Bank of Ireland

A Success Story in Applications Development, Management, and Maintenance

Perot Systems delivers both long-term strategic solutions and day-to-day applications operating improvements to help a major European bank solve business challenges.

The Challenge

Bank of Ireland (BOI) faced complex issues in the delivery of application development and maintenance within the functional areas of bookkeeping, multi-channel architecture, and core banking interfaces. The bank also needed to mitigate risk, control application development costs, and access additional resources to meet shifting project loads.

The Solution

The relationship between Bank of Ireland and Perot Systems started just before the year 2000 when the two institutions established a joint venture for technology operations primarily to manage Y2K and Euro conversions. Application projects have continued to expand over the years. Perot Systems now supports, develops, and tests applications for core back-offi ce retail banking, online banking, branch banking, bookkeeping, payments, cards, reengineering, and other business functions. Perot Systems has developed extensive knowledge about the BOI business model so our team can offer high-value technology and process insights on a day-to-day basis underpinned by deep domain expertise.

Perot Systems manages projects on-site through a team of consultants and applications solutions professionals at BOI and a highly-skilled off-shore applications development and support team using proven methodologies and CMMI Level 5-certifi ed processes. A heavy investment of time and resources by both BOI and Perot Systems over the years has led to a strong off-shore project management capability facilitated by Perot Systems highly experienced on-site coordinator practice. Off-shore capabilities focus on application design and development, coding, unit testing, system testing, and systems engineering and
build.

Perot Systems helped Bank of Ireland add a new range of functions to its Internet banking service, 365 Online. The site enhancements are designed to improve customer service and facilitate routine transactions to free up staff for more important work.

Perot Systems also continues to manage and deliver several noteworthy application initiatives that help meet Bank of Ireland’s core business goals.

Customer Data System —Changes were needed to improve the customer experience. Within a short timeframe, Perot Systems optimized a solution by replacing complex system architecture with a simple and more effi cient design. Keeping a common interface at the front-end, the Perot Systems team developed
a customer records interface linked to six other applications. The solution linked systems for better customer information sharing and analyses, improved information archiving, and resolved outstanding end-user trouble tickets.

Transforming Legacy Applications —The bank needed to enhance multiple applications and peripheral systems to improve fl exibility and meet future demands created by market drivers and customer service needs. The Perot Systems team developed and implemented a custom solution with a central repository for customer, product, and service information. Built-in security and authorization features greatly reduced operational risks. The integrated new application enhanced competitive advantage through streamlined automation, reduced transaction processing time, and greater fl exibility to design new products and services.

Basel II and Sarbanes-Oxley Financial and Accounting Disclosure Mandates —To comply with international credit risk standards, banking supervision, and capital requirements management, BOI required advanced banking technology systems including a highly-sophisticated decision- making engine. The bank’s internal IT Unit and Perot Systems collaborated to modify existing technology while expanding scale and capabilities. The joint team assessed, designed, developed, tested, and implemented the necessary upgrades. To interface with existing systems, Perot Systems contributed expertise in mainframe technologies, application testing tools, and implementation of the SAP Bank Analyzer solution. With the enhanced automation, the client not only achieved regulatory compliance, but also experienced a reduction in operational costs.

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Technology —Increased sophistication and frequency of fi nancial crime necessitated a more complex infrastructure for real-time detection and prevention of money-laundering schemes. In keeping with industry standards, BOI needed a highly-sophisticated and fully-automated money-laundering detection solution. Perot Systems developed an application to extract data from the mainframe system and built an interface to a third party tool to detect, investigate, track, report, and alert employees of suspicious transactions. The use of parallel test system environments was key to verifying accurate data transfer processes along with real-time reporting and alert performance. With only minimal delivery costs, the solution reduces the risk of money laundering fraud and remains scalable as future transaction volumes grow.

The Results

The Bank of Ireland credits the collaborative and interdependent relationship with Perot Systems for expanding offshore capabilities, enhancing long term delivery, and improving business processes through gained knowledge.

 Additional benefi ts include:

• A greater volume of applications projects output—the Perot Systems team has completed more than 50 projects so far with many others currently running
• Meeting critical external deadlines for European and cross-border payments, and “Chip and PIN” (the new EMV Card Payment System)
• Cost benefi ts by off-shoring more than 350 person-years of labor to reduce on-site contractor costs
• Flat IT expenses over the past three years
• Better applications development standards and delivery across theenterprise using Perot Systems quality management processes
• Greater system effi ciency by increasing internal user productivity and
  enhancing customer service