Recruiting outside consultants and integrators was deemed to be another key success factor by Zhelikhovsky. In his view, it is important to utilise their assistance starting from the very first stage of the system requirements development and throughout the project, including the final stage of analysing the results.
Reengineering is a perpetual process, noted Zhelikhovsky, and thus, the work on optimising the existing business processes and introducing new ones is ongoing. In early 2008, Belgazprombank acquired a new banking system for its retail business. The bank has adopted a 'best-in-breed' approach and evaluated a number of offerings from different vendors during a closed tender, consequently opting for the Forpost core banking system from a Lithuanian company, Forbis. Of the evaluated systems, Forpost 'met the bank's requirements most fully in terms of the system's architecture, ideology and product range,' explained Zhelikhovsky.
The project was divided into stages, with the system's go-live taking place in 2009 (as planned). Forpost was to encompass the bank's retail operations, whilst the corporate ones would continue to reside with BISquit. Initially, the two solutions would be interfaced using XML-format files, but later on the interface of the bank's applications was going to be done through service oriented architecture (SOA).
