09 March 2023, Colombo: Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB), the Total Financial Service Provider in Sri Lanka, has been awarded the Most Innovative Company of the Year at the inaugural Dare to Dream Awards 2023 Sri Lanka Edition, which was powered by SAP together with John Keells IT. The award recognises CDB’s commitment to revolutionising the financial services industry with far-reaching technological innovations and its dedication to driving digital transformation in Sri Lanka.
The purpose of the award ceremony was to recognize organizations and visionary leaders for being pioneers in innovation, technology adoption as well as digital transformation, paving the way for the resurgence of the Sri Lankan economy. Prior to securing the award, CDB’s application was assessed by a panel of experts, based on the institution’s overall tech implementations and how the same has been well adopted during the recent challenging period in the country.
Speaking on this feat, Dave De Silva, Director of Business Operations at CDB said, “We are honoured to be recognised as the Most Innovative Company of the Year at the Dare to Dream Awards 2023 Sri Lanka Edition. This award is a testament to the tireless efforts of our team, who have worked hard to implement innovative technology solutions that have revolutionised the financial services industry in Sri Lanka. Receiving this award motivates us to work even harder to bring innovative solutions to our customers and provide them with the best possible services. We thank our customers for their continued trust in us and our employees for their dedication and hard work.”
CDB is continuously focused on improving and implementing process innovations, which include enhancing the customer onboarding process, making it more simplified and efficient through the Digital form filling, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) based data entry through the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) options.
The complete automation process covers a range of tasks, such as customer onboarding, opening savings accounts, providing debit cards, conducting CRIB report checks via an Application Programming Interface (API), submitting files via Digital form filling, approving credit facilities through an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, automated credit decision for 80% of credit facilities, and delivering digital delivery orders to customers anytime any day of the year bypassing the branch network. We call this virtual operations.
As this award is a recognition of CDB’s commitment to driving digital transformation in Sri Lanka and the financial services industry, it is expected that CDB will continue to innovate and provide cutting-edge financial solutions to its customers in the years ahead.