• With only half the respondents (56 per cent) claiming to have an enterprise integration strategy, connectivity/consolidation remains lowest priority for core systems change
• 92 per cent of respondents applying tactical one-off integration solutions for their core systems change believe they are building future problems for themselves
• 44 per cent of all respondents identified CRM and Customer Service were experiencing the greatest amount of change
Hong Kong – September 15, 2009 – At SIBOS 2009, Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) company, announced the results of its commissioned research, looking at the approach to, and the consequences of, core systems replacement within the finance industry.
The research, carried out across France, Germany and the UK, looked at ten different core systems and found that the financial industry is currently focusing its investment on CRM and Customer Service as the objectives behind system change, as it strives to rebuild confidence and trust to combat the brand and reputation damage incurred during the past 12 months
The survey also highlights that despite a consensus that core systems replacement is a priority, there remains a lack of clarity on the approach behind those replacements, and the role an enterprise integration strategy can play. The findings were also found to vary significantly across these territories.
Richard Spong, Financial Services Industry Marketing Manager at Sterling Commerce, EMEA, comments: “The need for a wider business strategy for core systems replacement supported by a well-planned enterprise-wide integration approach is paramount to a company’s ability to future-proof itself against regulation and market change. Without this in place on a broader scale, the financial industry will continue to sink money into ad-hoc solutions that limit business growth and opportunity.”
The survey identified that 40 per cent of respondents apply tactical one-off solutions to core change projects, and 92 per cent of these in turn agree that they are building future problems for themselves. The disparity among countries in the lack of core systems future proofing, such as automatic validation for data transfer and business process integration, is further illustrated as follows:
• In the UK, 70 per cent of respondents acknowledge that their integration technology allows automatic validation and data translation for data moving between core systems, and 80 per cent acknowledge that their enterprise-wide integration strategy employs business process integration technology.
• In France, the results for the same questions above were 28 per cent and 38 per cent respectively, underlining a large gap in terms of commitment to business process integration.
The survey also revealed an interesting issue around the priorities for system change. In comparing common reasons for systems replacement, the objectives of connectivity and consolidation, and therefore integration, received the lowest priority. In comparing common reasons for system change, project complexity and implementation difficulty, a majority of respondents selected integration and connectivity problems.
These statistics suggest that, though integration is a low priority, it is the source of problems causing project over-runs in both costs and timescales.
“From these two findings alone, it appears that if the industry gave greater recognition and priority to the business-critical ‘science’ of process integration, system change projects might be accomplished with much less pain,” concludes Spong.
Sterling Commerce is exhibiting its broad portfolio of Financial Services solutions at Stand 3 GO3, Hall C
About Sterling Commerce
Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) company, helps companies optimise and transform their Business Collaboration Network to accelerate revenues and reduce costs. More than 30,000 customers worldwide use Sterling Commerce applications and integration solutions to connect, communicate and collaborate inside and outside their enterprise. More information can be found at www.sterlingcommerce.co.uk .
About the Vanson Bourne survey
Vanson Bourne’s survey polled 300 respondents across financial companies in France, Germany and the UK, during July and August 2009. With an average employee size of 250 to1,000, the survey focused on systems replacement across ten different core systems including: Risk management, Payments, clearing and settlement, Customer service (including e-Commerce, corporate banking e-services, call centre operations, etc.), Deposits, savings and fund management, International business (including currency dealing), Audit and compliance, Customer relationship management (CRM), Lending (including asset finance and trade finance), Accounting and cash management, Securities trading (including custodial services).
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For media enquiries please contact:
Willemijn Steegenga
Sterling Commerce
Tel: +31 (0) 20 560 5794
willemijn_steegenga@stercomm.com
Kate Luke / Camille Pomey
Nelson Bostock Communications
Tel. +44 (0) 20 7792 7446
Katherine.luke@nelsonbostock.com
camille.pomey@nelsonbostock.com
[1] Risk management, Payments, clearing and settlement, Customer service (including e-Commerce, corporate banking e-services, call centre operations, etc.), Deposits, savings and fund management, International business (including currency dealing), Audit and compliance, Customer relationship management (CRM), Lending (including asset finance and trade finance), Accounting and cash management, Securities trading (including custodial services)