Selected Experience

VODIS is built on more than 25 years of technology, transformation and business leadership experience across banking, financial services and complex enterprise environments.

The examples below represent selected programmes led or coordinated by the VODIS founder in prior senior management and executive roles, before the creation of VODIS.

Client identities are intentionally anonymised where appropriate.

They illustrate experience spanning business transformation, technology, software, cybersecurity, automation, infrastructure and business growth — and the type of complex environments in which VODIS can now bring senior leadership, governance and execution together.

All
Infrastructure
Transformation
Operating Model & Organisation
Greenfield
Digital & Software
Banking Platforms
Cybersecurity
Automation
Business Growth

Infrastructure & Resilience

Mission-Critical Financial Services Data Centre Consolidation & Relocation

Context

Large universal bank within a major French banking group.

Challenge

Consolidate technology infrastructure previously distributed across multiple locations into a new enterprise-grade Data Centre while preserving uninterrupted day-to-day banking and financial-services operations.

The new environment followed a group-level Data Centre model inspired by architecture and operational standards used by the parent banking group in France.

Contribution

Coordination of the consolidation and relocation of a major Financial Services Data Centre supporting Retail Banking, Consumer Finance, Leasing, Brokerage and related financial-services activities.

The programme covered large-scale critical infrastructure, enterprise storage, communications, network services, service dependencies, Core Business Applications, Service Management Applications, end-user workplace environments and the technology and operational dependencies between them.

The migration and consolidation were executed while day-to-day business and banking operations continued without interruption.

Complexity included

consolidation of infrastructure from multiple locations
mission-critical banking workloads
enterprise Data Centre infrastructure
enterprise storage migration and restoration
communications migration
network dependencies
Core Business Applications
Service Management Applications
user workplace environments
subsidiaries and related financial-services entities across Eastern Europe, West Africa and Asia
tightly controlled migration windows
continuous banking operations
cross-entity coordination

Outcome

Critical technology and business services were successfully consolidated into the new centralised Data Centre environment while maintaining operational continuity and creating a more controlled, resilient and standardised infrastructure foundation.

Business & Technology Transformation

Bank-Wide Retail Banking & Technology Transformation Program

Context

Large universal retail bank undergoing a major multi-year business and technology transformation programme.

Challenge

Transform the bank’s operating and technology capabilities in order to support accelerated business growth, digitalisation, organisational change and large-scale modernisation.

Programme scale

Approximately five years, with an overall transformation investment of several hundred million euros.

Contribution

Coordination of a five-year retail-banking business and technology transformation programme representing several hundred million euros of investment, as part of a wider bank-wide change effort involving many contributors and stakeholders across the organisation.

The programme covered strategy definition and implementation, organisational redesign, resource and capability expansion, operating-model improvement, business-process mapping and optimisation, enterprise-architecture mapping and modernisation, digital-channel and critical enterprise-platform modernisation, project and programme governance, PM organisation evolution, IT organisation reorganisation and IT capability development.

Transformation scope included

business strategy execution
organisation and resource scaling
operating-model evolution
end-to-end business-process mapping
process optimisation
Enterprise Architecture
retail customer onboarding
corporate customer onboarding
CRM
ERP
Core Treasury
Cards
Payments
ATM infrastructure
POS infrastructure
B2B channels
mobile banking
online banking
project management
programme management
technology organisation redesign
technology delivery capability expansion
infrastructure evolution
architecture modernisation
emerging-technology experimentation

Platform initiatives within the programme followed the full lifecycle from business need and requirements through specifications, selection criteria, evaluation, vendor selection and contracting into architecture, implementation and migration.

Outcome

The IT Division evolved from being a significant delivery bottleneck into a major enabler of business growth, agility and scalable change.

Its organisational capacity, technology capability, delivery speed and ability to scale were materially increased, enabling the bank to support a significantly broader and faster flow of business transformation and digital-modernisation initiatives.

Operating Model & Organisation

Enterprise Functions Setup & Reorganisation

Context

Multiple banking, consumer-finance and financial-services environments.

Challenge

Build, develop or reorganise technology, operational and supporting business functions capable of sustaining business growth, regulatory requirements, stronger governance and increasingly complex operations.

Contribution

Across different organisations and senior-management and executive roles, set up, developed and reorganised multiple organisational functions.

