Jeremy Kraner - Advantage WaMu

Source:  Advantage WaMu:  The Check Isn't In the Mail

J Nicholas Hoover, InformationWeek; 9/17/2007 Issue 1154, p71-72, 2p

This article discusses and examines how a strong emphasis on IT development has allowed Washington Mutual, otherwise known as WaMu, to become one of the most successful banks in the country.  Having one a large number of awards for applying newer forms of IT to make online banking easier for consumers, WaMu is often times used as a model for how other banks can improve their IT.  Whereas, however, most banks have complicated views of e-commerce, WaMu takes a far more simple approach when attracting consumers.

The article also examined WaMu's Enterprise Decision Engine, a group of systems used to determine if a customer should get a loan, and if so, for how much.  This engine is built upon six different systems that calculate everything from credit scores, risks, to appropriate lines of credit.  It then compounds all of this information onto one single platform.  Since the implementation of this engine, loan decisions have been made far more quickly and consistently.  This is because all decisions are based upon the same credit risk information instead of other methods that often relied upon human intuition.  Before, where a decision could take anywhere from weeks to over a month, now a small business loan decision can be made in as little as 16 seconds.  This is all due to the Enterprise Decision Engine.

Unlike many other banks, WaMu is always looking to upgrade and overhaul its website in order to better attract consumers.  Whereas other banks are more hesitant to change their websites, WaMu is always trying to make their more easily accessible and navigated.  For instance, just two years after the previous website overhaul, WaMu is planning for yet another overhaul.  When asked as to why another overhaul was planned so quickly, especially in the light of all the recent awards, WaMu's director of e-commerce was quick to comment "Well, that's innovation".  One of the more popular "innovations" recently implement was a blog run by Stephen Rotella, chief operating officer of the bank, which received over 4500 replies in its first four months of operation.  This is all made even more impressive by the fact that the e-commerce team is made up of just over 200 employees, which is noticeably smaller than some of its competitors.  

Overall, I found myself very interested and impressed in the steps taken by WaMu to improve their IT.  These days, more and more banks are far more concerned with spending money on appearance and prestige as opposed to focusing more of their funds on advancing their technology and making it easier for consumers to access the banks features.  However, WaMu seems to be more focused on making online banking far simpler and allowing its customers greater freedom.  I believe more banks should follow WaMu's lead by pushing the envelope a bit more instead of relying on older technologies to carry them through an ever changing online community.  Maybe then, other banks wouldn't have to try so hard for their e-commerce to be like WaMu.