I recall nearly two years ago an enormous problem at RBC that was all over the news, when customers transactions were lost.  Literally RBC couldn’t tell customers how much money was in their Bank accounts.  They have solved for that now, with duplicated systems.  Its a seminal reminder that while we consider the new marketing and other fun things, its all for naught if we don’t keep the basics working properly.  The complexity of Banks product, marketing, and channel systems requires careful design, and contingency plans. “Sometimes when you do a upgrade on the weekend you wonder: am I going … Continue reading Bank aims for dual active hosting to avoid mishaps and downtime

 First time I have heard of a Bank  deploying wireless for core transactional stuff, but its admirable, and smart.  More flexibility in the future branch deployments  will be one result. Mumbai, India-based Yes Bank Ltd. has deployed a secure wireless network at its retail branches for customers and employees. Branch employees will be able to conduct wireless transactions via the Intel-backed network. The network boasts a three-tiered data security shell that includes authentication, encryption, and data integrity checks. Source: BankNet 360 – Yes Bank Goes Wireless tags: wireless Continue reading BankNet 360 – Yes Bank Goes Wireless

BofS has always been a leader in IT. This was the case when I began my career there.  The London-based bank is increasingly relying on data marts — smaller data warehouses that focus on a particular department — to enable its divisions to run reports against specified datasets on a self-service basis, rather than relying on technical staff. In most cases, reporting is carried out automatically using business intelligence software. Source: BankNet 360 – Bank of Scotland Overhauls IT Database experts are always talking about the importance of datamarts, and I expect this is an important strategy for BofS that we … Continue reading BankNet 360 – Bank of Scotland Overhauls IT

 Fascinating new piece here on what Forrester refer to as rich Internet applications.  The rest of us call it Ajax.  But there are some surprising findings. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Length: 6 pages When they are designed well, rich Internet applications (RIAs) enable firms to offer more interactivity than what is feasible in HTML. The majority of online consumers who have used RIAs say these applications improve their Web experiences – primarily because they find RIAs easy to use. Source: Forrester: Interactive Marketing All Forrester Research Key points: Most Rich Internet Application users are fans Less than half of users complete Flash upgrades … Continue reading Time to eliminate Flash & focus on Ajax for Bank sites

In what I believe is the first major speech from Ray Ozzie, since he took over the Chief Software Architect role from Bill Gates, he lays out some ideas of his vision.  As Banks, we use their products, and our customers are impacted by their services.  Our competitors are facilitated by their services.  Worth the read. MSFT Financial Analyst Meeting: Ray Ozzie As many of you are already pretty aware, I strongly believe that Internet services will play a very important role for Microsoft moving forward. So I thought I’d devote my entire time with you today on that specific … Continue reading Microsoft – Financial Analyst meeting 2006

In the channel area, a constant debate between technologists and the business people, is definition of a “service”.  Too low level a definition will make the technology too complex, and too high will render the technology strategy highly inflexible .. or worse;  even more complexity due to customisation, and exceptions to the model. CTO Blog | Just what is SOA? A service is a coherent block of functionality that represents a distinct function or activity within the business This post from CTO does a reasonable job of simply explaining SOA, in a way business groups can understand. Technorati Tags: SOA, … Continue reading Just what is SOA?