Summary
Making large technology investments is often a risky proposition for banks. Technology solutions for banks are available in abundance across the regions providing a gamut of features and capabilities that a bank would expect to have to stay competent. However, bank executives often fail to select solutions or systems that are the right fit to their banking ecosystem. The implications of such decisions usually lead to extended implementation timelines, high number of customizations, delays in releases and integration compromises, which may result in not meeting expected return on investments and additional operational overheads.
Selecting the right IT solution is not just about determining which solution has the best functionality and technology platform, but in ensuring that the best-fit solution that maps to the bank’s requirement is brought on board. Often banks do not have the expertise or bandwidth available to undertake a project of this magnitude in an effective and efficient manner.
How we add value
- Cedar helps banks in evaluating, selecting and on-boarding the right solution partner, using its proprietary C-SCORE framework.
- Cedar’s knowledge of suppliers and solutions is deep. Driven by its Center of Excellence in Core Banking and Transaction Banking, Cedar has a deep understanding of solutions across digital banking players, core banking systems, treasury, trade and transaction banking, risk management, Data Warehousing & Analytics, Payments suppliers and CRM systems. Cedar’s understanding of the fintech disruptive players is augmented by the insights drawn from its Fintech research unit, IBS Intelligence with deep analysis of over 250+ global suppliers.
- The approach to vendor selection is based on Cedar’s proprietary toolkit for requirement engineering, evaluation methodology based on functional, technical and vendor qualifications, and experience of assisting 100+ system selection engagements for its clients. Cedar’s understanding of supplier performances across global markets is also strongly supplemented by the proprietary SalesVision Tool from IBS Intelligence, that has the profiles of 10,000+ deals signed up by players across the globe, classified by system type and bank categories. This saves more than 30-40% of time in the evaluation process, as most information about suppliers are made readily available.
- Cedar also helps its clients with negotiations of the statement of work and the contractual terms with the shortlisted suppliers. This helps in determining any hidden costs as the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is clearly calculated for the next 5 years. Client savings driven through the negotiation process is over 30% of the TCO, which is truly the impact of a structured selection process. The details of contracting also help in ensuring the implementation terms and expectations are well defined, and any hidden costs and terms highlighted.