07/30/2015

FIS first in IBS survey on innovation among core banking software suppliers

FIS grabbed pole position in IBS Journal’s survey on whether there is genuine banking innovation among the major universal core banking software suppliers.

Coming in at a healthy 38 per cent, US-based FIS topped the poll. Favourable comments it received included its ‘adaptive to unique customer requirements’ and praise for its ‘retail side’.

FIS

Second place was secured by TCS Financial with 28 per cent of the votes. Ironically, the Indian company fared better when it came to readers’ feedback and the number of comments.

One remark mentioned that ‘selecting from among the major banking core solution competitors will come down to two factors – relationship and architecture – as price and functionality will get levelled out through the negotiation process’.

It went on to claim ‘TCS is a master at applying architectures and computer engineering for banking and other verticals as seen across core banking, payments and now core processing componentisation for digital’.

Third place was a tie between Temenos and ‘Others’ at nine per cent. The latter option saw France’s SAB Ingenierie Informatique get a lot of love. One commentator noted that ‘SAB AT [the Java version of its core banking offering] is the most reachable in SaaS mode’.

A brief remark on Temenos’ T24 claims it has ‘rich functionality which others don’t have’.

What about Infosys, Intellect Design Arena, Misys, Oracle FSS, SAP and Sopra Banking Software? None got more than four per cent, but one comment about Oracle stated its ‘inventing core banking system transformation by way of componentisation’ and moving away from its old ‘monolith system’.

Interestingly, the vast majority of respondents believe there is genuine innovation. Only three per cent chose the ‘none of the suppliers’ option.

One comment summed up the reasons for this selection.

‘True innovation will only be achieved by starting from scratch and redesigning the basic processes of the core. All the core suppliers have too much invested in their existing technology to do this.’

By Antony Peyton.