Under the new arrangement, IBM will support the bank’s back office and ATM services as well as the systems supporting wealth management, mutual funds and the bank’s commercial business lines.
Laurentian Bank hopes the re-affirmed relationship will scale its IT operations capacity as needed, allowing it to only pay for what it uses, and provide more flexibility in the management of its IT operations to support the bank’s growth plans.
Last year, the two companies announced a separate agreement that saw them work together to install 200 automated banking machines throughout Quebec, enabling the bank to offer new banking services. These machines, according to the firms, respond faster and provide information updates instantly on their screens about the bank’s new services as the bank grows its business within Quebec.
If there’s a surge in Laurentian’s needs or a large increase in customer inquiries, for instance during the busy RRSP season, IBM can provide the additional IT capacity with a turn of the switch, said Denis Chalifour, director of IBM global services, Quebec. With our industry expertise, we can offer new technology that increases the power and flexibility of the IT resources the bank needs, while charging Laurentian only for the resources it actually uses.
