Financial markets: News stories

Headlines of terrorist attacks have unsettled company executives, who are increasingly thinking about business continuity and disaster recovery planning. Many companies risk major financial losses if they are unprepared after a major incident, and stand a significant chance of failing.

IBM is reasserting itself and again setting the course in the IT market. The on demand vision has made the company more responsive to the needs of its customers. IBM executives make their case directly to CEOs of customer companies, emphasising the business benefits, not the technology specifics.

IBM CEO Sam Palmisano aims to make the 92-year-old IT giant great once again. He sees double-digit profit growth by taking on ancillary business processes such as human resources, finance, customer relations, and supply chains. He estimates there is about $500 billion of business in those areas.

IBM Global Services is launching Linux consulting services in Brazil, and opening a new front in its advocacy of the Linux operating system. IBM has reorganised its software and services groups along industry lines, and will specifically target the retail, government, and financial markets.

Korean firms need to focus on better management practices instead of investing only in product development. Korean pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and financial services firms all have tremendous opportunity abroad and should follow the lead of the electronics sector.

IBM has recently won several services contracts with financial institutions worldwide. HSH Nordbank, Plus Bank, Banco Guipuzcoano, Bank Boston in Brazil, and Venezolano de Credito have signed on with IBM for various IT infrastructure services.

Outgoing IBM Global Services group executive Doug Elix says growing the $40-billion organisation is a challenge that involves partnering with smaller integrators, a careful re-investment in the customer, and the creation of entirely new markets.

IBM e-business Hosting Services general manager Jim Corgel says application hosting will grow rapidly in the enterprise market. ISVs such as Siebel, which offers CRM OnDemand, see an opportunity in software-as-a-service to provide greater value to customers in vertical industries.

Taiwan's financial services companies were told at a recent forum to consider outsourcing as the sector faces greater consolidation and competition. Banks should consider outsourcing non-core operations as a way to transform their business.

IBM Australia reported its financial results for the first time ever, after recently restructuring to become more aligned with its global parent. Analysts say that IBM has grown faster than the industry average in all three of its operations: hardware, software, and services.

IBM will grow faster than the industry average by expanding its market share and tackling new services opportunities, said CEO Sam Palmisano. IBM is specifically aiming to capture more large business process transformation deals with its large services arm.

Four new IBM Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Design Centers in Austin, Beijing, Delhi, and Hursley allow customers to put together new SOA solutions for their specific needs. The goal is to make the business demands drive the technology.

Recent changes in IBM's executive structure emphasise its services and e-business on demand business strategy. IBM CFO John Joyce will take over as IBM Global Services (IGS) head, while Doug Elix, former leader of IGS, will now run IBM's sales and distribution operation.

Two new managed services for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that bring legitimacy to the market. The IBM Desktop Management Services and IBM Network Management Services are offered by IBM Global Services under the IBM Express portfolio.

IBM Global Services chief Doug Elix spoke with VARBusiness on the day before moving to head IBM's sales and distribution division. He said IBM's success is predicated on the success of its customers, and IBM Global Services' outsourcing business is growing strongly with that strategy.

A recent IBM Business Consulting Services global survey of 370 executives found more CRM success stories than in the past, as well as surprising attributes of successful CRM implementations. Employee concerns are actually the most important factor in CRM success.

Four new small- and medium-sized business (SMB) offerings from IBM simplify the maintenance and management of companies' back-end infrastructure. The services include network operation and management, infrastructure recovery, infrastructure management, and high availability.

Morgan Stanley's Individual Investor Group will draw its computing resources from IBM's on demand infrastructure. IBM Global Services will provide computing, storage, bandwidth, application management, and help desk support for roughly 20,000 Morgan Stanley employees.

A new IBM suite of managed desktop services for medium-sized companies brings the same on demand computing opportunities to smaller firms that larger enterprises can get. The new IBM Desktop Management Services constitute a total service solution, available on a price-per-seat basis.

Merrill Lynch will hand over its human resources, accounting, marketing, and other administrative IT functions to IBM. Merrill Lynch expects to realise significant cost savings through the deal as well as provide better service and focus on core business activities.

In a new five-year contract, IBM intends to improve Sprint's customer service through customer segmentation, call routing, and handle times, IBM will also assume the management of many of Sprint's call centers. Sprint expects to save $550 million over the next three years.

IBM has new industry-specific software and services packages for the financial services sector, and plans to release similar offerings for other industries. The so-called Middleware Solutions target banking, insurance, and finance firms with offerings crafted in response to customer requests.

Deutsche Bank says it has done well in its infrastructure outsourcing agreement with IBM. The $2.5 billion, 10-year deal achieved its goals of reduced costs and access to new technology. Deutsche Bank is considering expanding the deal to cover software development and data centre infrastructure.

IBM has acquired Dresdner Bank's financial market database operation and is outsourcing to provide the bank with reference data on demand. The database was created for risk control purposes. IBM will resell the service to universal and investment banks, insurers, and asset management firms.

IBM and JPMorgan Chase are in year two of their IT outsourcing agreement, important because of its size and variable-pricing benefits. JPMorgan Chase is the largest beta customer for IBM's e-business on demand principles and technologies. In 2004, executing the integration strategy is primary.

ING U.S. Financial Services is outsourcing its IT operations to IBM to reduce costs and embark on strategic business projects. IBM will provide ING with disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities. The on demand computing model will allow ING to scale its computing resources.

IBM touts the world's largest industrial research group and is using those resources to address its clients' business problems. IBM's researchers have already helped numerous clients in unique ways as they team with consultants to attack specific problems.

IBM has assembled several services to help companies implement Grid computing and autonomic computing technologies. With a Grid computing system, which links IT resources, financial services firms run complex investment simulations in just minutes compared to several hours using just a few servers.

IBM has signed a $1.2 billion deal with tire company Michelin to manage and maintain its IT infrastructure. Also, IBM signed an outsourcing deal with Zurich Financial Services to manage 65,000 "electronic workplaces."

IBM has won a Workplace outsourcing contract, which bundles together enterprise desktop services, from Zurich Financial. IBM will manage 65,000 "electronic workplaces." A Zurich spokesperson says the Workplace concept is attractive because employees are not tied to specific workplaces.

IBM is gathering its resources to develop unique solutions to problems in transportation, financial services, manufacturing, and other industries. IBM Global Services has doubled its business consultants to 60,000 experts and has formed close links with the 3,000 researchers at IBM laboratories.

Thousands of customers are using Web services to transform their operations, proving the technology has moved beyond the hype and is delivering real business value. IBM Business Consulting Services has Web Services Centers of Excellence to help customers create Web services solutions.

New IBM Online Business Management Services help large companies keep abreast of potential privacy issues. The services are targeted especially at the financial services industry to ensure the security of customers' personal information and to adhere to privacy regulations.

IBM and Fidelity Information Services will offer banks new IT infrastructure solutions. The new components fill a critical need in the financial services industry. New IT capabilities are necessary to provide customer-centric services, instead of account-based services.