Bankers around the globe are under increasing pressure to drive profits and reduce costs while still investing in technology solutions that help increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Finding this balance is difficult at best, but our panelists will provide some sage advice to retail bankers who are seeking to strike this balance. Plus, these experts will give us their views on what are the biggest challenges to meeting these goals, and discuss which technologies show the most promise for delivering short-term profits, as well as for long-term growth.

Edward Woods
Senior Analyst – Banking
Celent, LLC

Making material changes in spending is difficult to achieve in the short term, but thoughtful vendor and staff management can make a significant impact in driving the bottom line. With vendors, look to centralize contract work under one person/group, carefully assess benefits of ASP solutions, negotiate large purchases across multi-year payment plans, renegotiate significant contracts (especially after major M&A activity) and negotiate vendor’s financial participation in project success and ROI promises. With staffing (a significant cost area) you’ll find there are almost always excess capacity and poor performers in any workforce. Make attracting high performers and getting poor performers engaged or out the door a part of running the business – not an annual event. Fill in slack-time with new work or activity that creates new capacity. All of these action items should help institutions that are constrained by limited budgets.

The biggest challenges businesses face to achieving short-term profits varies widely, but often the biggest pains are rooted in its ability to focus and how it holds staff accountable. Organizations take on too many projects – wasting resources on projects that will never be delivered. Target projects with the highest returns, balanced with risk and time-to-market needs that are within capacity (which includes running the business). Projects that are off the list should become taboo and kept from ‘cropping up.’ Recalibrate the plan with regular market reviews as too much ‘management’ will stifle innovation. Last, accountability is paramount; define who owns what, from top to bottom and hold them accountable for results within their control. An organization without accountability is always sub-optimized – doomed for a mediocre existence, or worse still, failure.

There are two areas that must be at the top of every manager’s agenda – business plan alignment and the management of a technology architecture roadmap. Having IT alignment with the business’s near and long-term plan (at all times) while having, building to and monitoring an architectural roadmap ensures an optimized technology spend both in the near and long term. Seemingly obvious, but rarely executed – a right-sized planning approach will decrease both time-to-market delivery and IT spend – which is a sure way to bolster the bottom line.

• Edward Woods, Senior Analyst – Banking, Celent, LLC
• John Macaluso, CTO, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Marketing, Fiserv CBS Worldwide
• Michael D. Nicastro, Senior Vice President – Marketing and Product Management, Open Solutions Inc.
• Brian C. Hurdis, President, Metavante Image Solutions
• Tom Berdan, Vice President, Product Management, Harland Financial Solutions
• Steve Buchberger, Senior Vice President – Payment Solutions, WAUSAU
• Kirk Herrington, President and Founder, GaleForce Solutions Inc.
  
• Greg Haislip, Managing Director – Banking, Microsoft Corporation
  
• Kevin H. Connelly, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, Financial Services Group, Trintech, Inc.
• Paul Citarella, Executive Vice President, Alogent Corporation
  
• David Hampton, Managing Director, Financial Business Solutions, Getronics