A centralised credit workflow for over a million customers. 10 years of the SMOK system at Kasa Stefczyka
A project in a nutshell
The SMOK project was launched in response to the need to streamline and standardise lending processes at Kasa Stefczyka. Its aim was to reduce customer service times, improve the quality of lending decisions and make advisors’ work easier, whilst maintaining a high level of security and regulatory compliance.
From the outset, the project’s aim was to build a long-term solution that would evolve alongside the organisation. SMOK was therefore designed as a flexible and scalable system, ready to adapt to regulatory and product changes.
Since its production launch in 2016, the system has been continuously developed and adapted to changing business needs. Today, SMOK is a mature platform supporting large-scale credit processes, the result of many years of partnership-based collaboration and consistent development from the moment of implementation to the present day.
INDUSTRY
Banking
PRODUCT
Credit Operations Monitoring System (SMOK)
SERVICES
Analysis, design, implementation and development of the system, including integrations, training, technical support and modernisation.
Our Client
Kasa Stefczyka is the largest institution in Poland’s cooperative savings and credit union sector. It serves hundreds of thousands of customers nationwide, offering financial products to both private individuals and businesses, through both its extensive branch network and remote channels.
Kasa Stefczyka operates in a highly regulated environment, where data security, the efficiency of operational processes and compliance with supervisory requirements are of paramount importance. In this context, stable and scalable IT systems supporting lending processes – developed within a framework of long-term technological cooperation – play a vital role
Challenges
The need to support large-scale credit processes and advanced, complex decision-making models
The need to standardise the sales and customer assessment processes across different channels
Integration with numerous external databases and systems (BIK, business information databases, transaction systems)
The ability to adapt quickly to regulatory and product changes
Mitigating operational and fraud risks
Ensuring a flexible architecture enabling the system’s continued development over many years
How We Helped Our Client
Key Project Elements
01
Business and technological analysis
A joint analysis of Kasa Stefczyka’s lending processes, business needs and existing IT architecture, also taking into account various sales channels and lead management. The aim was to design a solution tailored to the scale of the institution’s operations and its regulatory requirements.
02
Solution architecture design
Development of the SMOK system architecture with an emphasis on flexibility, as well as the potential for further development and integration with external systems, including a growing number of data sources.
03
System development
Building the first version of the SMOK system in just under four months, covering the initial credit process – from the offer and calculation through to application assessment and documentation generation, including elements of automated assessment.
04
Production roll-out
Launch of the system in a production environment within two days, with full operational readiness and the capacity to handle thousands of calculations and loan applications from day one.
05
Long-term functional development and integrations
Systematic expansion to include new functionalities, decision-making algorithms and integrations with external data sources (including PSD2), as well as the development of scoring models and modules supporting product selection – currently comprising around 500 algorithms and 24 integrations.
06
Maintenance, modernisation and the next phase of collaboration
Ongoing maintenance, system development and optimisation, and preparation for the next phase of modernisation following a decade of production operation, carried out as part of a long-term collaboration and a new contract.
The Solution
SMOK is a comprehensive sales and decision-making platform that supports the entire lending process – from preparing the offer and carrying out calculations, through assessing the application, to generating documents and finalising the process. The system operates on the basis of data from Kasa Stefczyka’s central system and information from external sources, including BIK reports, credit information databases (KRD, ERIF), public registers (PESEL, REGON) and transaction data obtained in accordance with PSD2, including via Kontomatik. On this basis, an automated creditworthiness and risk assessment is carried out, supported by decision-making algorithms and anti-fraud mechanisms. SMOK handles both loan applications and sales leads, ensuring a consistent process and uniform customer assessment rules regardless of the channel through which the service is initiated – in a branch or online.
The solution has been built on the VSoft archITekt low-code platform, which offers a high degree of flexibility and customisation. It enables the efficient implementation of changes to process logic, product configurations, decision-making algorithms, forms and documents, as well as the systematic development of the system in response to changing business and regulatory requirements. SMOK’s architecture also allows for its further expansion and integration with additional systems and data sources, supporting the solution’s long-term development. Furthermore, the use of the VSoft archITekt platform enables the client to implement changes and develop the system independently.
Results Achieved by the Client
The effects of the implementation confirmed by the scale
Business continuity and stability
the system provides operational support for credit processes for over a million customers.
High operational
scale
over 50,000 applications processed each month, including around 30,000 new ones.
High quotation
throughput
nearly 450,000 calculations are carried out every month.
Widespread use within the organisation
the system is used by around 1,500 users on a daily basis.
Key findings
The long-term development of the SMOK system confirms that the greatest value of long-term technology projects lies in consistently building cooperation based on an understanding of the business, flexibility and a willingness to grow together. It is precisely this approach that enables the creation of solutions which not only meet the organisation’s current needs, but also mature alongside it over the years. A system designed with a long-term perspective in mind can effectively support an organisation for many years, whilst maintaining stability, scalability and compliance with a rapidly changing regulatory environment.
Next stage of collaboration
The continuous development of the SMOK system since 2016 demonstrates that well-designed solutions do not end at the implementation stage, but become the foundation for the organisation’s further development. Today, SMOK is a mature platform, consistently developed in collaboration with Kasa Stefczyka in response to real business needs and changing operating conditions. The signing of another long-term agreement marks the start of a new, natural phase of cooperation, encompassing the further development and modernisation of the system, carried out on the basis of a proven partnership model.
Client perspective
“Looking back over the years, it is clear that the greatest value of the SMOK project lay not in a one-off implementation, but in consistent collaboration. The system evolved alongside the organisation, responding to changes in scale, regulations and business needs. Only such an approach allows us to build a solution that genuinely supports the institution for many years to come. On this 10th anniversary, we are now processing not just a few, but tens of thousands of quote calculations a day, and the number of bulk operations reaches as high as hundreds of thousands.”
Jarosław Dębowski, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, Director of Technology and Operations, Kasa Stefczyka
“Ten years of collaboration is not just about joint projects – it’s about daily contact, responding swiftly to challenges and mutual understanding at every stage of the system’s development. Thanks to this, we can be sure that SMOK meets the real needs of our clients and users, and that every new initiative is successfully seen through to completion in a spirit of partnership and dialogue. Today, we have a thorough understanding of each other’s needs and ways of working – and it is precisely this relationship that enables us to operate effectively even in the most difficult situations.”
Paweł Królewicz, Head of the Credit Process Systems Department, Kasa Stefczyka
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