Functions included

IT
Cybersecurity
Information Security
Project Management
PMO
Organisation
Process Management
General Services
Procurement
Facilities and Workplace Management
Fleet Management
Operations
Business Back Office
Call Centre
Payments
Quality Management
Customer Care
Complaints Management
Cost Control
Bancassurance

The work included

organisation design
operating-model design
role definition
responsibility definition
governance
staffing
capability development
resource scaling
process definition
process mapping
process redesign
process optimisation
performance management
control mechanisms
integration with the wider organisational operating model

Outcome

Built or strengthened scalable organisational capabilities with clearer ownership, governance, processes and management structures, enabling the organisations to support business growth, regulatory requirements, service quality and stronger operational control.

Greenfield & Regulated Start-Ups

Start-up Consumer-Finance Institution & Cross-Border Technology Platform

Context

New regulated consumer-finance institution established within a major European banking group.

Challenge

Create, obtain regulatory authorisation for and rapidly scale a new consumer-finance business while establishing its technology, infrastructure, supporting functions and operating capability across a regional European environment.

Contribution

Coordination of technology and supporting business functions across the creation and subsequent scaling of the institution.

Responsibilities included

Technology
General Services
premises and operating infrastructure
Data Centre services
communications
physical security
information and technology security
core banking
surrounding banking applications
collections
general ledger
virtualisation
supplier management
procurement
technology cost management
General Services cost management
operational-support capability
international group technology coordination

Platform and supplier decisions ran through requirements definition, selection criteria, evaluation and vendor selection into contracting, implementation and operational transition.

Regional environment

Romania, Hungary, Austria, Italy and Germany, with the principal Data Centre hosted in Germany.

Business development and outcome

The institution reached operational break-even within approximately three years, during the global financial crisis.

This was achieved while simultaneously supporting rapid business development and growth and implementing substantial direct cost optimisation within Technology and General Services.

The Technology and General Services organisation delivered more than EUR 1 million per year in recurring annual savings within its own area of responsibility. Within that total, more than EUR 500,000 per year came from Data Centre hosting optimisation alone, with additional savings delivered across other IT and General Services cost areas.

These figures refer to savings delivered directly within Technology and General Services, and do not include cost reductions achieved elsewhere in the business.

Greenfield Card Payments Institution — Technology & Regulatory Launch

Context

Creation of a new regulated card-payments institution in a European financial-services environment.

Challenge

Build a regulated payments business from concept through organisational design, technology implementation, operating-model setup and regulatory authorisation.

Contribution

Coordination of regulatory documentation preparation, negotiation and progression through the approval process, organisational design, project and programme management, technology and supporting business functions across the full setup of the institution.

Scope included

business feasibility
market analysis
regulatory documentation preparation
regulatory documentation coordination
negotiation during the authorisation process
progression through the regulatory approval process
organisational design
project-management setup
programme coordination
business-process definition
technology architecture
card-platform selection
payment-platform selection
requirements definition
specifications
solution evaluation
vendor selection
implementation
infrastructure
cybersecurity
security controls
operational controls
supporting business functions
supplier coordination
operational-readiness preparation

Outcome

The new card-payments institution progressed from business concept and feasibility through organisational design, technology implementation, regulatory preparation and operational readiness, establishing the foundations required for launch.

Digital & Software

Digital Credit Onboarding & Remote Contracting

Context

Major European banking-group environment.

Challenge

Digitise an end-to-end consumer-credit onboarding process traditionally dependent on physical interaction, manual documentation and branch-based contracting.

Contribution

Technology and programme leadership for the design and implementation of a digital onboarding capability.

The capability connected

customer onboarding
customer-data collection
credit application workflow
eligibility and decision-support steps
document generation
remote documentation
remote signing
application integration
security
control requirements
operational handover

Outcome

One of the earliest implementations of this type within the wider European banking group. The initiative enabled a substantially more digital credit-origination journey and established a foundation for remote onboarding and contracting.

Regional Multi-Country Mobile Banking Redesign

Context

Major European banking group.

Challenge

Redesign a regional mobile-banking platform where the core challenge was substantially architectural, involving platform evolution, integration and multi-country requirements.

Contribution

Led and shaped the successful bid for the regional engagement, combining architecture, software and digital-banking understanding, solution positioning, the commercial proposal, the delivery model and cross-border coordination.

Outcome

The engagement required translating a complex architectural problem into a credible regional solution and delivery approach capable of serving multiple countries. The bid was successfully won and converted into a regional mobile-banking redesign engagement.

Banking Platforms

Core Banking & Enterprise Platforms Transformation

Context

Multiple banking and financial-services organisations undergoing technology modernisation, platform replacement and business transformation.

