A colleague just mentioned this new company, Avanade, in another context, but I note they have a new CRM tool, which fits in with the CRM thread I am into right now. Avanade is some kind of arrangement involving Accenture and Microsoft (about). Avanade has introduced its Enterprise CRM for Financial Services solution, designed to deliver a wide spectrum of resources financial services advisors need to strengthen customer loyalty, increase sales, and deliver better customer service to clients. The solution is developed through an alliance with Microsoft, leveraging the technology of the upcoming Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 product. The solution suite includes … Continue reading Computerworld Malaysia – New Avanade CRM product

 Based on the Royal Bank of Canada computer outage for a few days in June 2004 and customers were unable to access their money. The program helped just 2,276 of the 2.5 million affected customers – the numbers haven’t been contested, the justice said in his ruling.  Lead plaintiff Nicole Bergeron is seeking the payment of charges plus $200 for inconvenience and $200 in damages for each affected customer. Source: TheStar.com – RBC computer woes spark lawsuit Here is a story I captured at the time.  It was not entirely clear the extent of the issue, but as a minimum, it … Continue reading TheStar.com – RBC computer woes spark lawsuit totalling 1 billion dollars

Long but well written and thought through discussion on SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) and Web 2.0 (simple, user centric)  Rather than focus on the differences, I think it’s more productive to focus on where the two are similar. What SOA and Web 2.0 have in common is that they both represent a similar shift in approach – a break with the technology and application centric practices that we’ve live with for so long, to focus on how technology is used. Both enable a user centric approach to IT. Source: CTO Blog | SOA & Web 2.0: Cage Match The thrust … Continue reading CTO Blog | SOA & Web 2.0: Cage Match

 IBM and Oracle along with i-flex collaborating on banking applications.  Oracle includes Siebel now, so this could be an interesting combination. The banking collaboration will combine the business and IT architectural leadership of IBM in banks, banking-specific application solutions from Oracle®, and core banking and risk solutions from i-flex. This combination can help banks today, using proven, market-leading solutions in CRM, Core Transaction Processing, Risk, Analytics and Corporate Operations to translate a bank’s business strategies into execution in a timely and effective manner. Source: Moneycontrol India > News > IBM, Oracle & i-flex to collaborate on banking solutions > > … Continue reading IBM, Oracle & i-flex to collaborate on banking solutions for infrastructure, services, core banking

 An interview with Laurie Orlov, a research director at Forrester Research (Cambridge, Mass.) goes over the three models for a CIO. The first one is the solid utility. The IT organization must provide cost-effective, dial-tone reliability. That is, the network is always there, the PCs function, the help desk responds and the back-office applications are up and working. The CIO typically reports to the CFO, and costs are expected to be transparent and reduced over time. The second is the trusted supplier, in which you add project delivery to the solid-utility model. Some firms need centrally managed application projects to … Continue reading Bank Systems & Technology : CIO’s Need to Understand Their Roles to be Successful

 Some useful metrics quoted by HSBC.  Its hard to know how they arrived at the 11% cost reduction, but the key is that they are seeing financial benefits from technology investments.  But the percentage of transactions conducted through self service is consistent with all large banks. He said the bank managed to cut 8.8% off all transaction processing costs last year and is on track to knock a further 11% off this year. The bank said that in the first half more than 70% of all transactions were conducted through remote channels, including Internet, telephone and ATM. In Hong Kong, … Continue reading Finextra: HSBC sees big return from $5 billion tech spend

 Just when we thought things were going well, this story comes along.  Its clear the road of change is rocky, when the change is business model level change. Emile Sanchez, MD, BT Global Services finance industry solutions, says the future for retail bank branches clearly lies in turning employees from tellers into profitable sellers, but technology needs to be at the heart of this strategy. “For employees to provide the level of expertise and customer support needed to make high value services sales, the best technology is going to be vital for both interacting with customers and providing an efficient … Continue reading Finextra: UK banks look to expand branch networks