New RI website
internet
ia What'sNewS Issue 5 May 1999 _g_
This month a wholly revamped Internet website for Rabobank International (RI)
was born. The product of a month long effort, it now offers a rich window into the
organization. Providing customer-friendly insight into our knowledge-based focus
on food and agribusiness (F&A), health care, and global fïnancial markets (GFM),
the site offers special topics and high-quality research as well.
Linking up
Sharing knowledge
Business tooi
Where RI's former website was used
primarily for static marketing, the
new version supports the business
distribution needs of the year 2000. The
objective of this Internet gateway is to
channel customers into the various
business lines of RI. 'This website is
still primarily a marketing tooi to
showcase the range of RI capabilities.
To rnake it interesting, we've included
research reports and both daily and
weekly commentaries,' says Hung
Tran, head of global research and
chairman of the Internet commerce
group (ICG) steering committee. This
consists of representatives of all RI
business lines (F&A, GFM, and
health care) and the marketing IT
departments as well. 'Later this year,'
he continues, 'we'll be focussing more
on our cliënt base, releasing premium
content to those clients in a restricted
access area, and offering transactional
capabilities over the Internet as well.'
Says Maarten Giezeman, a key player
on the ICG support team headed by
Sam Siemssen and including Arthur
Floogeveen, Jeannette van Raaijen, Mark
Vermeulen, Paul van Doorne, Jan-Marten
Visser, and Bart van Velthoven: 'Front
the start, we concentrated on customers.'
The new site's theme is that Rabobank
International offers the 'know-how to
grow'. Information is presented in a
three-dimensional matrix, which allows
visitors to access information in different
ways - by content type (for exantple
research), by special interests (such as
F&A), or by geographical location. It
already has a modest 'transactional'
capability so that customers can buy and
download research material over the
web. This widens the ways in which we
can distribute such material. 'From the
start, the business lines were involved in
the development of this site through the
ICG steering committee,' Giezeman says.
'Now, everv individual office can in-
fluenee the evolution of their particular
link within the site. For instance Mexico
might want to cooperate with New York
to provide links aimed at customers who
want to take advantage of agribusiness
opportunities in Mexico. Thus, each
office can benefit from its association
with the network as a whole. Simul-
taneously each office will have direct ac
cess to editing its own site and can
modify it to suit customer needs.'
Says Roel van Veggel, head of RI's
marketing department, 'this marks an
important new phase in our customer
focus strategy. The Internet will become
an important means of achieving
customer intimacy and positioning
ourselves as a provider of speciali/.ed
knowledge. This website provides a
platform for successive waves of
development in which our site becomes
an increasingly focused and interactive
channel for business and knowledge
exchange with individual clients as well
as general customer groups.' As know
ledge becomes a product in its own
right, our ability to manage that
knowledge, thus giving clients a head
start in their decision making process,
will be a key to competitive success. This
has been demonstrated by competing
banks in the US. For ex-ample, Morgan
Stanley offers their customers access to
investment research reports. Citibank has
inaugurated a transactional website that
gives custo-mers direct access to their
account and portfolio information, and
also Iets them transfer funds. On the
retail level, Charles Schwab, the
American discount broker, uses the
Internet to signifieantly reduce its overall
cost base. Not only do we aim to offer
better customer service and rapid
distribution of knowledge-based
products, but also to realize
significant cost reduc-tions. For
instance, at present, distributing a
100-page report to 5,000 clients
around the world costs at least
NLG 50,000 (EUR 22,700). Using
the Internet, the same feat can be
achieved for one-twentieth of the
cost.
Martha van den Berg, who helps
coordinate the efforts of food
agri research, agri project finance
team and RIAS under the umbrella
of the CANFAS project, discusses
the dialogue between business lines
and the website development team.
'At the first draft phase, we made a
number of suggestions about the
accessability of information - and the
transactional system that Iets customers
buy research - which were subsequently
included in the site as it finally ap-
peared,' she said. 'As we evolve with the
market and with the Internet itself, this
interaction between the business units
and the website managers will intensify,
as will the possibilities for transactions
between the bank and its customers.'
This message is underscored by I.ondon's
Michele Di Stefano: 'we've been active in
generating guidelines on how the website
can be used with specific clients, for
instance to propose trade ideas based on
our research and then execute trans
actions online. We want to deliver as
wide a range of products as possible.
The Internet will become an important
channel.' The new website address is
www.rabobank.com. Information about
our Internet initiatives can be found in
the Public Folder: Global Projects:
Internet Commerce Group.
From left to right: Mark Vermeulen, Maarten Giezeman
and Arthur Hoogeveen
