therefore be staying on with the company which would continue to operate from its current location in Vancouver. In Canada, as discussed, Open Solutions had already


made inroads, won selections and been tailoring its own software. Indeed, some recent takers had preferred TCCUS to Wealthview. One institution that was in a good position to compare and contrast was Coastal Community Credit Union (CCCU). The combined CCCU had 80,000 members, 550 employees, $1 billion in assets, 20 branches and 19 insurance offices, business centres and financial planning offices. The first stage in the merger had seen the coming together of Coastal Community, Comox Valley, and Evergreen Savings Credit Unions. Then, on 31st July 2004, CCCU acquired 100 per cent of Chemainus Credit Union. As with most mergers in Canada at this level, it was felt that the greater bulk would improve the ability to grow.


Each partner had its own technology and each was proud


of what it had achieved. As a result, CCCU was running three systems. One of these was the old Datawest Profile-derived offering. Another was Fincentric’s Ovation, operated on the premises of CCCU in Comox by Telus under a facilities management agreement. Also being used was Wealthview, which went into production in April 2004 and was operated by Cutasc, a subsidiary of CCCU. The challenge was to overcome individual bias in selecting a new system. There was a three-phase approach, with a cursory review of ten systems and, after the RFP process, selection of two vendors, comprising Open Solutions and Fincentric. The selection committee at CCCU was surprised to learn that the scores from the initial RFP and review were practically identical. CCCU’s executive vice president at the time, Shelly McDade (she later moved to another customer of Open Solutions, Sunshine Coast CU), said, ‘With over 800 functional metrics that were measured, this meant that both of the two products that made it to the final stage had all the functionality required’. She added, ‘This put some stress on our decision because it meant that we had to really check under the hood to find a differentiator.’ Price was not one of the criteria as the purpose of the merger was to position CCCU for anticipated growth. It considered such things as its objectives for the merger and concluded that it needed a solution that fitted into its long-term plans. ‘This meant we needed an integrated solution that could manage our CRM, Sales Driver, business intelligence and had features like an integrated dashboard,’ said McDade. ‘We also had concerns related to the


114


Canadian market. Today, because of government regulations, we have to separate our products. For example, loans can’t be sold out of our insurance office. We expect these regulations to change though. Eventually we want to have a consolidated offer.’ In the end, the credit union opted for Open Solutions. CCCU conducted site visits and attended Open Solutions’ user conference, with 1500 other delegates. This gave Coastal the reassurance it needed. According to Rob Grundison, SVP, operations at CCCU, ‘Not everything we heard about Open Solutions was ideal. In speaking with other Open Solutions clients, they had hiccups during conversions and other problems. What we heard though, was how well Open Solutions dealt with issues: they are very responsive.’ McDade added, ‘The fact that I can pick up the phone and call Elliot Lipsey [general manager for Open Solutions Canada at the time] whenever there is an issue and the fact that he personally oversees monthly planning sessions demonstrates where their priorities are.’ If, as CCCU decided, there was very little to choose


between Wealthview and TCCUS for the Canadian credit union market, then it seemed it may not be too difficult to move the users across to Open Solutions’ platform. The message might have been somewhat harder if CCCU’s decision had come out in favour of Fincentric. Nevertheless, there were technology differences – Oracle


for TCBS/TCCUS, Microsoft for Ovation/Wealthview. This might not bother bureau users but could have been an issue for in-house takers of the Fincentric systems. For instance, technology was an influence at one credit union which went Fincentric’s way in 2005. This was Meridian Credit Union, the result of a merger between Niagra and Hebco Credit Unions that took place in April 2005. The combined credit union opted to consolidate on Ovation, which was used by Niagra. In choosing Ovation, Steve Gesner, CIO, Meridian Credit Union, showed an interesting take on technology: ‘Banking systems are like wine and cheese. Too young and they have no character, too old and they stink. Ours is mature enough to give us the services we need and it has a migration path which is Wealthview.’ Another issue was, ‘our ability to support underlying technology’, with Gesner wanting a Microsoft technology path. The conversion started in May 2005 and cutover came in early July the following year for Meridian’s 43 branches. ‘Of course a few things dropped through the cracks,’ said


Universal Banking Systems Market Report | www.ibsintelligence.com


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