Ikano Bank AB is part of the international Ikano Group and operates in the areas of banking and financial services, insurance, real estate and housing development, industry and more.
Peter Carlsson, Head of Operations Services
“At least outside Sweden, not many people know that Ikano Bank was started by Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad,” says Peter Carlsson, Head of Operations Services.
Ikano Bank serves both private individuals and companies and offers private loans, credit cards and savings accounts, as well as factoring, corporate leasing and sales financing. The Nordic head office is located in Hyllie in Malmö, close to the Öresund Bridge and the continent.
A longstanding and close collaboration based on great confidence
Ikano Bank and PostNord Strålfors have successfully worked together for more than 20 years.
In the past, the services provided to Ikano Bank mostly related to physical communication channels, but today they focus on enabling Ikano Bank to have digital and personal communication with customers while still maintaining a high-quality customer experience.
“A long-term relationship with a customer that develops into a partnership over time, and involves mutual understanding and trust. We hope and believe that as a supplier, we create the best conditions for Ikano Bank to succeed with its digitalization strategy,” says Mia Jansson, Nordic KAM at PostNord Strålfors.
The world is changing fast; it’s full speed ahead out there. That’s why we need a strong partner with whom we can develop and have a close relationship.
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Optimized flows both physically and digitally
Lasse Bengtsson, Output Manager at Ikano BankLasse Bengtsson works as an Output Manager for Ikano Bank’s Nordic market. He is responsible for streamlining the bank’s processes, reducing the amount of paper printouts both internally and externally, and performing the digital migration.
“It has been a long journey that started back in 1995 and that affects several departments in our organization,” says Lasse Bengtsson.
Ikano Bank has started communicating via digital mailboxes, optimizing physical flows, increasing the pace of electronic invoicing and archiving all communication digitally, so that it is easily accessible via My Pages and other apps that are developed.
“PostNord Strålfors has numerous solutions that help us, such as Access Interactive, eArchive and We Mail. These allow us to send electronic invoices and use digital mailboxes, such as Kivra in Sweden, Digipost in Norway and Omaposti in Finland,” says Lasse Bengtsson.
Thanks to the partnership with PostNord Strålfors, Ikano Bank thus gets the resources and tools it needs to move away from legacy systems. The focus of all the development work is to maintain the good customer experience, and pursue a shift from manual management to more digital processes.
Digitalization provides greater relevance
“Our ultimate goal is always to become more accessible to customers,” says Peter Carlsson at Ikano Bank, who continues,
“The world is changing fast; it’s full speed ahead out there. We therefore need a strong partner with whom we can develop and have a close relationship.”
Mia Jansson at PostNord Strålfors points out the importance of cultivating good relationships but not stagnating in these as a supplier.
“Then you would probably become irrelevant in the future. It takes courage to let go of safe options that have worked well in the past, and to have confidence in your partner when you take the next step.”
Nordic agreement with local variations
“Ikano Bank and PostNord Strålfors have a Nordic agreement with a clear governance model. This means that the solutions are optimized at the Nordic level wherever possible, but that each country has local points of contact between sellers and customers, as well as the option to implement services and solutions that are local in nature.”
Examples of this are the digital mailboxes in Sweden, Norway and Finland and an ongoing dialogue about payment solutions in Denmark.
With PostNord Strålfors, we have a partner with which we are very pleased to be making this journey, based on our mutual trust and good collaboration. A partner for everything,” says Lasse Bengtsson.
Savings in several areas
The omnichannel solution has led to both time and cost savings and also contributes to Ikano Bank’s sustainability efforts.
Stefan Karlsson, Sustainability Project Manager, Ikano Bank AB“Digitalization creates new opportunities and helps us to become more efficient, improve the service we provide to customers and reduce our environmental impact,” says Stefan Karlsson, Sustainability Project Manager at Ikano Bank AB.
There are several aspects of digitalization that go beyond simply reducing paper volumes for mailings. Among other things, Ikano Bank believes it can make additional savings in the form of space in the archiving process as a result of the switch from physical to digital storage.
“In the future, we will also be able to identify documents more easily and more efficiently than before. Information that we normally send out in physical form can now be made available in a simpler way in our digital channels whenever the customer needs it,” says Stefan Karlsson.
Ikano Bank is focusing on, among other things, energy use when it makes its business more digital.
“We work to ensure renewable energy throughout the flow chain. Here we see that we will learn more and more during the journey and be able to identify new areas that will help us become even more efficient and offer even better customer service while reducing our environmental impact.”
Reduced paper consumption
Ikano Bank has collected base data, such as consumption figures for water, energy, heating/cooling, and paper, from 2018 and onwards.
“We use the data to understand and set the right priorities going forward,” says Stefan Karlsson. For example, we reduced our internal paper consumption by 7.1 tonnes between 2018 and 2020.
“Sustainability is an important issue for all of us and we believe we have an important role and can influence the development toward the more sustainable society that we all want to be part of and are working together to achieve,” says Stefan Karlsson.
Simplified customer service
Andrea Flygare at Ikano Bank in Malmö is a Team Manager for Customer Operations in Norway. She says that the customer service team uses Strålfors every day, as customer invoices can easily be accessed via the electronic archive.
“We can also send invoices via Digipost and via email to our Coop customers. This is a great improvement,” says Andrea Flygare.
Andrea Flygare (right), Team Manager for Customer Operations in Norway.
A partner for all communication needs
At Ikano Bank, everyone agrees that the future looks bright. The business is on an exciting journey of digitalization with a clear customer focus.
“With PostNord Strålfors, we have a partner with which we are very pleased to be making this journey, based on our mutual trust and good collaboration. A partner for everything,” says Lasse Bengtsson.
Do you, like Ikano Bank, need to be able to communicate with your customers in omnichannel? With us as a digital partner, you can let your customers decide. Contact us if you want help getting started.
