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NSIA Banque has been operating in Ivory Coast since 1906 and has grown to become one of the country’s largest commercial banks by branch network, with more than 80 branches nationwide. During the 2010s, it expanded its presence across West Africa, first entering Guinea in 2011 and subsequently extending its operations to Benin, Togo, and Senegal later in the decade.
NSIA Banque’s regional expansion required operational consistency across all branches. To achieve this, NSIA Banque partnered with Novative to deploy Nova Smart NG, creating standardized HR processes across its branch network.
What Led NSIA Banque to Adopt Nova Smart NG
As NSIA Banque expanded its presence across West Africa, managing HR operations across multiple countries and a growing branch network became increasingly complex. In addition to :
Demand for centralized HR Process
Each country and HR function operated in isolation, making group-level visibility virtually impossible.
Heavy manual processes
NSIA Banque managed key administrative tasks, such as medical benefits, approvals, and record-keeping, using paper-based processes. This created high risk of errors and bottlenecks.
Multi-country compliance
Different labor laws, tax structures, and regulatory obligations across Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Guinea, Senegal, Benin, and Guinea-Bissau added layers of complexity that existing tools could not handle.
Need for scalability
To sustain its growth, the bank required a solution that could adapt to increasing volumes of HR data. This need was to accommodate additional branches and employees without loss of performance.
Nova Smart NG Provides a solution with a unified, scalable, and fully digital HR platform. This Platform streamlines operations while supporting both local compliance and group-wide consistency.
Overview of Nova Smart NG Modules Implemented at NSIA Banque
NSIA Banque implemented the full Nova Smart NG suite to centralize and standardize its HR operations across the group. The solution was configured to address country-specific compliance and payroll requirements while ensuring consistent HR policies, business rules, and governance across all other functions. This comprehensive implementation transformed the organization’s entire HR ecosystem by delivering a unified, scalable, and integrated human capital management platform.
HR Core & Payroll
This layer manages the foundational HR processes, including employee lifecycle and administrator management, absence and leave tracking, and multi-country payroll processing. Each country’s payroll rules are handled according to local compliance requirements while remaining integrated within a unified system.
Talent & Career Management
This phase included talent management modules, such as performance management, recruitment and onboarding, and a custom career management module. The aim of these modules is to support internal mobility, succession planning, and structured career paths.
Operations & Well-being
This section supports employee operational needs and well-being initiatives. It includes mission and expense management, training and competency development with evaluation frameworks, and a custom-built medical expense reimbursement system.
Cross-cutting Modules
Supporting all functional areas are integrated services such as advanced reporting and analytics dashboards, a self-service employee portal (for payslips, certificates, and document requests), and a mobile application enabling employees to manage absences, schedules, appraisals, training, attendance, missions, medical requests, and documents in real time.
Together, these capabilities provide NSIA Banque with a unified, scalable, and fully digital HR platform. This streamlines operations while supporting local compliance and group-wide consistency.
Novative Approach
Novative followed a structured, multi-phase approach to deploy Nova Smart NG across NSIA Banque’s operations. This approach ensures the alignment with business needs, compliance with local regulations, and a smooth transition from legacy processes to a unified HR platform.
Phase 1: Discovery Workshop
Novative started the process with a series of discovery workshops with key stakeholders from across NSIA Banque. These sessions mapped out business requirements and how HR processes differ across countries.
The goal was to build a unified system that would work consistently across all locations. Particular attention was given to payroll, as each country has its own rules and regulations. The aim was to keep the process as efficient as possible while staying fully compliant in every market.
Phase 2: Requirements Validation & Scope Definition
After the discovery phase, Both teams reviewed and validated all requirements to confirm the project scope. This helps identify the customizations needed to meet laws, regulations, and operational requirements.
Novative then prepared a detailed Functional Specification document outlining the agreed requirements. Both teams reviewed and validated the document before development began, ensuring complete alignment and giving NSIA Banque confidence that the solution would meet its needs.
Phase 3: Development & Testing
Once the solution was built, it went through thorough testing to ensure it worked as expected. NSIA Banque actively participated in testing to validate that the system met its daily operational needs.
To protect the quality of the final product, the project was structured so that development, testing and the live system were kept separate from one another. This meant any issue is caught and resolved, without affecting any data or daily operations.
Phase 4: Go-Live & Deployment
The final phase involved deploying the solution into NSIA Banque’s live environment. Each module was managed by an expert. The expert ensured quality and continuity throughout implementation.
Key areas such as Payroll, Absence Management, and Integrations were overseen by assigned specialists to guarantee accurate configuration and smooth operational transition.
Results of the Novative & NSIA Banque Collaboration
Novative and NSIA Banque successfully transformed the bank’s HR operations with the Nova Smart NG suite. The solution centralized HR processes across multiple countries while supporting local payroll and compliance requirements. Payroll was adapted for each country and continues to evolve as regulations change.
The platform brought core HR, talent management, operations, and well-being into one system. This improved efficiency, data consistency, and the employee experience. Self-service tools and a mobile app also gave employees and managers real-time access to payroll, leave, training, performance, and other HR services.
