IBM to help Indian co-op banks enhance customer service

IBM announced that four co-operative banks in India - The Co-operative Bank of Rajkot Ltd. (Gujarat), Shivajirao Bhosale Sahakari Bank Ltd. (Maharashtra), Goa State Co-operative Bank Ltd. and Tumkur Veerashaiva Co-operative Bank Ltd. (Karnataka),  - have adopted IBM's data center solutions to improve their operational efficiency and compete more effectively.

IBM claims in a press release that the deployment of its Integrated Server Room (ISR) solution will enable these banks to set up a cost effective and energy efficient data center to offer new services like ATM, mobile banking, and online banking to customers. As a customized, pre-packaged data center primarily for small and medium businesses, the ISR solution will also help the banks reduce their energy consumption by 25 percent.

India is home to a large number of urban and rural co-operative banks. These banks are facing challenges in many aspects and are trying to transform themselves in a complex business environment. For example, regulatory requirements are not only leading to data proliferation but the banks also need more secure management of data. With the growth of mobile computing and Internet services, customers are becoming increasingly technology savvy and looking for improved and expanded service options.

Stiff competition is also putting banks under pressure to become more efficient and agile.  At the same time, banks are looking ways to reduce their operating costs. In short, co-operative banks need to scale up their IT and improve operational efficiency in order to deliver consistent, uninterrupted services in a cost effective, secure and compliant manner.

"Co-operative banks in India today need access to enterprise class technology that supports computing demands in the most cost effective manner possible. We must differentiate ourselves through robust services in order to grow and compete," said Tanaji K. Rode, Electronic Data Processing Officer, Shivajirao Bhosale Sahakari Bank. "IBM's ISR solution gives us an enterprise solution to quickly expand our offerings and boost the overall customer experience. IBM's domain expertise in forging relationships with small and medium sized banks also helped seal this engagement," he added.

For organizations that require small server rooms, the traditional data center design and build methodology can be a time-consuming and difficult process. Compared to a traditional data center, IBM's ISR solution occupies fifty percent less floor space, thus contributing to cost efficiencies. The small footprint also makes it is easy to relocate the data center when required. Companies can have a fully functional data center in one fourth the time as compared to traditional builds. Also, IBM's analytics software help pinpoint ways to rationalize the IT infrastructure and improve operational efficiency while reducing operating costs.

"We're especially excited about how IBM's comprehensive data center offerings will help the co-operative banks harness new opportunities in mobile banking. To date, IBM technology has propelled the Indian banking industry.  It's a great privilege to now help our clients use technology to become more customer-centric on top of helping them simplify their IT," said Lingraju Sawkar, Director, Integrated Technology Services, Global Technology Services, IBM. "

IBM's solutions have been deployed in various co-operative banks such as The Karad Urban Co-op. Bank Ltd., Latur Urban Co-Operative Bank, Chikhli Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd., Pondicherry Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd., Sindhudurg District Co-operative Bank, The Nawanagar Co-op Bank Ltd.  to name a few.