Technology is key, but efficacy depends on use TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2003 11:58:09 PM ] MUMBAI: Technology could well turn out to be a cost monster for banks if the players do not use it to make a difference. But at the same time bankers feel that technology needs to evolve radically to be a key differentiator in the coming years. Participating in a session on “Technology: Lifeline or Cost Monster?” at the Bank Economists’ Conference on Thursday, Deutsche Bank’s CEO Gunit Chadha said that banks were relying on technology to build business and have an edge over competitiors. “My best way of approaching technology is that by say ‘10 or ‘15, technology would not be a differentiator. It is a differentiator now. However, what you do with the technology now, will make the difference in the future,” said Mr Chadha. He felt that banks not thinking on these lines may well see technology becoming a “cost monster” in the years to come. Making an indirect reference to the growing commoditisation of technology, Raj Dosaj, senior director of Sun Microsystems said that banks were readily embracing tech solutions, but paying little heed to whether the same technology could be seamless across users. “We have completely customised technology to such an extent that the bank is an end user, the technology belongs to it. Customers are not asking this industry (tech companies) to change,” said Mr Dosaj. Recounting his IDBI Bank days, Mr Chadha said termed his relationship with his bank’s chief technology officer as “distrustful.” He said that each time there was a proposal from the technology officer, he would refuse it. “He would talk about things such as higher server capacity,” said Mr Chadha. The CTO ended more time convincing him about his ideas. Mr Chadha said that the bank was able to build a sound technology platform, which served its purpose of building business for the bank. The key issue was that in the coming years, everybody would have the technology, so what would differentiate you. On outsourcing, Mr Chadha felt that Indian banks should follow their foreign counterparts in setting up BPOs. “Citigroup has e-Serve, StanChart has Scope and HSBC and Deutsche also have their BPOs. Indian banks should consider this,” he said. Mr Chadha pointed out that the upsides in terms of cost savings from outsourcing were limited and banks needed to continuously evaluate the effectivness of outsourcing. SBI’s deputy managing director Ashok Kini said that his bank was in the process of conceptualising on what business areas the bank’s proposed IT company should focus on. “The plan would be finalised by March ‘04,” he said. *************************************************************************** Mailing list (sbinews@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) related information: News/articles about SBI and Banking related matters published in the print media, Internet etc will be circulated through this Mailing List. The messages in this list will help in improving awareness of SBI and its activities vis-a-vis the happenings in the Banking industry. This should be of help to all staff members of SBI, particularly those who are preparing for promotional written tests/interviews/group discussions. Subscription to this Mailing List is simple and FREE. Please check the procedure below. Please share this information with other colleagues/branches that could be interested in subscribing to this Mailing List. The messages circulated here should not be deemed to have the official endorsement of the SBI or any of its employees. The correct factual position may be ascertained from official sources. To join this mailing list, just send an email to sbinews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word 'subscribe' without the quotes in the subject of the email message. To leave this mailing list, just send an email to sbinews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject of the email message. Archives (old messages) are available for viewing at: //www.freelists.org/archives/sbinews Click on the month-year at the lower left corner to view messages posted during that month. This is an announcements/newsletter type mailing list i.e. only the Moderator/s can post messages to the list. This mailing list is maintained by Sri. R.S.Pai, currently working as Chief Manager(IT-Internet Banking), SBI, Corporate Centre, Mumbai. Moderator: Smt. S. Vijaya, CM (Training), SBI, STC, Bangalore. Visit http://rspai.tripod.com for some useful Banking, Reference and Utilities Links