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Banco Salvadoreño
leverages Datapro, Inc. and IBM for Internet banking Excellence
e-business case study |
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Applicaton
Internet banking services
Business Benefits
Acquisition of more customers and improved customer
service
Hardware
IBM AS/400® Model 720
Software
Datapro, Inc. Integrated Banking System (IBS), d-IBS
Internet Banking System, DB2/400®, WebSphere®
Application Server
Founded in January 1885, Banco Salvadoreño
is the third largest bank in El Salvador and the third
largest private bank in Central America. With 100
branches, it also has subsidiaries in Los Angeles,
California, and Houston, Texas. Following its incredible
growth since 1991, Banco Salvadoreño decided
to rearchitect its IT infrastructure. Banco Salvadoreño
required a central application that would integrate
all of its other legacy applications, and it needed
a reliable platform.
The bank also realized the importance of Internet
banking for its new business strategy. While it currently
services 20 percent of the local market in El Salvador,
there are also more than 1.5 million Salvadorians
in the U.S. that the bank wants to service. "Banco
Salvadoreño wants to be the bank for all Salvadorians,"
explains Gerardo Siman, executive director of Banco
Salvadoreño, "so Internet banking is an
important part of our strategy. It enables us to more
efficiently reach both the local market and Salvadorians
residing in the U.S." Internet banking also makes
banking easier, more convenient, and more efficient
by enabling customers to do transactions from home,
24x7.
The search for the perfect solution
Finding a suitable platform for the new architecture
was easy: Already a satisfied IBM customer, Banco
Salvadoreño looked no further than IBM and
purchased the AS/400 Model 720 server. "The AS/400
is a solid and efficient system, the best alternative
on the market for our banking needs," says Siman.
"The AS/400 is a proven solution with an excellent
track record, and it's self-managing as well."
Finding an appropriate banking application, however,
took time. After analyzing many alternatives, Banco
Salvadoreño chose Datapro, Inc. Integrated Banking
System (IBS). "We decided on Datapro because it
is a very good application and we like the AS/400 technology,"
Siman explains. "Datapro's IBS systems not only
integrate perfectly with our other legacy systems, but
also has all the functions that we were looking for,
including consolidated statements and the ability to
transfer money." Six months later, Banco Salvadoreño
decided to also implement d-IBS, Datapro's new Internet
Banking System and a component of the IBS software package.
Banco Salvadoreño's new architecture
Banco Salvadoreño purchased two AS/400 Model
720s, one for production and one for testing and development.
The Datapro applications reside on an AS/400, which
also houses DB2/400, the central database for information
on more than half a million customers. WebSphere Application
Server enables customers to access their data online
by connecting the core IBS banking system and information
stored in DB2 to the d-IBS Internet Banking System.
Nicolas Valls, vice president of marketing for Datapro,
explains that the WebSphere application is a cutting-edge
solution: "It enables us to communicate using
TCP/IP communication protocol. That kind of communication
was very difficult before the advent of WebSphere."
Internet Banking System helps Banco Salvadoreño
become a leader
The bank's IBS solution went live in April 1999, and
the Internet banking system went live a year later,
in mid-2000. The new d-IBS solution enables customers
in El Salvador and the U.S. to do many transactions
online. In addition to checking their balances, customers
can conveniently make bill, credit card and loan payments,
and even transfer money to other people's accounts.
"This solution has enabled us to be the bank
of Salvadorians who live in the U.S., even if we don't
have more branches there," says Siman.
Great plans for future growth
Banco Salvadoreño has many plans for the future,
including the use of wireless application protocol
(WAP) for its Internet banking service. In addition,
the bank has recently become part of a financial conglomerate
made up of seven financial institutions. As one of
the most important financial groups in Central America,
it wants to consolidate all operations by the end
of 2001. An integral part of this plan for Banco Salvadoreño
is to open several branches in the Central American
market where it does not currently have a physical
presence.
Banco Salvadoreño plans to continue using the
AS/400 platform and working with Datapro. "We
have a good relationship with Datapro," says
Siman, "and we want to use their solutions to
implement our future business strategies. Datapro
and IBM will give us the integrated solutions we need."
source: http://www-1.ibm.com |
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