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IBM unveils new software platform for banks
By siliconindia
Bangalore: IBM (NYSE: IBM) unveiled the first unified software platform to help banks be more efficient, improve their flexibility and adapt more easily to new business challenges and regulatory requirements. Part of the IBM Smarter Planet strategy, the new platform enables banks to simplify the modernization, management and monitoring of their technology systems, while lowering risk by avoiding the disruptive business consequences that have characterized these activities in the past.
IBM's banking industry framework gives banks an alternative to the high-risk, rip and replaceable approach. The framework enables a bank's progressive transformation with industry proven data and process models already employed by more than 250 financial institutions.
Among the most compelling features of the new IBM framework is that it focuses on the heart of the infrastructure, where the maintenance and management of core banking systems typically account for over half of total IT spending. Not only are these costs a drain on potential funds for improvement and innovation, but they are continually rising as banks continue to modify and patch aging core systems. Banks have been reluctant to consolidate these legacy applications because it is difficult and disruptive.
"There is a key need in the banking industry for a common platform that can span multiple areas within an organization and help in harmonizing the siloed systems that have resulted through years of mergers, acquisitions and piecemeal infrastructure enhancements," said June Yee Felix, General Manager, IBM Banking and Financial markets.
The new platform breaks through the 'silos' that often exist between a bank's departments, allowing true data transparency and application sharing. The IBM banking industry framework addresses four key areas that demand the bank's attention and resources, providing a path to accelerate transformation and system upgrade with an eye towards future needs and reduced project risk. The features of the framework include; integrated risk management to support a holistic approach to manage financial risk, operational and IT risk, financial crimes detection and prevention, compliance, customer care and insight to help banks to build a foundation for creating a single view of the customer and enabling more effective and efficient sales and service, payments and securities to help banks progressively transform their payments operations to become more flexible and efficient, core banking transformation that allows banks to modernize and renovate existing systems that sustain core banking functions while aligning with the changing needs of the business.
IBM's recently announced 'Smart Work' initiative, the new framework is designed to help companies to optimize their business to achieve new levels of productivity by marrying collaboration between people with the business processes that are at the heart of every organization.
