience. Technology was then applied to enable the simplified model through a centralized Employee Service Portal and automated deposit journeys.