Temenos Odysey integration: no magic bullet

A specialized financial publication from Geneva, AGEFI, quoted this morning a high executive from Temenos:

“The integration has already begun. The strategy is already in place and a more detailed plan will be finalized by late October, the date of closing of the transaction. An interface is already available and the time before a first integrated solution can be offered by one vendor will be very short. "The speed is one of the criteria that interested us (TEMENOS) particularly."

This sounds like very good news for the potential clients of the new solution; nevertheless, the article goes further and asks whether there is a real compatibility between the solutions offered by Odyssey and Temenos.

I would like to answer this question from the point of view of my Client on-site experience, and what I’ve witnessed in the last 12 years, when implementing both solutions.

In the attached graph, without any pretension of completeness, I’ve depicted some of the business functionalities or requirements covered by both solutions. For most of you, this is probably not new, in the second level of the graphic; I’ve listed the qualitative differences of these projects. As I finished with the graphic, I’ve realized that one is talking of totally different business, even though, one faces the same client.

Of course, the teams and eventually the company who deliver such differentiated solutions have to have different soft and also hard skills. My ex-colleagues from Odyssey are highly banking knowledgeable, and they have to be. Not that the Temenos teams are not business oriented, they really are, but by implementing a core banking system, the processes are more important than the creativity of the final solution.

Interestingly, within Odyssey exists already somehow the notion of a totally front oriented application, which is Wealthmanager, totally web conceived and designed and Triple’A which is more a kind of heavy (old fashion looking). I wonder what is going to happen when the architects from Odyssey will get presented T24: and, by all means, not that the T24 Architecture has something wrong in itself. But, it's far, far away of what they are used to think.

Based on these reflections, I’d like to be very cautious before I recommend to a client the next, comming soon, wonder solution. Like many banks well know, “failed projects, are paved by good intentions and wonderful power point presentations”

Source: Jorge Yui's blog at Wordpress