Who Would Have Thought Banks Live in Containers?
Time for Modern Digital Banking
Gorenjska Bank was long a traditional, locally focused bank. However, changes in user habits and within the AIK Bank Group, of which it is now a part, clearly showed that banking cannot move forward without a modern digital experience. »Our clients expect the same user experience as the best apps – simple, fast, and safe,« explained Nikola Murk, IT Director at Gorenjska Banka.
The group therefore decided to implement a new mobile and online banking system based on Red Hat OpenShiftRed Hat OpenShift container technology. The goal was to ensure faster upgrades, greater reliability, and better application management.
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Digital Overhaul in Record Time
Smartis and Red Hat helped Gorenjska Banka transition into the so-called container world. This platform allows applications to be developed, tested, and deployed much faster than traditional approaches: »Modern platforms like OpenShift are no longer just for tech giants. They enable banks to become agile and innovative as well,« emphasizes Šepetavc.
A particular challenge was that Gorenjska Banka uses an external partner to manage its infrastructure. The Smartis team, therefore, developed an approach with the bank’s IT department that allowed partial independence and greater flexibility when implementing changes.
The result? In just a few months, Gorenjska Banka established test and production environments for the new generation of online and mobile banking, using Smartis’ rapid implementation model, which accelerates the first steps in using container infrastructure.
People Drive Digital Transformation
The only crucial part of the project was not just the technology, but also the knowledge transfer. The Smartis team, through a series of workshops and mentoring, helped Gorenjska Banka’s experts quickly integrate into working with the new platform. »At the beginning, we had to learn to think differently – more agile, more modular. Today, we know this was the biggest leap in the bank’s digitalization so far,« admits Murk.
The final phase of the project, production deployment, is nearing completion. It will offer Gorenjska Banka’s users a completely renewed digital experience within an infrastructure ready for the future. This proves that even in banking, rapid progress is possible when the people implementing changes truly believe in them.
Traditional Banking
In recent years, Gorenjska Banka has accelerated its investment in digital transformation. Together with Smartis and Red Hat, they succeeded in record time in launching a new application based on container infrastructure – a system that enables faster and more flexible development, testing, and deployment of applications than traditional solutions.
The transition was presented at Smartis Day ’25 by Borut Šepetavc from Smartis and Nikola Murk from Gorenjska Banka. The new system, based on the Red Hat OpenShift platform, allowed the company to manage applications easily and roll out new functionalities faster.
