BankservAfrica, South Africa's automated clearing house, has
implemented Marval's MSM Expert edition, an integrated ITIL-based
solution that will enable the organisation to increase the
efficiency of its IT service operation. This will improve and lower
the cost of services to clients, and provide a framework that will
enable the organisation to identify and implement continual
operational improvements.
Chris Nolte, head of operations at BankservAfrica, explains why
an integrated view of all ICT service systems was needed."Marval
will ensure we now have clearly defined processes with continual
improvement measures and transparency into processes and
operations. As an ITIL solution we can be assured of best
practice integrated IT service management."
Operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, BankervAfrica
switches approximately two billion financial transactions a year,
including interbank transactions, debit and credit card
transactions. "Our aim is to ensure continual improvement to meet
our very stringent and demanding service level agreements, having
achieved 100% uptime for real-time services in our last financial
year. Operating in a highly regulated environment, we needed
a system to effectively manage our critical ICT environment."
Adopted globally, ITIL (www.itil-officialsite.com)
provides a practical framework for identifying, planning,
delivering and supporting IT services to the business. ITIL
advocates that IT services be aligned to the needs of the business
and underpin core business processes. Best practices are
encompassed in five core guides that map the entire ITIL Service
Lifecycle, beginning with the identification of customer needs and
the drivers of IT requirements, through to the design and
implementation of the service, and monitoring and improvement.
Efficiency, governance and adding
value
Nolte says, "By increasing the efficiency of our operations - and
specifically the IT services that drive operations and client
service - we can add further value to our primary clients, the
financial institutions, and their customers. With changing market
dynamics, there are ever higher demands on performance e.g., debit
cards as a primary means of transacting is becoming more pervasive.
Our clients and consumers expect 24/7 access to transact. At the
same time, we are dealing with very sensitive information. The
banks operate in a highly regulated environment with stringent
security and governance policies surrounding all transactions. In
addition, there are the King III good governance and the Payment
Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS) to conform
to."
"It is vital to understand IT service demands, along with the
cost of and value derived from the application of its resource.
Marval's ITSM solution offers BankservAfrica the functionality
needed to consolidate its IT Service Management functions into a
single integrated system whilst adopting ITIL and best practices.
This solution allows BankservAfrica to understand IT service
demands along with the cost of, and value derived from the
application of its resources - an integrated view of all IT service
functions whilst adopting ITIL for governance," says Edward
Carbutt, Executive Director at Marval South Africa.
First phase ITSM go-live
Marval's IT Service Management Expert solution replaces all of
BankservAfrica's disparate systems and provides an ITIL certified
governance framework. The solution rollout has begun and is
accompanied by ITIL training of all relevant staff. The first phase
go-live will see the Marval ITSM solution implemented for
incident management and service desk, change management and problem
management. A knowledge management component will be introduced in
a later phase.
Nolte says, "This project is all about optimisation and
providing more value for our internal and external clients. To
achieve greater customer service efficiencies, we must drive our
internal inefficiencies and implement real continual improvement.
The software implementation is therefore just the first step."
"The real task will be mapping the organisation's processes into
the ITIL framework to measure and benchmark our operations,
understand what we are doing and embark on improvement. This
'measure, review, improve' process is ongoing," he emphasises. "it
is a journey. It is what will ensure the organisation remains a
world class organisation providing world class services and has the
agility to continue meeting the changing needs of its clients."
About BankservAfrica
Innovation drives BankservAfrica (www.bankservafrica.co.za)
and has ensured they remain the industry leader in electronic
payment and information switching services for 40 years - with
world class systems, infrastructure, tools and expertise.
Since 1972, BankservAfrica has provided interbank electronic
transaction, switching and settlement services to the South African
banking sector and to banks in Africa; facilitating quality
transactions in a properly regulated system, compliant with
international banking best practice and standards, while reducing
risk and complexity in the industry.
BankservAfrica annually switches, clears and settles nearly two
billion transactions worth trillions of rands.