The IT processes in the bank have become more effective after the successful completion of the project.

UniCredit Bulbank is the first bank in Bulgaria with a private IT infrastructure cloud. The migration towards the innovative cloud services gives more flexibility when launching new products, increases the effectiveness when recovering from technical difficulties and optimizes the IT processes in the bank.

“UniCredit Bulbank strives to introduce the most up-to-date versions of the products in use, as well as the most up-to-date technologies, both in the field of IT infrastructure and in the field of business apps. After the successful implementation of a series of infrastructure products in the period 2010-2015, now we have an IT environment which ensures high accessibility and recovery in case of disasters“, Pepa Koleva, Director of the ICT Management Department at UniCredit Bulbank, said.

The bank’s large-scale private cloud project was successfully implemented between 2013 and 2015 with the help of Microsoft and Paraflow. The private cloud was developed and implemented in 3 stages. At the moment, 90% of the system infrastructure of UniCredit Bulbank is virtualized, disaster recovery capabilities are boosted and resource utilization is optimized.

“In our striving to always offer services and products with a high added value in our daily work, it is most important for us to have the opportunity to be flexible and easy to deal with. The private cloud is the best solution for the bank, because together with all the other advantages, it enables us to reduce the operating costs and to boost effectiveness”, said Obreten Obretenov, IT Operations Senior Manager at the bank.

The cloud services are an information system, united around the use of shared resources – calculation power, software and data. These services are accessible everywhere, from various electronic devices, via the Internet. Thus, the user can now perform multiple operations and have access to information everywhere.

The private cloud infrastructure may only be used by the organization that owns it. For UniCredit Bulbank this means increased security, reliability and flexibility.

“This project increases our competitiveness in respect of the quality and the speed at which new services are offered, as this is just one of the instruments for boosting our efficiency on the local markets”, Obreten Obretenov also shared.

The private cloud is much more flexible than the traditional IT infrastructures, as it combines hardware and software, which are now offered as a single service. It is based on the self-service method upon request, thereby the processing time, the data receiving and the resources needed for the processing are reduced. Thus, the operating processes in the bank are significantly simplified, which significantly helps the faster launching of new banking products and services.

One of the biggest advantages of the cloud services is their profitability. With the creation of a private cloud, UniCredit Bulbank optimizes the costs for improving the hardware and for purchasing licensed software. The energy consumption and the physical space, which is required for data storage, are also reduced significantly.

The creation of a private cloud has a positive effect on the effectiveness when recovering from technical difficulties. In case the access to a service offered by UniCredit Bulbank is denied, the data centers may temporarily replace one another.

Further information for clients:

UniCredit Bulbank, Call Centre

Phone number: 0700 1 84 84

More information for media:

UniCredit Bulbank, Identity & Communications Department

Viktoria Blajeva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 993, wjlj/ebwjepwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Magdalena Ivanova, Phone: + 359 2 9232 528, nbhebmfob/jwbopwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch