Outsourcing option slowing SOA adoption among certain banks - RegionalPublished: Monday, August 9, 2010 17:29 (GMT-0400) SOA adoption has been slow to take off among small and medium-sized Latin American banks, some of which are opting instead to outsource their technologies to third parties, the CEO of Argentine financial software firm Technisys, Miguel Santos, told BNamericas. Santos said SOA awareness is tied more to the size and investment capacities of banking institutions, rather than the regions or countries in which they operate. Additionally, their willingness to pull the trigger on SOA investments hinges greatly on whether they want to keep their technology in-house. "I think that, in general, small and medium-sized banks are more unaware of the benefits [of SOA]," he said. "Additionally, some of these organizations are used to relying on outsourcing in some of their channels, such as online banking or ATMs." Small and medium-sized banks in regions such as the US are generally more inclined than their Latin American counterparts to outsource, Santos said. On the other hand, smaller banks that do adopt SOA are oftentimes swayed by client satisfaction concerns, as those institutions end up turning away from outsourcing to have greater control over their technologies and how they affect customer experience. A larger number of small and medium-sized banks are also seen climbing aboard the SOA bandwagon during the next few years to compete with both larger institutions and trailblazing medium-sized players that have already adopted the technology. Technisys' flagship product is the Cyberbank Multichannel suite, which presents a unified platform for financial services. The solution's design, based on SOA, handles the physical and logical integration of all distribution channels, providing for centralized administration. Clients using the suite include Argentina's Banco Patagonia, Costa Rica's Banco Improsa and Uruguay's largest bank, state-owned Banco Republica (BROU). Meanwhile, Technisys is currently working with 10 SOA prospects, including firms in the US, Central America, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. Technisys - which has offices in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Miami and Madrid - will be presenting its SOA suite at the upcoming X CL@B event, which is being organized by Latin American banking federation Felaban. Santos said the company expects 2010 revenues to reach US$12mn. By Matthew Malinowski Business News Americas
Technisys, thought leader in mobile banking at CNNFebruary 26, 2010 CNN interviews German Pugliese-Bassi, Executive Vice President at Technisys, about the benefits, challenges and security issues related to mobile banking. M-banking more to expand services to existing clients than win new ones - Technisys - RegionalFebruary 16, 2010 By Christian Molinari / Business News Americas More than bringing banking services to those in Latin America that currently do not have them, mobile banking (m-banking) will serve for banks to increase presence with already existing customers that make little use of services, Argentine financial software firm Technisys' executive VP German Pugliese-Bassi told BNamericas. "For those that don't have a bank account, m-banking and mobile payments can help, it brings them closer to banking. Generally speaking though, the solution serves to make life easier for people that have a bank account but not many other banking services," he said. "In the case of Argentina, for example, there is what is called the 'cuenta sueldo' [salary account] where larger sized companies are required to deposit employees' salaries in a bank account. This obliges some people to have a bank account, even if they don't want one, because it's the only way they can get their salary. Many times the cuenta sueldo account holders take out their whole salary as soon as it's paid, and that's the only transaction that happens all month," Pugliese-Bassi added. "So this type of client, who isn't used to going to a bank or asking for other products, could subscribe to m-banking and start to receive offers from the bank that would be appropriate for the customer's profile." In short, m-banking allows financial institutions to reach clients that traditionally are hard to reach, according to the executive, such as those living in rural areas or young adults. The solution also helps to improve customer service and gives the bank the image of being an innovation leader, which in turn aids in positioning the brand. Also, "it's a channel that makes the customer more loyal. The customer gets used to banking over his device and this generates a higher loyalty, improving client retention." Technisys' flagship product line is the Cyberbank Multichannel suite, which, based on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), presents a unified platform for financial services. However, the company has high hopes this year for its Cyberbank mBanking solution. Technisys is looking to drive revenues 60% higher this year from the US$8.5mn billed last year. Current clients of the mBanking solution include Doral Bank in Puerto Rico, Banco Republica in Uruguay, Banco Improsa in Costa Rica and Banco Galicia in Argentina. Technisys' main markets are the US, Argentina and Mexico, and it expects to increase its focus in Chile and Colombia this year. Technisys has offices in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Miami and Madrid.
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