Brain drain a pain as Infosys stops hiring SAP executives

With the news of 16 SAP executives moving to Infosys, the issue of sudden staff departures has come under the spotlight. The fear of a brain drain to businesses and even countries is the stuff of nightmares. All that lost talent, investment and time.

Hats off to RBS

Hats off to RBS (not a phrase you will hear too often). However, given the latest in a sequence of high-profile computer outages the previous week, it was brave to put Kevin Hanley, director of design, services (whatever that means), in front of a roomful of analysts and press at SAP’s Financial Services Forum in London.

Life after Deutsche Bank split?

Deutsche Bank is pondering the future of its retail operations and this might have significant implications for its IT landscape. A number of proposals are currently under discussion, which would see Deutsche Bank selling off its subsidiary, Postbank, and possibly its own branded retail banking business. According to Reuters, Deutsche Bank’s management favours the sale of Postbank but would prefer to keep its own retail banking unit.

‘Old school’ rules?

Macquarie Bank ©Mal Booth, Flickr

It would seem that for all the chatter about component-based core system replacement and gradual renovation, plenty of banks are still going the ‘rip and replace’ route.

Take Macquarie Bank, for example. In 2012, one of its senior managers called core system overhauls ‘old school’ and that the best model was to supplement existing platforms with layers on top for services such as apps.

In 2013, however, the bank went ‘old school’ and signed for a new core system, SAP for Banking. It has recently reported reaching a milestone in this five-year, AU$250 million project.

Have European banks given up on core banking system replacements?

© www.itrw.net

Despite the emergence of new technology and increasing competition, it seems the replacement of core banking systems is not on the agenda for European banks. Instead, banks are investing in niche IT projects to not only maintain their existing systems, but to introduce incremental changes, which can provide a quick return on investment (ROI) and meet their business and consumer needs.

SAP Financial Services Forum: The inside track

This week’s SAP Financial Services Forum in London was a reminder of the supplier’s strengths and weaknesses in this sector. It was also a reminder of just how far SAP has moved in the last few years from its Walldorf and ERP centricity. In part through some major acquisitions, of course, it is now far more diverse and international than it was, with this also a key reason for almost ten per cent of its revenues now coming from the financial services sector.