contract that Demetriades summarised as 'very basic nine-to-five support'. To receive a more immediate response and better SLAs, the bank would have to enter 'a different level of agreement'. And the cost for getting coverage to the desired extent would be very high. So while the contract with Oracle FSS covers 'major breakdowns', smaller and more specific issues are directed also to JMR Infotech.
Reflections
'As a reference site for Flexcube, we receive visits from banks and we always advise them to address three key points before embarking on a project: ensuring strong project management, assembling a strong functional team and taking care of Oracle-related costs,' stated Demetriades. A standard scenario is that these costs are 'nowhere to be seen' when closing the deal, but afterwards it transpires that to get Flexcube up and running a bank needs to spend a significant amount which could be higher than it has already spent on the licensing agreement. So banks should scrutinise the details before committing to the contract, he advised. 'The only time to get a good deal is before you sign. Afterwards, as it always happens in all such cases, it is too late.' This was the only major pitfall of the project at Alpha Bank, he noted.While other project-related expenses were managed within the set limits, the Flexcube licensing budget had to be revised upwards, due to the Oracle licensing costs (to meet the hardware needs).
Overall, Demetriades was satisfied with the Balkans project and results, having fully complied with the timeframes and the scope of the venture. But he noted that there is 'always room for improvement both for the bank and Oracle FSS'. On the vendor side, he felt that Oracle needed to do a lot of work on integrating I-flex Solutions into the Oracle culture, not the other way around. Support for Flexcube could be improved, to justify the fees charged by the vendor. And integration of the support teams (Oracle FSS and Oracle) must be one of the top priorities for the services to reach a higher standard.
