f WlRED UP -
a Global IT
PROGRESS REVIEW
WHAT'S NewS Issue 11 December 1997
The accelerated pace of technology-driven change in the banking
business is intense. Our organization has been at the forefront in the
adoption of new IT systems and solutions that are designed to help
us serve our clients best. In this issue we take a step back. We survey
the ground we have already crossed and chart the landscape of
continuing transformation ahead.
COMMUNICATION BACKBONE
he backbone of our common
communication system - including a feature-
rich internal e-mail network - is now largely
in place. It offers a solid framework upon
which we can flesh out and expand our
Customer Focus Strategy. But how did we
reach this point and what is likely to happen
next? The initial phase of our international
growth was marked by a proliferation of
different computer systems, control
procedures, and organizational structures
poorly suited to an integrated global
enterprise. By early 1996, it was recognized
that superlative data management held the
key to our future strategie success; after all,
in a complex and interdependent global
web, the transfer of data and exchange of
knowledge is (quite literally) the lifeblood of
organizational wealth.
STREAMLINING INFORMATION
The first and foremost of the concrete
actions that emerged from this realization
was a strategie decision to push towards
common systems throughout our network -
systems designed to help us serve our
customers in better and more inspired ways.
It was also considered crucial that we
streamline information exchange and that
we expedite the (often costly) accumulation
and delivery of data to regulatory agencies.
IT was recognized as an essential tooi for
standardizing risk management as well.
MEETING OBJECTIVES
After a painstaking selection process,
Coopers Lybrand won the mandate to
devise our long-term IT business plan. Later
that same year, preparations were well
^inderway for the implementation of the
Fltlas back office system, the information
exchange platform, and the Devon
derivatives trading software. Common
'operational excellence' (or OPEX)
standards defined for the entire
organization - together with a series of
careful business reviews - were used to
tailor the aforementioned systems to offices
with varying size and complexity. The
operative principle was (and remains) that
technical systems and standards are
implemented for the sole purpose of
meeting clearly-defined business objectives.
Budapest's system went 'live' early this year.
Dublin followed in November. Currently,
we have implementations going on in
London, Frankfurt, Antwerp and Shanghai.
THE TEAM
We have seen important administrative
changes as well. In the middle of this year,
Global IT was established as headquarters
support function. Jo Knippenberg
(responsible for Infrastructure and Service
Management), Rein Stulemeijer
(Information Management Services), Niels
Diehl (Business Systems), Jaap van Caspel
(Implementations), and Chantal van Oers
(Management Support) all work under
Global IT chief Emy Kahle. In a related
development, a new Global Operations
department has been set up in order to
insure that we not only make the most
efficiënt use of the skills and resources
available throughout our network, but also
that we avoid a needless duplication of
effort in IT and other operational spheres.
EURO CHALLENGES
Although we have successfully transformed
Emy Kahle
expanding
our Customer
Focus
Strategy.
The service management team apart from
Emy Kahle, from left to right: Rein
Stuhlemeijer, Chantal van Oers, Niels Diehl,
Jaap van Caspel and Jo Knippenberg.
ourselves into a fully 'wired' enterprise -
and done so within a remarkably short
space of time - substantial challenges have
appeared on the immediate horizon ahead.
These challenges are essentially three-fold,
as Emy Kahle explains. 'First, we have to
adapt our systems to the hurdles posed by
the impending arrival of the Euro - not only
as a common currency for Europe but also,
in many cases, as a base currency for
internal accounting purposes as well.'
MILLENNIUM BOMB
'A second challenge,' continues Kahle,
'relates to the so-called "millennium
bomb." This is a pervasive global problem
associated with the fact that many older
mainframe computers and certain software
was designed to use a simple two-digit
dating system. This makes it impossible to
teil whether 00 represents the year 2000 or
1900. This deceptively small glitch has the
potential to substantially disrupt business
and banking activities around the world;
and if information is disrupted, then the
information economy, or large parts of it,
can screech to an immediate halt as well.
There are also profound implications in the
spheres of risk management and law.
Coming into compliance with year-2000
guidelines is a substantial task both for
ourselves and many of our clients.'
INTERNET THINKING
As if the aforementioned issues were not
important enough, there is still a further,
third challenge: one that perhaps ranks
highest of all in its strategie significance. It
can be reduced to just one word - the
Internet. 'Make no mistake about it; the
Internet is going to radically transform the
way we do business,' Kahle predicts. 'As an
organization, we will have to be doing some
very serious long-term thinking about how
to adapt ourselves to the emerging net-
worked world. Here,' says Kahle, 'one of the
most important issues - not least in light of
our Customer Focus Strategy - is how to
design the electronic interface between
ourselves and our existing and future clients.'
