Financial Services

Key Trends and Issues

The AppViewXS solution allows remote access to legacy data via the Internet. AppViewXS can be utilized for self-service portals for customers, partners and employees.

Consolidation, technology advances, and global commerce have intensified the competition for profit and market share in the financial services industry. As the demand for innovative products and services continues to increase, time-to-market and brand differentiation become key factors for success. Furthermore, responsiveness to the customers’ needs and agility in adapting to today’s challenges will determine tomorrow’s financial leaders.

E-business and Universal Banking. Business activity is being conducted through online banking and transactions. E-business capability is quickly becoming a requirement to compete in the marketplace. For aggressive firms, it presents unrivaled opportunities for profit and growth. E-business capability provides companies with essential agility and holds the key to differentiation through internet-based customer services and sharing of information and resources.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM). An important trend in the new economy is the necessity to focus on the customer and emphasize self-service. To build customer loyalty, companies must strive to accommodate the customers’ expanding needs for personalized services and greater convenience.

Time-to-market is of the essence. Business strategy and organization must be altered to suit the new dynamics of today’s market. Real-time access to critical business information and integration along p rod uct and geographical lines are paramount to the future success of your organization.

Strategy for Success
Among the companies that have maintained a track record of success over time, certain characteristics are evident:

• Superior customer service and innovative products
• Ability to respond to shifts in the market
• Getting the product to market faster (time-to-market)
• Staff and cost reduction
• Increased employee satisfaction
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Creating ease and convenience of business transactions (e-business)

Internally, a company can achieve some of these goals by streamlining operations through reorganization and elimination of inefficiencies. Moreover, companies should take advantage of technology’s offerings to further reduce excess cost and staff.

Companies must also focus on retaining and building lasting relationships by adapting a customer-centric culture. Customer demands for greater convenience in transactions, online support, and call centers should be addressed. By providing customers with seamless and impeccable service through different channels such as traditional 1-800 call centers or self-service portals via online access, companies will gain the loyalty and support of satisfied customers.

The market-driven demand for information and online services makes web-enabling core business applications an urgent need for competitive firms. Success in e-business requires nothing short of revolutionizing your enterprise with 21st century strategies, concepts, and technology.

The Challenge
For the majority of banking and financial services companies, important internal data have been stored on legacy systems (i.e. NonStop, AS/400, or IBM Mainframe) for decades. The data are virtually unreachable, except by trained operators through green screen terminal access. Wouldn’t it be great if selected portions of this data could be shared with select parties either internally or externally via web access, and the host application could be viewed via a graphical user interface rather than a green screen?

Many companies, who have already invested millions of dollars into a reliable IT infrastructure such as a legacy system, are at a disadvantage when faced with the need to provide access to data through alternative avenues such as the web.

Legacy Rejuvenation Solution
Change does not have to be painful or expensive. Crystal Point offers a way for companies to effectively leverage their existing legacy systems. Crystal Point’s products rejuvenate, web-enable and extend the host application onto the intranet, extranet, or Internet. Crystal Point ’s legacy rejuvenation products feature automatic graphical user interface (GUI), web-browser access, no change to host code and no programming required, and extensive screen customization capabilities.

Crystal Point offers two different implementation architectures to meet the customer’s individual host-access requirements.

AppView. This is an intranet and extranet solution. AppView features a true terminal emulator. Legacy system green screens are web-enabled and rejuvenated, and viewed using a web browser.

AppViewXS. The AppViewXS solution allows remote access to legacy data via the Internet. AppViewXS can be utilized for self-service portals for customers, partners and employees.

Benefits
Legacy rejuvenation technology gives you essential flexibility with real-time access to business critical data. It integrates front and back office operations, and closes the gap between the front-end and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). It helps streamline internal operations and facilitates CRM and e-business. As a result, an organization can reap incredible benefits from employing host access software.

Faster time-to-market and return on investment (ROI). Your product is delivered to the customer significantly faster, therefore increasing profit. Low total cost of ownership ensures high ROI. Information flow and system usability are improved.

Self service capability and increased customer satisfaction. Using AppViewXS as a self-service portal, customers can check the status of their account over the Internet or look up their own balance and quote information. Customers benefit from easier, instant access to the service and information they want 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Superior customer service. Customer questions and concerns are addressed quicker. Call center representatives can be more responsive and attentive to customer needs. Service representatives can deal more efficiently with client inquires and other issues.

Ease of administrative tasks. Internal administrative and financial tasks are streamlined. Facilitates payroll, budgeting, benefits processing operations when information is located on multiple mainframes.

Increased employee satisfaction. Service staff workload is reduced. Customer representatives operate faster and more efficiently. They complete the same tasks with less errors, stress, fatigue, and frustration in an intuitive graphical environment (research proven).

Reduce costs. Crystal Point technology automates many data entry and processing tasks, freeing time and staff resources.