Sitecore helps largest UAE bank transform digital performance and CX

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), formed from the merger of National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank, is the largest bank in UAE. It offers deposits, personal loans, e-banking, trade finance, foreign exchange, and other banking services to a wide range of customers. The bank’s digital channels and services are central to ensuring customers are provided with relevant content and efficient experiences.

FAB is a long-standing advocate of Sitecore technology having used it as the foundation for the bank’s enterprise web CMS for several years. But as customers demanded more sophisticated and flexible services and the bank moved more of its systems and service to the cloud, FAB needed a new platform fit for the future. The existing solution was nearing end of life, was becoming costly and difficult to maintain, and lacked some of the functions needed to support a cloud-first environment and services.

FAB upgraded its Sitecore platform to Sitecore Experience Platform v10.1 and introduced several additional Sitecore solutions including Sitecore Experience Manager, Sitecore Content Hub as a managed cloud, and PaaS deployment on Microsoft Azure. Hosting Sitecore in the cloud improves coding and website feature development by 30%. Managed by FAB with support from Sitecore Services, FAB had to ensure the new platform met both internal and external financial security regulations and compliance.

In 17 months, and after a considerable amount of technology and aesthetic redesign, FAB moved its six separate business websites to the single, cloud-based Sitecore platform. The websites include personal and corporate banking sites and FAB real-estate entities - www.bankfab.com, www.fabcapital.com, www.dubaifirst.com, www.growstronger.com, www.fabproperties.ae and www.mismak.ae. Using the latest version of Sitecore meant FAB could implement headless architecture to enable a single source of content for any digital channel or service.

When customers engage with FAB, websites and digital services are faster, easier to use, and offer more relevant and consistent content, enabling them to make better financial decisions. By moving most of its banking systems and applications to the cloud and using Sitecore as a single, integrated platform, FAB has achieved significant cost savings and reduction in management and maintenance time needed to run on-premises IT.

The single source and ease of use capabilities of Sitecore mean business teams can manage websites and post content without the need for technical support. Deploying new services and website features is 25% faster. Sitecore has helped FAB increase overall user productivity by 30%. Content team operations are even better with a 50% improvement in productivity. By reducing complexity and need for technical intervention, the bank has cut time to market for new services by 25%.