How A Network Overhaul Saved Hanmi Bank $1.2M While Boosting Speed, Reliability and Customer Satisfaction

Starting fresh in a new country is a daunting journey, filled with unfamiliar surroundings and cultural uncertainties. For many immigrants, the support of their community is crucial in building a new life.

Hanmi Bank was founded in 1982 to be that pillar of support for Korean American immigrants, helping them achieve their dreams. Recognizing the vital role of proper banking and financial support, the founders—successful business owners themselves—aimed to provide the guidance and resources necessary for others to thrive. This mission fostered a sense of stability and growth within the community, making Hanmi a cornerstone of success for countless individuals and businesses.

“Hanmi literally means ‘Korean American,’ but the name is much more than that. It’s about the ability to connect with our customer base, the ability to connect our community and the ability to connect our banking customers with the financial services to meet the American dream,” says Jenny Park, Hanmi’s Corporate Marketing Manager.

What began in the vibrant and historic Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles has blossomed into a network of 35 branches and eight loan production offices across nine states. Hanmi Bank has become a vital lifeline for diverse communities, addressing the needs of individuals, small and mid-sized businesses, real estate investors and Korean companies operating in the U.S. Over the past 40 years, Hanmi has not only expanded its reach but has also steadfastly supported the dreams of all Americans, fostering growth and opportunity nationwide.

“We serve an important niche in the community,” says Navneeth Naidu, Hanmi’s Chief Technology Officer who has worked at community banks since he immigrated more than 20 years ago. “We make sure that our customers are getting everything they need to make their financial dreams come true and meet their financial needs.”

Hanmi serves as a bridge to growth and achievement, connecting businesses with consumers and delivering resources to the community. However, their network was not meeting the demands of their expanding operations, risking their ability to provide crucial services and maintain customer trust. Recognizing the need for a more reliable and scalable network, Hanmi took decisive steps to upgrade their infrastructure, ensuring they could continue to support their community’s financial needs effectively.

Breaking Free From a Dated and Expensive System

Hanmi Bank faced significant challenges with their outdated and costly network system, particularly slow network speeds. Their legacy MPLS system averaged about 10 Mbps, which was insufficient for modern banking needs.

“That was probably fine for a bank to operate with 10 years ago, but with the advancement of technologies like IoT and SaaS platforms, it really became paramount to increase the speeds at all of our branches and offices,” Matthew Spero, SVP of IT Infrastructure, explains.

The network was also complex and expensive to maintain, costing $160,000 monthly, similar to larger banks. The team received 1,600-page bills, making it difficult to spot errors. More critically, the network hindered the IT team from providing customers with the tools they needed to achieve their financial dreams.

“Our customers have stuck with us in good times and bad times, so we asked, how can we help them? And how can we help our employees to achieve that goal?” Naidu says. “Employees shouldn’t be worrying about technology. It should be delivered seamlessly, and I wanted my department to achieve that.”

The team explored various options but was repeatedly let down by vendors who couldn’t meet their promises. Then, Lumen stood out by offering high levels of uptime and the ability to deliver services to all of Hanmi’s locations. “That was a huge win for us,” Spero says. “They’re incredibly flexible to support our growing need for bandwidth for all our applications.”

From Legacy Burden to Modern Efficiency

Hanmi Bank implemented Lumen^® SD-WAN across all locations, transitioning from the costly MPLS system to Lumen^® Dedicated Internet Access (DIA). This strategic shift provided high-bandwidth connections and enhanced security features, optimizing data protection and performance. With these advanced solutions, Hanmi redesigned and expanded the bandwidth of their data center infrastructure, ultimately moving to Lumen^® IP VPN.

“Being a community bank and a small business, it’s sometimes difficult to bring on vendors and find the best person for the job,” Spero explains. “We need to be able to turn on a dime, and Lumen gives us the ability to request new services at a particular location, and their team will just simply handle it. Everything is taken care of for us.”

For instance, when an off-net internet provider caused an outage at a branch and was unresponsive, Hanmi reached out to their Lumen account representative. Within 30 minutes, Lumen intervened and ensured the provider sent someone to resolve the issue the same day.

Through their partnership with Lumen, Hanmi gained more than just enhanced speeds and simplified infrastructure; they found a dedicated partner equally invested in their success.

Streamlined Management and Major Cost Savings

Hanmi Bank’s journey mirrors that of many immigrants—starting with a dream and overcoming challenges to build a better future. Transitioning from MPLS to Lumen^® DIA has dramatically improved Hanmi Bank’s network, delivering remarkable speed and resilience while simplifying management and slashing costs. By consolidating other vendors into Lumen, Hanmi achieved annual savings of $1.2 million—reducing expenses by 30–40%.

Since switching to DIA, Hanmi has experienced zero downtime, highlighting the unwavering reliability and stability that both employees and customers now enjoy. Spero emphasizes that working with Lumen has been transformative for Hanmi’s IT department and the entire company.

“We have been using Lumen services for more than 10 years and have seen the arc of T1s, Ethernet/MPLS and now DIA. Keeping our core network infrastructure with the same company, same bill and same team has been extremely beneficial. The stable and diversely peered Lumen network allows our data to flow efficiently to become transparent to our staff,” Spero says.

With a faster and more flexible network, Hanmi can focus on delivering a superior and robust banking experience to their customers. Lumen plays a pivotal role in this journey.

“Lumen offers the connectivity and stability we need to scale,” says Park. “Through our partnership with Lumen, we can offer our customers a stable service, which allows us to grow and become stronger as a business.”

This collaboration has been instrumental in Hanmi’s digital transformation, ensuring they are well-equipped to support their community’s financial aspirations as they continue to evolve. With Lumen as the backbone of their network, Hanmi Bank is fortifying the bridge that connects immigrants to their dreams to help ensure every customer can bank on a brighter future.

To learn more about Hanmi Bank’s transformation, read the full customer success story.

Visit our customer story library to learn how organizations in virtually every industry are achieving their business objectives.

^{Current Lumen customer compensated for their endorsement.
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