Four Areas to Target to Reduce Operational Risk

Though the market has undergone changes that are forcing banks to adjust IT strategies in 2009, banks' IT spending will not slow down. Rather, to remain competitive under the current market conditions, banks will focus IT spending on customer retention and satisfaction, particularly for customers on the retail and commercial sides of banks. Banks are likely to focus on their core competencies in areas such as payments due to the recent technology advancements in global and online payments and online banking.

As market and credit risks are clearly at the heart of this financial crisis, companies will also need to factor this into their overall IT strategy. Companies that have very strong relationships with key independent software vendors in this sector will want to partner to build strong programs and solve the problem with a joint solution.

With risk management playing a critical role in the industry, companies will also need to focus on the areas that play a strong role in helping to reduce operational risk, including:

• Data center modernization/virtualization targets risk directly, increasing the manageability of the data center.
• Identity management tightens the security of the enterprise, ensuring proper authentication and authorizations.
• Video device interface reduces latency and improves the functionality of critical applications for remote workers.
• SOA enables flexible integration of core IT systems while increasing their manageability as well as the visibility and agility of the business processes they support.,