NatWest Group transforms Workday testing, streamlines operations and achieves business agility with Kainos Smart Test
“Confidence is key in such a large organisation. Kainos Smart Test has facilitated efficient testing and also enabled NatWest Group to implement changes rapidly and reliably across the business.”
About NatWest Group
NatWest Group is one of the UK high street’s biggest banking organisations. Serving 19 million individuals, families and businesses in the UK and Ireland, the FTSE 100-listed firm employs nearly 60,000 people and has a turnover of more than $16bn (£13bn).
Simplifying operations through cloud migration
NatWest Group underwent a significant transformation in its human resources (HR) systems, shifting from a complex mix to the streamlined capabilities of Workday. The motivation behind this change, as explained by NatWest Group QA Manager, Liam Murdoch was to enhance business agility, modernise IT infrastructure, and simplify HR processes. “The goal was to reduce the time taken to deliver business change, improve productivity and become more agile. Workday ticked all these boxes,” he explains.
Workday proved to be the ideal solution, aligning with the organisation’s objectives. However, the initial phase presented challenges as a small team of four struggled to keep pace with the extensive testing required before the cloud rollout. Limited manpower hindered their ability to support swift business changes.
Navigating regulatory changes calls for efficient Workday testing
NatWest aimed to become more flexible and adept at implementing changes, but the team encountered difficulties in understanding dependencies arising from different internal projects. Additionally, being a listed company in a tightly regulated industry, ensuring regulatory compliance posed a final challenge.
“The old processes simply weren’t up to scratch and held us back from enacting change. We operate in a highly regulated industry, so we needed a golden source of data that was correct and capable of supporting regulatory reporting requirements, without creating any additional problems. We had neither the staff numbers or tooling required to remain agile and respond quickly to these business needs,” Liam says.
Workday testing confidence and control delivered
To overcome these hurdles, NatWest turned to Kainos Smart Test, recommended by its Workday implementation partners. The assessment revealed that Smart Test was the ideal choice to handle the increased volume of Workday testing.
NatWest Group needed assurance that the solution could be seamlessly implemented without causing disruptions, especially during critical biannual testing periods. "Smart Test proved invaluable during user acceptance testing (UAT), conducting a larger number of tests in a significantly shorter time frame compared to manual methods. As a business, it really gave us the confidence that this was the correct solution for us,” Liam explains. “We also had the faith that any changes we made across departments – however big or small – would not disrupt overall operations.”
The team has since expanded to 24 experts, underscoring the substantial testing needs across the large organisation.
The confidence to go further with Smart Test
The results have been transformative for NatWest Group. Smart Test’s user-friendly interface enabled a quick setup, and its manageability by non-technical staff was a major advantage. Features such as remote scheduling, coupled with built-in automation, resulted in substantial time savings previously spent on manual testing. Liam highlighted the shift from targeted regression testing to a more comprehensive approach, streamlining workload and improving outcomes.
One notable success was the overhaul of the Western Europe absences system, supported by Smart Test. After an initial training programme that taught Liam and his team all about the relevant Smart Test templates and how the tool works, they were able to build a robust suite of tests that proved the project was viable. The solution’s role in this major project served as a compelling proof of concept, showcasing the benefits of collaborating closely with Kainos. “Working with Kainos has been fantastic. We have a great relationship and they’re always on hand to help us to refine complex use cases,” explains Liam.
A solid partnership
Liam and his team expressed satisfaction with the partnership with Kainos, emphasising the confidence Smart Test instilled in their testing processes. “Confidence is key in such a large organisation. Kainos Smart Test has facilitated efficient testing and also enabled NatWest Group to implement changes rapidly and reliably across the business.”