Kudos for Commonwealth from CSC chief
Commonwealth Bank chief executive officer Ralph Norris has delved into the ongoing banking technology debate stressing the importance of real time processing to delivering customer satisfaction – an approach which CSC’s chief executive said had led to the bank achieving a “potentially dominant leadership position.”
Speaking at a CEDA event in Sydney today Mr Norris said; “Technology provides a tremendous set of tools for customer satisfaction. With mortgage processing it used to take about 18 working days to process a mortgage from whoa to go, today we have that down to four or five days, and if we have to, we can do it in 24 hours and produce all the documentation. “That’s made a significant difference to customer satisfaction. If you put in straight through systems and go to imaging and move the flow through because you are using imaged rather than paper files, it improves cost and provides a superior customer outcome.” Mr Norris said banks originally had computer systems to support a banking environment that opened at 10am and closed at 3pm. “The whole bank equation was pay 3 per cent on deposits, charge 6 per cent on loans and be on the golf course by three in the afternoon. “Today it is 24×7 business and we’ve got to make sure that our business and processes are also 24×7.” In the audience to hear Mr Norris were two of Westpac’s leading technology managers – Sarv Girn, Westpac’s chief technology officer and Bernadette Inglis, general manager of the bank’s $2 billion five year Strategic Investment Priorities (SIPs) programme. Last week the bank confirmed that it was mothballing any overhaul of its core systems until 2014. While customers at St George have access to real time banking courtesy of the Hogan platform, customers of the parent bank, Westpac, will have to wait until after 2014 to have access to that real time facility when Westpac starts to convert its legacy core systems over to the new Hogan core platform. CBA by comparison has been overhauling its core banking platform using SAP software. Given Westpac’s continued loyalty to Hogan Mr Sirn and Ms Inglis may have been somewhat bemused by the comments made by CSC chief executive Gavin Larkings when introducing Mr Norris which suggested that CBA was setting the pace in terms of its application of technology. CSC supplies the Hogan system, works with a third of the world’s top banks and was also the sponsor of today’s CEDA event.
Introducing Mr Norris, Mr Larkings highlighted CBA’s focus on technology and operational excellence. “It’s in that area that the market perceives that CBA has made significant early investment and now is in a potentially dominant leadership position. “Within our technology industry the CBA is seen as an innovative leader and is moving aggressively forward in areas such as cloud computing and is keeping us suppliers on our toes. This strategy is potentially game changing and there are enormous rewards for the institution and the executives.” Mr Norris however acknowledged that the relationship between information technology and banking had not always been plain sailing, “We all know plenty of horror stories around IT projects and know a lot of stories around what was promised and what was delivered. ” Mr Norris gave the example of the 1990s Mainstream technology project at the CBA which had failed spectacularly. “The write off on that was something like $400 million – which is still a big number today.” Mr Norris said that to ensure that such disasters were not repeated it was important to develop very clear linkages between IT, bankers and technology providers, “to make sure people realise this is about enabling systems and processes and business. “It’s not just about some major technology implementation. ” On that at least CBA and Westpac are in firm agreement.
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