How WAES helped Rabobank cut costs and drive Digital Transformation

In today’s fast-paced financial landscape, digital transformation is at the heart of every organization striving for efficiency, innovation, and growth.

Problem?

Rabobank’s treasury messaging services in Azure were underutilized, leading to high, unnecessary costs impacting their budget.

Approach?

The team implemented a transaction-based solution with Azure Event Grid and IaC, ensuring flexibility and efficiency.

Impact?

This approach saved Rabobank approximately 22% in annual costs, providing a scalable foundation for future optimizations.

WAES consultant Breno led a project that brought a critical shift in how Rabobank manages its treasury infrastructure in Azure, paving the way for significant cost savings and operational flexibility. This case study dives into the why, how, and what of Breno’s initiative, shedding light on WAES’s role in Rabobank’s transformation journey.

For Rabobank, the objective was clear: optimize their Azure cloud costs, particularly within their treasury and bond-related services, to stay competitive and financially agile. A major driver for this project was reducing expenses related to high-cost messaging services, which were not scaled to the organization’s usage needs. The challenge was to identify cost-effective alternatives that could retain essential functionality while aligning with Rabobank’s budget and performance expectations.

From analysis to action

The project began with a review of treasury service costs, which revealed that Rabobank’s Azure Service Bus, initially implemented for high-volume messaging, was underutilized and expensive. As part of WAES’s digital transformation consultancy, Breno utilized Rabobank’s “Improvement Hour,” an initiative designed to encourage proactive innovation, to explore Azure alternatives and propose an optimized solution.

The project team’s strategy was to shift from the high-cost Service Bus to Azure Event Grid. This solution provided similar messaging capabilities but at a transaction-based price, making it ideal for the bank’s lower message volume needs. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) was also a cornerstone of the approach, ensuring that new solutions could be deployed quickly and with flexibility across environments.

Working with minimal external support, the team designed and tested the new architecture over 12 days. WAES’s structured approach to clean architecture and IaC principles allowed for rapid testing, ensuring confidence in the transition and seamless execution despite the project’s complexity.

Through targeted optimizations and a focus on scalable solutions, we were able to significantly reduce Rabobank's costs while maintaining performance.

Breno Nunes

Java Engineer

Delivering tangible savings and lasting impact

The outcomes of the project had an immediate and measurable impact. Monthly costs for Rabobank’s treasury messaging service were reduced by 22%, amounting to significant annual savings. The switch to a streamlined messaging service enabled the bank to meet budget targets without sacrificing performance. Beyond financial gains, the project laid a scalable foundation for future optimizations, establishing WAES as a trusted partner in Rabobank’s ongoing digital transformation.

The role of Digital Transformation

This project not only reflects a cost optimization initiative but also exemplifies the essence of digital transformation. With WAES’s guidance, Rabobank adopted a flexible, scalable, and cost-effective infrastructure aligned with their digital goals.

By employing agile methods and innovative cloud solutions, WAES demonstrated how continuous improvement and technological advancements can be seamlessly woven into an organization’s operations, driving growth, efficiency, and long-term resilience.

The success of the project Breno worked on highlights WAES’s commitment to empowering clients through digital transformation. By taking a proactive, data-driven approach, WAES helped Rabobank not only cut costs but also build a sustainable model for treasury operations that aligns with the future of digital banking.