ABA Banking Journal - July 2008 - (Page 55)

ABA Banking Journal’s White Paper for July 2008: Better Core Systems EXECUTIVE SUMMARY For the full article go to http://www.ababj.com Achieving Business Success: Why Architecture Matters By Marc Wall and Banking Solutions Product Management Troy Bradley Technology Strategy Management METAVANTE Phone: 800-822-6758 Web: www.metavante.com n an environment of increasing competitive pressures, squeezed margins, and a rising bar for meeting customer expectations, financial institutions are continually looking for ways to grow their business while operating as efficiently as possible. To succeed, financial institutions have to be nimble and creative in the ways they apply resources and technology, without sacrificing customer service and satisfaction. To achieve this balance, organizations and their technology providers have turned to a variety of technologies to achieve process improvements, gain efficiencies, and enhance the overall experience of employees and customers in performing their day-to-day activities. How Would You Answer the Following Questions? • Are your internal processes and internal hand-offs as efficient as they could be? • Have you optimized and automated end-to-end business processes to drive out costs? • Are your employees armed with the right information where and when they need it? • Are you effectively leveraging your delivery channels to provide a differentiated customer experience? • Have you effectively integrated your disparate systems to fit your business needs? • Are you making the best use of technology to achieve your business goals? This report explains why the technology “under the hood” matters, and how it directly impacts your ability to support your customers, make the lives of your employees easier, and reduce overall operational costs. The architecture discipline, much like all good design concepts, starts with a strong connection with the business in order to drive value. As leading organizations and their technology providers deploy and maintain a set of business applications and functions, they should strive to: • Store the ‘definitive’ value of any piece of information in one place • Separate functions into distinct, modular components • Realize business value through clearly defined functional components • Make information easily accessible across platforms, systems, and delivery channels I • Tie different applications and business functions together into logical workflows • Focus on the end-user experience How does all of this drive business value to help you compete more effectively? A robust architectural framework provides a foundation for cost-effectively and quickly building and integrating products that will meet your business needs, while allowing you to adapt as you grow and react to changes in the marketplace. This report outlines how architecture helps: • Improve customer sales and service across all delivery channels • Support customers around the clock and around the globe • Streamline business processes and workflows to improve the employee experience • Implement end-to-end automation and straight-through processing • Manage security and reduce risk As you evaluate the state of your business, you may want to assess your underlying architecture and ask how it could be better applied to drive business value. • Do you or your technology provider adhere to a set of architectural best practices or principles? • Do you or your technology provider apply these best pratices or principles within a defined architectural framework? • Do you or your technology provider have a vision for evolving your architecture to meet your changing business needs and market conditions? • Do you have a good understanding of how your architecture is being applied to drive business value? Keep in mind the potential of enterprise architecture in increasing operational efficiency, reducing development and integration costs, improving the experience of your customers and employees, and reducing risk across your organization. Perhaps most importantly, consider the positive financial impact and competitive advantage a robust architectural framework can provide. In today’s tough marketplace, that may make quite a difference. ABA BANKING JOURNAL/JULY 2008 55 http://www.ababj.com//content/category/11/21/132/ http://www.metavante.com http://www.metavante.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ABA Banking Journal - July 2008

ABA Banking Journal - July 2008 Contents Editor’s Column Searching for New Paradigms at BIS Snapshot: C&I Asset Quality 100th Anniversary: Then & Now BofA "Event Concept" Wins Awards, and Customers ABA Resources ABA Chairman’s Position M&A: Beat Today's Market Blues Pass the Aspirin Cover Story: Workout Time Correspondent Banking: No Longer Just a Handshake Business Getting IT Right By Thinking It Through Webnotes Are You "Red Flag" Ready? Mailbox Banker’s Mart To Advertise/Index of Advertisers The Economy

ABA Banking Journal - July 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.