IBM has teamed
up with Fidelity Information Services to provide an industry-specific
WebSphere solution to bring outdated back-office software into the 21st
century.
Big Blue tabbed Fidelity to provide J2EE-based
components for its WebSphere platform, in what officials say brings
together IBM’s strength with infrastructure solutions and Fidelity’s
expertise in the financial industry.
The two picked a good time to come out with the service, due for general
release in the first quarter of 2004. Many analysts expect IT spending to pick up in this arena over the next several years in order to replace outdated software and
services.
According to Pablo Suarez, IBM banking industry global solution
executive, some of the equipment running back-office applications dates back to the 1960s. What’s more,
accounts are broken down by account type, rather than being
customer-centric. That means a customer could have a checking account
and mortgage through one bank, but the database wouldn’t know it unless a
report was generated to cross-check both.
IDC recently
published a report that finds IT spending at U.S banks will top $60
billion by 2007. Globally, finds research firm TowerGroup, IT spending
will reach $337 billion in 2003. Key reasons for upgrades include: meeting
regulatory requirements, managing the customer relationship, managing
risk, reducing costs and attracting new customers
Suarez thinks IBM’s and Fidelity’s solution will be more compelling
because it offers banks that already have the WebSphere technology
running the infrastructure new critical components rather than a whole new whole package.
“Banks used to replace the whole thing at one time on a ‘Big Bang’
process,” he said. “That will no longer be the case as banking has
become a lot more complicated and has the need for much more control and
resiliency because of the laws passed after 9/11.”
IBM and Fidelity also plan to roll out an assessment service for banks, which
starts in the first quarter of 2004. During the assessment IBM will
recommend a J2EE-based solution, with a heavy emphasis on IBM hardware
and software; because of Java’s open source capabilities, however, it can come from
other platforms.
Officials hope the assessment is enough to bring in new customers,
whether they’re serious about buying into a new program or not. Suarez
said between 40 percent and 60 percent of financial institutions worldwide are
looking at an infrastructure update.
“All banking companies, regardless of whether they’re serious about
buying or not, are looking at improving the infrastructure,” he said.
“Not only do you restructure from a technology point of view, it’s the
ability to relate that technology to business processes on a
componentized manner. All of them want componentized solutions, so they
can go to partial replacements and go to the critical parts of their
financial institution.”