Choosing right applications to prosper your cards and lending business
We run an objective, transparent and focused system selection process that addresses your short and long term goals
System Selection
In recent years, banks have transformed from manual, scale-constrained environment to technology-driven organizations with automated processes and global presence. Today, it is hard to even fathom the pre-IT era when a task as simple as depositing or withdrawing cash could consume several hours. Thanks to technology, branches are slowly metamorphosing from transaction processing centers to relationship management hubs.
Core banking, lending, and payment systems form the gist of retail banking. These are facilitated by back-end processes that execute deposit, loan and credit processing competencies, with interfaces to general ledger systems. The focus of core banking systems is to allow customers greater freedom of account transactions, speed, convenience, accuracy, and greater levels of personalization. Technological advancements have made core banking multi-faceted, simplified processes, and expanded the outreach of the banks.
Technology, however, gets outdated fast and you need new core software to clean up the mess. Not all solutions are the same and selecting between them is a difficult task. Currently, there are numerous banking solutions around, each claiming to be superior. You require a checklist that checks the best selection features and helps you make the right selection around criteria that includes Functionality, Componentization, Microservice Architecture, and Technical Support and Price.
Verinite hand-holds you through this complex selection process, helping you find the right fit for your current/future business needs, support structure, global/local trends, proven pedigree, and proven requirements. We make sure the selection and implementation of any business solution is objective, transparent, and focused.
A major criterion behind the evaluation of solution is its ability to quickly respond to rapidly changing regulatory and market conditions. We undertake thorough assessment of system architecture, interoperability, etc. A potential solution is evaluated in terms of scalability, resiliency, and real-time processing capabilities.
High Level Approach to System Selection
Our product selection strategy constitutes of three phases – Strategy, Planning, and Execution.
Define phase
This phase is about laying down the basis of the system selection:
Define business requirements
- Define your short-term as well as long-term business requirements in detail, with technical parameters and vendor related parameters
- Conduct a feasibility study of the requirements.
Prioritize requirements
- Assign priority to the business requirements at business domain level and unit level.
- Classify requirements as per priority.
Determine sourcing model
- Define and choose the sourcing model after considering pros and cons of all probable models. We take into account aspects like selection of supplementary applications and investments in hardware, networking and third-party software.
Determine evaluation criteria
- Define evaluation criteria and the weights to be attached for functional, technical, financial, implementation parameters, chronology of evaluation and scoring methodology.
Appraise phase
The phase shoots off with a RFI (Request for Information) phase to ensure optimum participation and compliance with RFP (Request for Proposal) process. This is followed by the evaluation of the vendor’s track record and qualifications, including their project management capabilities, document of the project and quality assurance programs. Our vendor selection benchmark criteria include Functionality, Technology, System Performance, Vendor Performance, and Contract & Commercial Terms.
Please find detailed information on this phase in the next section – ‘Vendor Evaluation Criteria’.
Engage phase
We help you make an informed decision about the service and finalize the contract and financial terms in detail. Return on investment is computed as measured by improved efficiency ratios, business process impact, and strategic alignment, leading to meaningful negotiation.
Please find detailed information on this phase in the next section – ‘Vendor Evaluation Framework’.
Vendor Evaluation Criteria
We examine vendors against evaluation drivers like Functionality (if bidder has remarkable solution), Technology (assessment of system architecture, interoperability, etc), System Performance (assessment of scalability and stability of the system), Vendor performance (assessment if bidder will support business in long term), and Contract & Commercial Terms. (meaningful negotiation).
Key process areas during the vendor evaluation process are Strategic objectives, Business essentials, Technology platform, Modular structure, Time to market, Capacity planning, Shared responsibility, Change management, Logical and viable contract terms, and Apple-to-apple mapping.
Vendor Evaluation Framework
We deploy a rigorous method for evaluating system vendors based on a well-proven framework. When it comes to buying system solutions, the landscape comes across as the Wild West, and every day, finding the right vendor becomes exceedingly difficult. In such a challenging situation, we have to choose a vendor who does give us back.
To achieve this lofted goal with efficiency, each and every time, we have cobbled up a robust, well thought out framework that touches up all relevant aspects. This framework sums up our years of experience in system selection.
Deliverables
Project deliverables include the following documents:
Business Requirement Specification (Format – Excel Sheet) – This document will provide comprehensive list of business, technical and information security requirements from the cards platform for RCBC Bankard.
Request for Proposal Document (Format – Word Document) – This document will provide scope requirements, terms, and other relevant clauses for product vendors to respond with a proposal.
Vendor Evaluation Methodology (Word Document) – This document will define the set of criteria, weightages, and process for ranking each project vendor. The document will be updated with scores after receipt of the proposal.
Consulting Recommendation Report (PPT) – The deck will provide recommendation to either retain, upgrade, or replace the existing card platform. SWOT analysis will be provided for CMS product vendors along with justification for final recommendation. Certain recommendations will also be provided to improve aspects related to card business.