Contribution

Led or coordinated the full lifecycle of major banking and enterprise-platform initiatives — from business requirements, specifications and procurement strategy through evaluation, vendor selection, architecture, contracting, implementation, redesign and migration.

Technology domains included

Core Banking
ERP
CRM
Payments
SWIFT and financial messaging
Treasury and Core Treasury
Risk Management
SAS-based and other risk-management platforms
Cards
Digital Banking
Collections
General Ledger
integration platforms and middleware
enterprise infrastructure where directly related

Procurement and selection lifecycle

business requirements definition
technical requirements definition
functional specifications
non-functional specifications
RFI preparation where applicable
RFP preparation where applicable
selection-criteria definition
technical evaluation criteria
functional evaluation criteria
commercial evaluation criteria
procurement-process design
procurement-process redesign where needed
evaluation-process design
market analysis
technology and solution analysis
vendor analysis
technical evaluation
functional evaluation
architecture evaluation
integration evaluation
total-cost assessment
commercial assessment
comparative scoring
solution shortlisting
vendor shortlisting
vendor selection
commercial negotiation support
contract negotiation support
architecture design
integration design
implementation governance
platform migration
data migration
legacy-platform replacement
multi-vendor delivery
cross-border delivery teams
regulatory requirements
operational requirements
business continuity

Outcome

Repeated modernisation of critical banking and enterprise platforms across different institutions, connecting business requirements, procurement, technology selection, architecture, implementation and migration while maintaining operational continuity.

Cross-Border Core Banking Transformation

Context

Specialised financial institution within a major Austrian banking group.

Challenge

The existing core-banking platform supplied through the international group environment increasingly constrained the speed of local product development and business evolution.

Contribution

Led and coordinated the transition from an ageing international IBM / DB2-based core-banking platform to a modern and more adaptable solution capable of supporting the speed and flexibility required by the business.

Project lifecycle included

business requirements
technology requirements
functional specifications
non-functional requirements
solution evaluation
selection criteria
vendor and solution assessment
vendor selection
architecture
integration
migration
implementation governance
data migration
operational transition

Complexity included

Romanian teams
German teams
IBM infrastructure
DB2 legacy environment
core-banking replacement
general-ledger integration
surrounding financial-system integration
international shareholder environment
operational continuity

Outcome

Increased local business agility and control over product development, release cycles and future change, enabling the institution to respond faster to market and customer needs.

Cybersecurity

Banking SOC & Cybersecurity Capability Development

Context

Multiple banking environments requiring stronger operational cybersecurity capability.

Contribution

Supported the creation and development of Security Operations Centre capabilities across two banking environments, connecting monitoring, technology, security operations, incident processes, governance, organisational capability and operational coordination.

Additional cybersecurity experience included the implementation of Secure SDLC processes in a banking software development environment, cybersecurity incident containment and web-environment protection, and security architecture and control implementation.

Outcome

Cybersecurity capability evolved from individual controls and technical tools towards more structured operational monitoring and governance.

Automation

Enterprise Workload & Process Automation

Context

Large banking and financial-services environments with high-volume, business-critical operational processing.

Contribution

Led or coordinated automation initiatives spanning enterprise workload management, operational processes and later robotic process automation.

Technologies and approaches

Control-M
Automix
RPA
enterprise workload scheduling
business process automation

Outcome

Reduced manual intervention and increased repeatability, operational consistency and scalability across critical banking processes.

Business Growth

Regional Delivery Centre Diversification & Growth

Context

Regional technology-services operation within a global IT-services organisation.

Challenge

The operation was strongly concentrated around one major automotive client and one dominant delivery domain and technology relationship. The local organisation was perceived to a significant extent through the identity and needs of that client rather than as a broader multi-client technology-services capability.

Contribution

Helped develop and reposition the operation towards a broader technology and customer portfolio.

The work included

business development
customer diversification
service-portfolio expansion
new enterprise opportunities
development of additional technology capability
introduction and expansion of services including SAP
regional stakeholder relationships
positioning the delivery centre as a broader organisational capability

Outcome

The operation evolved towards a more diversified customer and service portfolio, reducing single-client concentration and expanding the range of technologies and services offered.

Eastern European Technology Business Development

Context

Regional enterprise technology and services market, covering Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine.

Contribution

Business-development activity involving enterprise customers, regional stakeholders, local institutions and public-sector relationships where relevant, together with opportunity identification, customer engagement, technology and service positioning, and international delivery coordination.

Outcome

Development of regional commercial opportunities and relationships, connecting technology capability with new markets, customers and local business requirements.