NatCity Buys Argo Tools

National City Corp. has contracted with Argo Data Resource Corp. for enterprise retail delivery solutions for National City's call centers and 1,200 branches. The solutions span National City's retail delivery network, and include teller, platform, investment/Series 6 sales, call/contact center, customer relationship management (CRM), consumer lending, and small business lending.

National City has licensed Dallas-based Argo's Enterprise Commerce Server (ECS) as its enterprise application processing technology framework, to provide the foundation for a centralized server configuration that eliminates the need for individual branch servers.

National City's strategy encompasses maximizing sales and process improvements across the retail bank network. Argo's ability to deliver enterprise sales and service functionality through best-practices applications provides the solution necessary for $96 billion National City to reach its objective. Argo's Strategic Business Services Group will lead implementation project management.

"This new technology platform will provide our branches and call centers with sophisticated tools to help employees deliver outstanding service to customers," according to Robert K. Healey Jr., executive vice president for retail services at Cleveland-based National City. "We believe these capabilities are essential for National City to achieve its objectives in customer acquisition, retention and expansion."

Argo Data Resource automates retail delivery and lending systems for financial services companies. Its solutions cover branch/office automation (platform and teller), investment sales, call center, Internet, lending and collections, with integrated CRM.