Core System Conversions Are Like NASA Spacecraft Launches, But ‘More’
August 18, 2009 @ 09:58 AM | By Art Gillis

What I mean by “more” is that just in the past five years, U.S. banks performed 2,890 vendor-assisted, core conversions as a result of switches to a new core system. Add to that the conversions at 1,877 banks in the same period as a result of bank consolidations, and you’ve got 4,767 conversions going on at banks, thrifts and credit unions. So 29 percent of all financial institutions went through a conversion in the past five years. That work represents one huge consumption of pain relievers.

Beyond “Check-the-Box” Mobile Banking and Payments
August 17, 2009 @ 11:07 AM | By

By Calvin Grimes, Fiserv

Bank and credit union executives recently cited “the competition is doing it” as one of the top two reasons why their institutions were investing in the mobile channel. This unscientific poll of attendees at two webinar events reveals a potentially troubling tendency toward “check-the-box” decision making when it comes to mobile banking.

Social Networking Is as Old as Humanity
August 14, 2009 @ 10:29 AM | By Maria Bruno-Britz

Is social media all it’s cracked up to be?

Scott Berkun, a former manager at Microsoft who describes himself as an author, “kick ass” public speaker and consultant to Fortune 500 companies, says it’s not. In a blog, Berkun attempts to bring people’s expectations and terminology about social media back down to earth.

Aussies Claim to have Developed ‘Bug Free’ OS for Mobile Platforms
August 13, 2009 @ 07:47 PM | By Maria Bruno-Britz

Once again, our friends at sister brand Dr. Dobbs have provided me with yet more interesting blog fodder. In his editor’s note in the daily Dr. Dobbs Update email, editorial director Jonathan Erickson discusses a breakthrough by Australian researchers who claimed to have developed the first “bug free” embedded software.

Banker Is Hero of Afghan Culture

August 12, 2009 @ 03:14 PM | By Maria Bruno-Britz

Funny how you can (eventually) put two and two together in very unrelated circumstances.

Which Architecture Would You Buy, Legacy or Modern?
August 10, 2009 @ 03:54 PM | By Art Gillis

The big debate of this decade, and perhaps the past two decades, is about legacy systems vs. modern systems. We all know what a legacy system is mostly by its age (30 to 50 years old) but also by its characteristics—flat files, COBOL, serial processing, day-delay postings, disparate customer balances, silos where each application stores its data independent of the enterprise, proprietary operating systems which is what IBM’s fortunes were made of, and CIO supremacy—“I’m in charge here.” These are not very attractive traits today for the architecture of any system. It didn’t happen because of stupidity. It happened because in 1960, that’s all we had.

Financial Institutions Can Learn to Be Lean
August 10, 2009 @ 08:58 AM | By

By David Potterton, IDC Financial Insights

Lean Processing has been trying to make its way into financial institutions for the past 10 years or more. While success has been limited, there is much financial institutions can learn from Lean. Lean, based on the principles of Toyota’s Production System, is really about creating more value for customers by eliminating wasted activities and increasing efficiency. Many times it is paired with elements of Six Sigma (which is based on quality improvement and defect management and is, therefore, more about accuracy and precision), to provide the best of both disciplines.