Accenture Development Partnerships helps Financial Sector Deepening Kenya automate a further 33 Financial Services Associations, supporting the development of financial markets in Kenya

Accenture Development Partnerships has assisted Financial Sector Deepening Kenya (FSD Kenya) to automate Financial Services Associations (FSAs) across the country in a multi-year project that will support the development of financial markets in Kenya, improving governance, lowering operational risk, and helping to increase the growth and profitability of these FSAs along with their ability to serve more of the community. FSA Automation Phase III automates another 33 sites across five regions in Kenya.

Client Profile

Business Challenge

The Kenya Financial Sector Deepening (FSD Kenya) program was established in early 2005 to support the development of financial markets in Kenya as

KFS provides management services to 44 FSAs across five regions in Kenya, with membership of each FSA ranging from 500 to 5000 members. One of the biggest challenges for KFS in its support of FSAs has been its inability to get timely and accurate reports to enable adequate monitoring of FSA activities. A key reason for this has been the fact that FSAs have operated on paper-based manual systems since inception. With the total balance of funds held by FSAs growing fast, KFS, with the support of FSD Kenya, began to explore the possibility of automation. With automation, it hoped to achieve a number of benefits for KFS and the FSAs, namely reduced operational risk, increased growth and profitability, ability to serve more of the community, improved governance, and lower operational costs.

a means to stimulate wealth creation and reduce poverty. Working in partnership with the financial services industry, the program’s goal is to expand access to financial services among lower income households and smaller enterprises. FSD Kenya is financed by a number of development partners working with the Government of Kenya. FSD Kenya in turn funds K-Rep Fedha Services Ltd (KFS), a for-profit company that provides management services and oversight to Financial Services Associations (FSAs)—member-based intermediaries that provide a range of financial services including loans, savings and money transfers— across rural Kenya at a fee.

structure. A three-phase FSA Automation project followed, with different Accenture Development Partnerships teams delivering each. • In FSA Automation Phase I, suitable candidate software was assessed with Crystal Clear’s Loan Performer software selected and piloted in three FSAs at the start of 2008. • In FSA Automation Phase II, the Accenture Development Partnerships team developed a systems deployment “Service Pack” and trained three information technology (IT) service providers to support automation of the FSAs. With Accenture Development Partnerships’ project management oversight, the system was deployed to 18 sites in two operational regions, namely Kitui and Makueni, in 2011.

• FSA Automation Phase III, the most recent phase and the project In 2008, FSD Kenya engaged that we wish to highlight here, Accenture Development Partnerships began in 2012. It involved working to help it automate the core with KFS to provide project operations of the FSD network and management support for the transform it into a self-sustaining automation of 33 more FSA sites.

How Accenture Helped

• Implementation: Automation of FSA sites and training of The overall objective of FSA FSA staff, supported by local IT Automation Phase III was to deploy providers and Loan Performer Crystal Clear’s Loan Performer software provider Crystal Clear. software to a further 33 sites across rural Kenya in the Western, • Project close down: Wrap-up of the project, including review of Bomet, Kitui, Makueni and Coast outcomes against the Project regions, and to train all FSA staff Definition Report and Plan, and to use Loan Performer to carry out handover of all deliverables. their daily responsibilities. The work was delivered by the Accenture Development Partnerships team between December 2012 and March 2013. The project team comprised a manager and a consultant who both had significant project management experience, in addition to previous experience on IT transformation and deployment projects. The Accenture Development Partnerships team was advised by senior Accenture staff who had been involved in the previous phases of work. The team was based out of the KFS head office in Nairobi and the implementations took place in rural areas in the five regions of Kenya. The Accenture Development Partnerships team was tasked with supporting FSD Kenya with overall project management of FSA Automation Phase III, including project planning and scoping, planning and maintenance of the rollout schedule, “Service Pack” development and deployment, training plan delivery, budget tracking and monitoring, communications, management of third-party providers, and procurement of software licenses. The FSA Automation Phase III project was split into three phases: • Plan and mobilise: Project analysis and approach planning.

The FSA Automation Phase III team engaged with the Accenture Development Partnerships project manager from FSA Automation Phase II to gain an understanding of the client’s issues and priorities prior to commencing the project. In Kenya, kick-off meetings were held with KFS to understand its issues and requirements. The team then conducted two stakeholder engagement presentations with FSA Boards of Directors and Managers, who further elaborated on their experiences and issues. Site visits to FSAs in the early stages of the project helped the team to understand the issues facing FSA staff on a day-to-day basis and how automation would assist them in their roles. These site visits also helped the team better understand FSA structure and operations, which would assist to minimize risk in the rollout stage. Having conducted an analysis of the project objectives and scope, and engaged and mobilised thirdparty providers and stakeholders, the team created the detailed work plan and rollout schedule and confirmed all necessary prerequisites and dependencies ahead of commencing with the FSA Automation III implementation phase.

The Accenture Development Partnerships team then provided project management support for deployment of the software. On the ground support was provided by the two local IT service providers whose staff were responsible for working with the FSA staff on a day-to-day basis to ensure manual data entry and implementation activity took place within the planned six-week timescale. The rollout schedule was closely monitored on a daily basis, and any changes reviewed and agreed between KFS, Accenture Development Partnerships and third-party providers. Throughout the project, the Accenture team mentored and provided advice to the third-party IT consultants engaged on the project. In addition, guidance was provided to the client throughout the project and in the final project report, in particular regarding project management and IT change and transformation methodologies. Further recommendations were made around supporting the IT infrastructure and future requirements for software upgrades. To minimize risk and increase predictability of outcomes, Accenture project management and IT implementation methodologies were used throughout the project. The project approach was broadly based on the Accenture Delivery Methods methodology but tailored for the small scale of the project, with the “Service Pack” asset used for deployment created using Accenture’s packaged methodology for deployment and change projects.

The agreed milestones for completion of the overall project and for each implementation group were met. To minimize risk, a pilot group of FSA sites went live one week ahead of the two subsequent implementation groups with guidance obtained from the pilot implemented ahead of the next go-live. The first implementation group successfully went live on 11 February 2013, with the other two following throughout February and March 2013. A total of 67,305 customer and shareholder records were automated and 140 FSA staff across 31 FSAs were trained to use the Loan Performer software during FSA Automation Phase III. KFS will gather metrics for each FSA one month and six months after automation, measuring the success of the programme in terms of number of customers and shareholders, total revenue, loans disbursed and accuracy of records.

Delivering Outcomes for High Performance This automation will help KFS to reduce operational risk, monitor FSA activity more closely, and reduce time spent completing paperwork. Automation will also help the FSAs to improve operational effectiveness and serve a larger customer base, thereby increasing their profitability and overall performance. Evidence suggests that recipient sites in previous deployments have grown their customer base by 50 to 100 percent, in doing so extending and securing access to essential finance products for some 150,000 of Kenya’s poorest and most marginalised citizens.

Accenture Management Consulting in Action The Accenture Development Partnerships team’s involvement was important to the success of this project. The preferred practice in project management and technology consulting capability it provided, along with its capability to team with project partners was essential to successful automation given the number of FSAs , their geographical spread and the tight timeframes in which to complete the project before the Kenyan general elections.

Client Quotes Accenture Development Partnerships’ support was absolutely vital in the first phase of the automation project. We simply would not have got this done without them. They helped us engage with a key service provider, facilitating communication and strengthening the relationship to the point where the provider, in phase two, was most supportive. We truly appreciate the tireless effort of the entire team to get this done. - Emma Kimani, K-Rep Fedha Services Ltd (KFS).

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