When EBank’s senior leaders formed the plan to expand into retail banking, they knew that to really make an impact on the market, the bank would need to offer the best in 21st century banking. And they knew technology would be key. Mohamed Mostafa Tawfik is the Head of IT for Digital Banking at EBank. He and his team, Ahmed Wehady and Mina Mouneer Shoukry, E-Banking Team Leaders, were responsible for selecting and incorporating the technology that would enable the bank’s expansion strategy. Automating processes to boost internal efficiency was one important goal. Another was more flexible integration between systems. EBank had relied on point-to-point integrations between legacy solutions, and this architecture could not support the agility that new digital services would demand. “One of the cornerstones required in our architecture was a banking-as-a-service integration layer,” explains Tawfik, “so that we could more easily upgrade our core banking capabilities by adding new digital channels and automation services.” Tawfik and team also wanted to containerize their automation and integration solutions. This was a bit of a risk, says Tawfik, because other banks in the region hadn’t yet adopted containerization. But the long-term advantages in flexibility and cost efficiency outweighed the risk. “We knew it was the better approach in terms of availability, scalability and deployments. It would allow for rapid speed-to-market and modification ability,” says Tawifk. “So we decided to be the pioneer.” EBank then issued a request for proposal (RFP) to identify the right technologies and the right partner to help implement them.

When EBank’s senior leaders formed the plan to expand into retail banking, they knew that to really make an impact on the market, the bank would need to offer the best in 21st century banking. And they knew technology would be key. Mohamed Mostafa Tawfik is the Head of IT for Digital Banking at EBank. He and his team, Ahmed Wehady and Mina Mouneer Shoukry, E-Banking Team Leaders, were responsible for selecting and incorporating the technology that would enable the bank’s expansion strategy. Automating processes to boost internal efficiency was one important goal. Another was more flexible integration between systems. EBank had relied on point-to-point integrations between legacy solutions, and this architecture could not support the agility that new digital services would demand. “One of the cornerstones required in our architecture was a banking-as-a-service integration layer,” explains Tawfik, “so that we could more easily upgrade our core banking capabilities by adding new digital channels and automation services.” Tawfik and team also wanted to containerize their automation and integration solutions. This was a bit of a risk, says Tawfik, because other banks in the region hadn’t yet adopted containerization. But the long-term advantages in flexibility and cost efficiency outweighed the risk. “We knew it was the better approach in terms of availability, scalability and deployments. It would allow for rapid speed-to-market and modification ability,” says Tawifk. “So we decided to be the pioneer.” EBank then issued a request for proposal (RFP) to identify the right technologies and the right partner to help implement them.

When EBank’s senior leaders formed the plan to expand into retail banking, they knew that to really make an impact on the market, the bank would need to offer the best in 21st century banking. And they knew technology would be key. Mohamed Mostafa Tawfik is the Head of IT for Digital Banking at EBank. He and his team, Ahmed Wehady and Mina Mouneer Shoukry, E-Banking Team Leaders, were responsible for selecting and incorporating the technology that would enable the bank’s expansion strategy. Automating processes to boost internal efficiency was one important goal. Another was more flexible integration between systems. EBank had relied on point-to-point integrations between legacy solutions, and this architecture could not support the agility that new digital services would demand. “One of the cornerstones required in our architecture was a banking-as-a-service integration layer,” explains Tawfik, “so that we could more easily upgrade our core banking capabilities by adding new digital channels and automation services.” Tawfik and team also wanted to containerize their automation and integration solutions. This was a bit of a risk, says Tawfik, because other banks in the region hadn’t yet adopted containerization. But the long-term advantages in flexibility and cost efficiency outweighed the risk. “We knew it was the better approach in terms of availability, scalability and deployments. It would allow for rapid speed-to-market and modification ability,” says Tawifk. “So we decided to be the pioneer.” EBank then issued a request for proposal (RFP) to identify the right technologies and the right partner to help implement them.