every major bank working with small and medium-sized businesses, sooner or later, in order to retain or attract new customers, comes to create its own in-house services or microservices.

such a task also appeared before VTB Bank - the creation of a remote business registration process with subsequent account opening. provision of digital services for businesses in alternative channels of the bank. introduction of technologies within the framework of government initiatives in relation to business registration procedures.

the goals of this task were also ambitious:

• creating your own solution for business registration followed by account opening in web and mobile channels;
• implementation on the basis of the service for obtaining digital government services for businesses (online licenses, permits, etc.);
• implementation of EDI with the Federal Tax Service of Russia with account opening;
• creation of its own TC of the Federal Tax Service of Russia with the subsequent issuance of UCEP of legal entities;
• development of business registration technology using biometrics;
• integration with the public services portal

work on an expanded version of the «VTB Start» showcase product for interaction between business and the state, referred to as the «VTB In-house Solution», was carried out in parallel with other tasks of the department.

metrics indicators from the showcase version confirmed the hypotheses and suggestions to improve functionality, so the question of reusing scenarios was not even raised.

yes, research and refinements in the service have helped to achieve admirable results in various indicators and at different stages of registration.

more specifically, we influenced the:

• 2 times more organic traffic;
• reducing the steps in filling out the form (from 18 to 6 in LLC, from 10 to 5 in IE);
• reducing the time to fill out the form (in LLC almost 5 times to 6-8 minutes, in IE almost 8 times to 3-5 minutes);
• increase in complete (form + manager + tax) online registrations (in LLC completed 4 times more often, ~5.3k/month, in sole proprietorship completed 6 times more often, ~14k/month);
• reduction of incomplete (questionnaire) online registrations (in LLC 1.5 times less to ~2.1k/month, in IE 2 times less to ~2.3k/month);
• a 5-fold increase in the opening of bank accounts

we conducted depth and ux-tests for both products, but in different formats (production, stage, and prototypes) with McKinsey & Company, which provided the team, tools, and respondents.

most of the features or gaps in communication with the client, found during interviews with the prototype in-house solutions, did not go into the implementation of «VTB Start» because of the limited resources of the team and exclusivity.

these included:

• colloquial headlines and addresses;
• 24-hour tech support;
• choice of RKO and free entrance tariff;
• non-banking services;
• bonuses and gifts from partners;
• simplified format for selecting OKVED;
• simplified to a minimum questionnaires for registration of LLC and IE;
• data confirmation and real-time editing without returning to previous steps;
• reservation of a temporary current account immediately after registration;
• the ability to register a business on a foreign passport;
• online registration to the offline service office for the issuance of the CEP;
• online identification for the issuance of a CEP;
• the ability to open a current account online;
• tax calculator

in addition to new features, there are new requirements for the service, or rather business schemes from the architects-analysts, the design system from the bank and proposals from marketing.

inconsistencies with scenarios and automation were solved and corrected at once, so as not to delay the implementation, because each new field or error was throwing a spanner in the works.

so the main business processes were updated, reassembled and harmonised:

• authentication in the personal cabinet;
• preparation of package of documents for business registration of individual entrepreneur and LLC (simplified and extended versions);
• registration of a business;
• business registration (via the service office or biometrics);
• interaction with the Federal Tax Service;
• preparation and transmission of documents for reservation and account opening (issuance of CEP for MS);
• adding edit data of a natural person;
• registration of an additional non-banking product

in addition to business diagrams, each process included its own requirements laid down by the bank and the constraints of the FTS (for fields, forms and documents), so there was a separate time for a detailed check of each word and each function for compliance with regulations.

although the client part was the main part of the product, it was not the only part, the service included an admin panel and automated workstation «ARM» for service offices, back offices and field service with coordinators.

the main task of the ARM is to check, confirm or send for revision the questionnaires ready for state registration, filing documents to the tax authorities and the issuance of CEP.