It's Time to Embrace Core Systems Transformation

Although U.S. banks are among the leading consumers of IT, many have resisted core transformation. Now, however, the risk of delaying modernization outweighs the long-standing risks of proceeding.

The good news is that core transformation and the technologies needed to support it have come a long way. Financial services organizations can greatly reduce their risk and position themselves for optimum return on investment by considering the following when beginning their core transformation journey:

Can the solution support the real-time requirements of today's financial institutions?

Is the solution built on a modern service-oriented architecture that enables multiple sequencing options, giving banks the flexibility to frame their transformational journey according to their individual requirements?

Does the solution enable banks to transform their business and IT operating models progressively by mitigating technology obsolesce risks?

Can the solution support customer centricity with a customer hub?

Is it a rules-based solution that can facilitate a paradigm shift from programmers modifying code to that of business analysts defining new products and making business process improvements?

Can the solution support new distribution strategies, including multi-brand or white labeling, to tap into new markets and enterprise product origination that can support multi-product packages to drive an increased customer-to-product ratio?

Can the solution meet the needs of the modern banking institution -- with multiple brands, legal entities, currencies, languages, and time zones -- from a single platform?

Does the solution enable the bank to extend its existing technology investment as part of the new core environment?

Does the solution offer a path to reduce in-house integration and testing efforts that cuts IT costs and improves time to market?

Does the solution provide enterprise-class security covering customers, staff, and third parties?

The industry finds itself at an exciting time in which technology is at hand to drive business transformation -- from customer service to operational efficiency -- in ways that we could not have imaged even a few years ago. It's time to begin the journey and prepare for growth.

Frank Brienzi is Senior Vice President and General Manager, Financial Services, Oracle.

[What's the best strategy for successfully completing a core systems modernization project? Check out BS&T's digital issue, The Core Systems Dilemma.]

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