How Bank Technology Has Changed in 20 Years
Last week, as I was working on the 2011 Edition of Automation in Banking [my annual report on core banking technology software and the vendors that make it], I experienced a sort of "a funny thing happened on the way to the forum" moment. Buried in the archives was the 1991 Edition. There were older editions as well but I was intrigued by the 20-year span. So I took a little break to see what 1991 had to say, but first I took a sip of cheap red wine to prepare me for the shock. Past tech events haunt me, and this was my work, so I expected the worse. After all, I was in good company. Tom Watson said there would be five computers in the world. Ken Olsen invented the mini computer (PDP) but he did not believe in the personal computer. Bill Gates did not embrace the Internet. Dale Reistad predicted a cashless society in the sixties, but I still keep a Hamilton in my wallet just in case.
After reading the 152 pages of history, my thoughts turned to you. I felt you ought to see the 20-year advance in bank technology. Please be advised that I am not a visionary. Coward is a better label for me because I don't take chances. If it happened, I report it. So you can believe everything in the 1991 column. And I was so comfortable about the reality of 1991, that I never took a second sip, and that's the way it was.
| 2011 | 1991 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price of the report | $1,800 | $500 |
| Pages | 600 | 152 |
| Number of bank outsource companies | 20 | 71 |
| Number of core bank software companies | 19 | 42 |
| Maximum number of automated applications in a bank | 184 | 141 |
| Number of popular brands of computers used for host processing | 3 | 9 |
| Number of popular ATM brands | 3 | 6 |
| Number of hand-picked tech solution vendors in this report | 70 | 143 |
| Jack Henry revenue (one of two companies in both editions) | $837m | $15.2m |
| Fiserv revenue (one of two companies in both editions) | $4.13b | $183m |
| Number of commercial banks | 7,731 | 14,979 |
| Number of credit unions | 7,500 | 14,000 |
| Vendor with the most outsourced deals in a year | Fiserv | Systematics |
| Budgeted funds for IT - all FIs in the U.S. | $75.7b | $26b |
| Percent mix of processing method - Outs, IH, Manual | 49/51/0 | 56/42/2 |
| Appreciation of stock, last 20 years - JKHY | 135 times | |
| Appreciation of stock, last 20 years - FISV | 24 times |
| 2011 | 1991 | |
|---|---|---|
| Coley Clark | BancTec | EDS |
| Frank Martire | FIS | CIR |
| Paul Danola | FIS | CIR |
| Randy Fluitt | FIS | EDS |
| Gary Norcross | FIS | Systematics |
| Joan Skimmons | Fiserv | CIR |
| Mike Young | Fiserv | ITI |
| Don Dillon | Fiserv | ITI |
| David Carden | Fiserv | ITI |
| James Sizemore | Fiserv | ITI |
| Raju Shivdasani | HFS | CIR |
| Jack Prim | JHA | B&S |
| Jerry Hall | JHA | JHA |
| Michael Henry | JHA | JHA |
| Kevin Marsh | JHA | Peerless |
| Stan Viner | JHA | JHA |
| Mike Cronin | MBS | MBS |
| John Decker | MSI | MSI |
| George Solomon | NBS | CBI |
| Charles Nicola | NBS | NBS |
| Company Name | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| Broadway & Seymour | B&S |
| Citicorp Information Resources | CIR |
| Computer Bank, Inc. | CBI |
| Jack Henry Associates | JHA |
| Midwest Software, Inc. | MSI |
| Modern Banking Systems | MBS |
| Nicola Banking System | NBS |
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