Information technology should improve results. CCG Catalyst helps banks make sure it does. We look at IT issues strategically, in the broader context of our clients’ business. Our experts provide an objective, independent perspective to help banks realize the full potential of their IT resources, investments and assets.
What We Do
A bank’s ability to achieve its annual performance goals is directly linked to the technology infrastructure that has been created.
Information technology is critical to the overall operation and financial success of a bank because it directly affects services and ultimately impacts the customer.
We bring a full range of IT capabilities to a variety of IT business situations, including:
IT strategy development: Information technology helps banks transform themselves and grow their business. We help clients identify the optimal future state of IT, aligned with business needs, and then work to develop a blueprint for implementation.
IT performance improvement: Under-performing IT hurts business performance. We work with banks to reduce costs, develop outsourcing and offshoring strategies that meet their needs, redesign their organization, and ensure a cost-effective application portfolio that supports innovation to deliver breakthrough IT performance improvements.
IT M&A: IT synergies are key to successful mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and spin-offs, but too often they are overlooked early in the deal. We help banks plan and manage the changes in their systems to accommodate these changes in business structure.
IT project effectiveness: We helps clients maximize the business results from major IT initiatives, including turnaround programs. We help executives evaluate the case for investment, set up projects for success, and ensure they capture value when implementing new systems and programs.
We partner with our clients in every level of assistance in:
Technology Strategic Planning: We look at markets and trends, competition and customers, at the bank and its resources – then use what we learn to ensure that the future direction can be successfully implemented.
Technology Assessment: We analyze the bank’s infrastructure, applications, processes, service provider relationships, and technology-related staff and management. This includes a review of the bank’s planned and ongoing technology projects and the relative priority, return on investment expectation, and timing of each initiative.
Core Vendor Evaluation: Changing core vendors is a major undertaking and should only be undertaken if your current business strategy is not being supported by your bank core solution. We advise your bank on what is the right solution which can make the difference between employing technology effectively and profitably. We take this seriously, if we provide the wrong advice we are placing the bank’s capital, time, and reputation unnecessarily at risk.
Core Contract Negotiations: We negotiate the complete “contract” not just price, but the terms and service levels are equally important. None of these exist in a vacuum, nor can they be taken out of the context of the contract as a whole.
Core Conversion: The conversion to a new core and related ancillary systems is one of the largest projects that any bank will undertake. The success of a system conversion is dependent on the coordination of a multitude of business functions and activities, both internally and externally, which should be addressed in a conversion plan.
IT / Technology Governance: We will examine the leadership and organization structure and processes to ensure the bank’s IT sustains and extends the bank’s strategies and objectives
Risk and Regulatory Compliance: In addition to financial, reputational and strategic risks, compliance risks pose a major threat to financial institutions. CCG Catalyst can help develop a mature and effective risk assessment and management process.
System Evaluations: Non-core or ancillary systems play a vital role in the delivery of services to a bank. CCG Catalyst provides evaluation services for all ancillary services including:
- EFT
- Lending
- Mobile Banking
- Online Banking
- Platform
- Teller
- Treasury
- Wire Transfer
Vendor Management: We will review or setup a vendor management process for your bank.
Virtual CIO assistance: CCG catalyst can provide part-time, interim or temporary CIO needs to your bank.
Client Engagements
New relationship and contract negotiations
Our client turned to CCG Catalyst for support to execute a major deal upon realizing the inefficiency of its legacy core and ancillary systems, which contributed to an unsatisfactory risk analysis. To facilitate the process, CCG Catalyst led the negotiations for price, terms, SLAs and related financial analysis. The resulting IT solutions were aligned with the business and corporate strategy.
IT Strategy
Developed IT strategy roadmap (Technology Roadmap) to close IT gaps in supporting the business for a community bank
Defined Strategy
Defined a technology strategy and transformation roadmap, redesigned IT organization to reduce CIO span and improved performance of lagging IT capabilities for a regional bank
Technology Roadmap
Our client with dozens of brick-and-mortar branches, was looking for growth opportunities. The bank’s’ historic growth model—opening new branches—had become a secondary priority. Given that customers were seeking channels such as mobile banking, e-banking, deposit taking ATMs, etc. the bank needed to evolve its go-to-market approach doing so required developing its technology-enabled capabilities. We redesigned the IT organization, built strategic sourcing capabilities, reduced IT resource gap, identified and reduced IT risks and increased collaboration and internal trust.
Aligning a new core platform
A multi-bank holding company saw significant benefits in creating a “shared services” environment by creating an integrated technology solution. However, none of their legacy core and ancillary solutions could cover the combined bank’s needs. CCG Catalyst with the client evaluated the solutions, architecture and migration options and identified a strategy to generate a significant dollar benefit. The result ended with one common platform with like products and services for all banks.
IT merger integration
Technology is crucial to successful merger integration. However it is often identified as a root cause of failed M&A due to poor platform and organization integration, inefficient due diligence and failure of IT to enable business synergies. These same areas, however, are also key targets for significant opportunities. In a “Merger of Equals” CCG Catalyst helped our client determine which technology infrastructure would be the ongoing platform going forward. We took the emotion out of the decision and it was based on which platform supported the combined bank’s strategy as well as provided the financial synergy.
