Arquia Banca was founded in 1983 to cover the financial needs of architects, but over the years, it has evolved and expanded its business model to include other professional groups, such as lawyers, engineers, economists and doctors. In short, Arquia Banca is a professional financial institution that was founded to cover the specific savings and credit needs of professionals, self-employed workers and companies. Arquia Banca offers several types of financial services for professionals, including both retail banking and investment banking services, based on proximity and a personalised approach. The company’s registered office is located in Madrid and its main office is in Barcelona. It also has 39 branches located throughout Spain and a team of more than 250 employees.
One of the keys to Arquia Banca’s success is its proximity-based approach that it offers its customers, enabling them to come into the bank and feel comfortable. Moreover, “we try to make products that are as competitive as possible because clearly it’s a banking business that has to deliver results. When potential customers get to know us, they ultimately take out our services because the support we give them is highly personalised. During a new phase, when we are integrating digitalisation into the company, our aim is to ensure that customers don’t need to physically come into branch to carry out transactions, but rather look at ways to offer digital experiences to users”, said Càndid Andreu Miralles, Director of Technology, Operations and Organisation at Arquia Banca.
Jaume Esteve, Director of IT at Arquia Banca said: “Given our expansion and adapting to the needs of the market, we had to take a leap forwards in our service by adopting technology that would save costs and optimise printing. Employees had access to printing equipment, and we knew we were spending too much in this regard, so we needed technology that we could use to analyse things, and which would subsequently lead to a project to optimise printing costs. The most important thing is to measure so we can then assess and act, and Konica Minolta is providing us with the system to understand what is being printed and that offers personal printing control”.
In order to optimise printing within the company, Arquia Banca has invested in Konica Minolta’s YSoft SafeQ 6, with the aim to unite its main office and branches via a centralised system. “By implementing YSoft SafeQ 6, which is a print accounting software, we have been able to optimise printing. It has made us realise that we really needed to improve our processes”, said Jaume Esteve.
“By implementing YSoft SafeQ 6, which is a print accounting software, we have been able to optimise printing. It has made us realise that we really needed to improve our processes.”
Jaume Esteve
Director of IT, Arquia Banca, Spain
YSoft SafeQ 6 by Konica Minolta has brought about a change in mindset within the company. Previously, Arquia Banca had normal printers located throughout the office, at each workstation, with approximately one printer per employee. The project itself allowed the company to be more efficient with the number of machines and subsequently more effective, with a more on-demand model, with which the company could control who is printing and how much is being spent.
The software also generates alerts and sends them to Konica Minolta, which then checks to see if the device require some form of maintenance, given that it’s still a machine that can stop working. Therefore, Konica Minolta helps to ensure that the information metrics keep on moving.
“We have been using Konica Minolta’s solution for almost six months and we’re very happy about it as the solution allows us to control print expenditure through a centralised print monitoring. At the end of the day, it’s not a key internal banking process, but we have to keep it under control, because if done incorrectly, we would cause a lot of trouble”, said Càndid Andreu Miralles.
As well as introducing YSoft SafeQ 6, the bank has also chosen the bizhub C308 A3 colour multifunctional printer, the bizhub C3351 A4 colour multifunctional printer, the bizhub 4702P high-capacity A4 b/w printer and the remote monitoring software PrintFleet.
Arquia Banca further launched additional new and innovative technological projects, most notably the Smart Print project which aims to unify their print park: “We currently have several projects underway, many of them linked to improving efficiency, with the aim of ensuring the company not only spends less, but spends better. We are looking at all expenditure that affects our bottom line, but which we can draw value from” said Càndid Andreu Miralles.
In addition to the Smart Print project, “we are implementing a receipt tool, an expense receipt management and accounting solution, and we are looking at whether to combine it with Konica Minolta, with the process of reading receipts from multifunctional printers. Any collaborations that we can put in place with other services or processes that get us to digitalisation will be welcome”.
Incorporating Konica Minolta’s various solutions has opened up new horizons for Arquia Banca in the area of digitalisation, allowing the bank to attract new customers and build loyalty with existing customers by optimising digital processes and communication, bringing about a major overhaul and ensuring the company is seen from a new angle.
Looking to the future, Càndid Andreu Miralles said: “We are an ambitious company when it comes to growth, we have just opened a representative office in Portugal and we are ready to enter into agreements with all kinds of partners or industries where we can collaborate in some way. Growth is steady and we cannot forget what happened 10–15 years ago where businesses grew a lot, so we need to grow in an intelligent way”.
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