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News & Commentary
Content tagged with Management Strategies posted in March 2006
The Next Generation
News  |  3/28/2006
Demographics is destiny, and in this month's issue, my colleague Marianne Kolbasuk McGee from InformationWeek lays out the undeniable facts: We're all getting older.
New Products
News  |  3/28/2006
NCipher Secures Data With Encryption; TIBCO Enhances Development Tool; S1 Upgrades Teller Offering
Supporting the Front Lines
News  |  3/28/2006
First Tennessee Bank ($36.6 billion in assets), part of First Horizon National Corp., boasts that it has one of the highest customer retention rates of any U.S. bank.
Keeping Older Tech Workers on the Job
News  |  3/28/2006
Older workers can fill skills and staff gap.
Sticking With the Tried and True
News  |  3/28/2006
Large U.S. banks still avoid full core systems upgrades.
You’re Wearing That?
Commentary  |  3/28/2006
Just like lapels and skirt lengths, management concepts go in and out of style.
Fuggetabout the shape of the world - look at the people
News  |  3/28/2006
By Art Gillis It's nice to be in a city (Dallas) that is populated by big technology companies - EDS, ACS, Perot Systems and even a branch of CSC. One reason is we can get prominent execs to speak at the Institute of Management Consultants meetings conveniently. They can sleep in their own bed that night. So when I heard a most stimulating and informative presentation from one such president, I couldn't help sending a follow-up e-mail. Too many of my esteemed colleagues had corralled the p
Strong profit margins for bank tech vendors - Wall Street loves them, stockholders get richer, CFOs get a dose of job security, but customers wonder if it's at their expense
News  |  3/28/2006
By Art Gillis It was about a year ago that I read a vendor's press release about their ability to generate higher profit margins than any other competitor. Any student of P&L 101 could make a fair analysis of the cause and effect. Keep prices high and cut costs to the bone. And even though deserved from an accountant's point of view, the press release was a stronger demonstration of boldness than Rod Tidwell screaming at Jerry Maguire - "Show me the money." The only people I heard from after
If you were a tech vendor, would you wish that 36 percent or 64 percent of your market would go away?
News  |  3/24/2006
By Art Gillis There are now 37 companies in the bank tech business that provide core applications solutions. Twenty of the solutions are for outsource services. Seventeen are for in-house solutions. Eleven companies provide both modes, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. Sixty-four percent of all financial institutions use the in-house mode. Thirty-six percent outsource. That's the way it is and that's why smart vendors chose not to fight reality. But only 30 percent of the 37
Have a plan, even if it's on the palm of your hand
News  |  3/23/2006
By Art Gillis I still can't get Spring Break off my mind, even though I am hard at work now. But I can justify the diversion because of the lessons I keep learning no matter where I am. I spent a lot of time on the beaches of South Florida last week, and after my swimming-for-joy in the blue/green water of the Atlantic, it was a good time to see what was going on. By the way, my wife and I sneaked away because I had a perfect window. If I knew it was Spring Break though, I would have waited
Words From the Closet. Bankers Mouth Off
News  |  3/23/2006
By Art Gillis I don't like surveys because respondents generally answer according to expectations, ego and "how fast can I get rid of this task?" In other words, survey responses are a collection of lies. But in this world of change, I decided I had to conform, so I did my first-ever survey. What influenced me most was that I knew the population. They were bankers who had sent me money for some reason and I thought for that reason they would be truthful. Five hundred and fifty something ba
From Family Dollar to Williams Sonoma, there's a toaster for everyone. The same is true for bank technology
News  |  3/22/2006
By Art Gillis I admit to being somewhat of an elitist regarding appliances. We have a toaster at home that reminds me of a 1956 Buick Roadmaster. The price was $239.95. While on Spring Break last week, I drove by a Family Dollar distribution center that could have housed every used Wang word processor ever built. It was massive. On the rest of my trip, all I kept noticing was a Family Dollar store in every strip mall. I have a feeling that toasters cost $9.98 at Family Dollar. Both machi
Citigroup Names Bottega CDO
News  |  3/16/2006
Citigroup is the first FI to formally create a c-level data executive position.
Actors, generals, lawyers, athletes, even business tycoons have joined the ranks of political life
News  |  3/10/2006
By Art Gillis ......But it is quite rare for a professional IT executive to cross the line into the arena of diplomatic service or politically correct behavior. And there's a very good reason for that. The worst thing any serious and responsible IT person can do is sugar coat the truth about any tech-based solution, and that's why the typical IT guy couldn't make it in politics. Even the most successful and financially powerful IT entrepreneurs would never make it in the world of politics.
I've heard of the perfect storm, but never the perfect bank tech company
News  |  3/3/2006
By Art Gillis I should tell you that the day I graduated from college I thought the word "perfect" was going to be the basis for everything I was going to do in my work. When I reported to my first "job" as a second lieutenant at SAC Hq., ready to automate the financial services division, I began to soft peddle the word "perfect." Today the word cannot be found in my lexicon of business language, although I can still find uses for it in other parts of my life. OK, I've set the stage, so what
Wanted: Eight world series-type bank tech salespeople
News  |  3/2/2006
By Art Gillis A previous blog here reported there are 130 large banks in the U.S. - the obvious commercial banks, 9 s&ls, 2 credit unions, and a few near-banks. "Large" starts with Citigroup and bottoms out at 13 $8 billion banks. What I didn't tell you is that only 15% of that group outsources its core processing. But looking closer, a sharp eye can see a pattern. Within a group of 45 banks ($14 billion to $48 billion), 33% outsource core. Why does that group like outsourcing? I have no


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