Keeping up with technological progress, burgeoning competition and growing customer volatility are some of the challenges faced by banks and insurance companies with the globalisation of the economy. Against such a backdrop, they need strong IT in order to guarantee market share. An available and homogenous system is therefore a must to ensure the success of any external growth strategy.

Multiplying channels to win new customers

Banks seek to ensure existing customer loyalty and win new customers in order to increase their market share. To do this, traditional communication and distribution channels need to be backed up by powerful, state-of-the-art systems. The new technologies can also contribute to launching new generation on-line services. Steria provides end-to-end customer relationship management (CRM and e-CRM) solutions tailored to the financial sector. It also audits customer databases with the goal of reorganizing then upgrading them. These solutions co-ordinate business through multimedia contact centres providing information to customers via a range of sources including ATMs, audiotel, minitel, e-mail, web portals, i-TV, wap and surface mail.

Automating financial flows: the productivity and safety challenge

Steria partners banks in streamlining their processes, particularly through the use of Straight Through Processing (STP) for seamlessly integrating and automating financial flows. Steria's e-STP offer is based on an architecture composed of Stelink®, a top-class banking messaging platform, and Stematch®, a financial transaction reconciliation solution. Steria's strong expertise across the entire financial communication chain means that transaction bottlenecks are completely eliminated by automating information flows end-to-end. Adding to the Group's skills is Diamis, Steria and Atos's joint subsidiary specializing in interbank payment systems.

Integrated banking systems: a tried-and-tested solution for efficient globalization

The pace of mergers and acquisitions is increasing through the international development of financial institutions. Steria boasts strong experience in the deployment of integrated banking systems worldwide through its teams of consultants specializing in major banking functions and well acquainted with the international arena. Financial institutions can now cost-effectively launch top-quality products and services, streamline maintenance operations and provide the head office with a comprehensive and uniform overview of results, whatever their location.

Card transaction systems: seeking groundbreaking services

More than just a means of payment, cards now handle a host of services and information changing the nature of relationships between economic players. Increasing the types of transactions and services handled by cards, while combating fraud, means that traffic is on the increase. Steria was involved in the Moneo® project to create a card acting as both a traditional payment system and an electronic purse. All flow increases are managed by the Stegab® transaction server, used by a third of the French market, thus ensuring reliability and service performance. Steria completes its flow processing offering by its expertise in third-party application maintenance and application transformation. Finally, to avoid having to totally re-engineer banks' information systems when they become obsolete, Steria proposes a host of migration solutions towards the new technologies.

Streamling processes and controlling costs

Business is changing for insurance companies through major merger operations and the streamlining of organizations and information systems. As part of its consulting business, Steria proposes the hands-on expertise of its insurance consultants specialized in change management both on a domestic and international level. They can help insurance companies to analyze and set up best practice solutions in cost-effectiveness (Total Cost of Ownership). The Profiles® offer proposing a software-based methodology for developing homogenous, cross-disciplinary customer repositories is particularly adapted to this climate of mergers. Moreover, some insurance companies are outsourcing all or part of their information systems by way of managed services agreements. As a services global operator, Steria can take over the total or partial management of insurance companies' information systems, enabling them to achieve significant economies of scale and acquire better visibility of their IT system.