Leading European Bank Choose Logica as Offshore Partner

“Logica have their own way of doing things, but they are capable of understanding our needs and adapting to us. Their most important quality is that they listen to us.” Head of Sourcing, ITG

About The Bank
In the last 10 years, one leading European bank has transformed itself into a global company that’s active in 85 countries.

The bank’s IT Global division (ITG) is in charge of the software applications for group-wide activities such as accounting, human resources and risk management.

What The Bank Needed
ITG was already outsourcing many of its software applications to partners like Logica. These included Accounts Payable on SAP, credit management tools, and several applications relating to Group Risk and Compliance. But this approach was no longer enough. They wanted to manage their IT services in a different way.

The Challenge
ITG had a lot of different applications and many of them were complex. Any partner taking them on would need a broad range of skills and resources. One upcoming project was to develop a new forecasting solution to replace several different risk management tools. The project was tough, both technically and conceptually. And it had to be finished in 12 months so that the bank would comply with national and European regulations.

Second, ITG wanted to move some of their outsourced services offshore for the first time. They needed a workable model to help them do this and achieve their business objectives.

Our Answer
ITG chose us as an off shoring partner. We helped to ease the bank into an unfamiliar way of working. Seeing is believing, especially when it comes to technology. We ran several pilots as proof of concept so that ITG could see the new offshore model in action.

ITG gave us a five-year contract to manage a number of their applications projects. The first was to transfer the management of the bank’s Accounts Payable system from Europe to Chennai. We were already managing this application, so it was a relatively easy task.

A Success Story
“Results are the most important thing,” says ITG’s Head of Sourcing. “And so far, the results are good.”

Application management costs are down by 10 to 25 per cent. (The figure is slightly different for each application.) The Head of Sourcing is sure there will be more savings as time goes on.

The future looks promising. Together, ITG and Logica have shown there is a strong business case for outsourcing IT services to Asia. There’s a tried-and-tested model that can be used in other parts of the bank. And, as more applications go offshore, ITG’s cost cuts will dig even deeper. Even so, the Head of Sourcing emphasizes that it’s not just about costs: “We’re very satisfied with the quality of the services.”

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